Rat Brain Fragment Simulated by a Supercomputer

Supercomputer Simulates Rat Brain Fragment

The Blue Brain Project publishes its first major result: a digital imitation of circuitry in a sand grain–size chunk of rat brain.

Moheb Costandi and ClimateWire | October 9, 2015

A controversial European neuroscience project that aims to simulate the human brain in a supercomputer has published its first major result: a digital imitation of circuitry in a sandgrain-sized chunk of rat brain. The work models some 31,000 virtual brain cells connected by roughly 37 million synapses.

A digital model of a slice of neocortex of a young rat. Source: http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2015/oct/digital-brain.cfm

<more at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/supercomputer-simulates-rat-brain-fragment/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20151014; related links: http://www.nature.com/news/computer-modelling-brain-in-a-box-1.10066 (Computer modelling: Brain in a box. Henry Markram wants €1 billion to model the entire human brain. Sceptics don't think he should get it. February 22, 2012) and http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/10/digital-replica-of-rat-brain-claimed/ (+Video). (Digital Replica Of Rat Brain Claimed. October 12, 2015); further: http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2015/oct/digital-brain.cfm (Digital rat brain provides glimpse into brain wiring. October 9, 2015)>