Henry Markram, Ph.D., Director of the Blue Brain Project at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, speaks at the International Supercomputing Conference 2011 about brain simulations
Saturday, June 30, 2012
The Blue Brain Project
BLUE BRAIN PROJECT
Knowledge
of the brain is highly fragmented and we have no way to prioritize
the many experiments needed to fill the gaps in our understanding. It
is time for a strategy of global collaboration, where scientists of all
disciplines work together to solve this problem. A new project was proposed
inorder to build a platform
to catalyze efforts, integrate knowledge, and use supercomputers to
simulate what is known about the brain, to predict gaps in our knowledge
of the brain, and to test hypotheses about how it works. And that project
was named as BLUE BRAIN: the first attempt to begin a systematic integration of
all biological knowledge of the brain into unifying brain models for simulation
on supercomputers.
The Blue Brain Project founded
in May 2005, by the Brain and Mind Institute of the EPFL (École Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne )
is an attempt to create a synthetic brain by reverse-engineering the mammalian brain down to the molecular level. The project
is carried out using a Blue Gene supercomputer which works using NEURON software. The simulation does not consist simply of an artificial neural
network,
but involves a biologically realistic model of neurons. The Blue
Brain project began in 2005 with an agreement between the EPFL and IBM, which
supplied the BlueGene/L supercomputer acquired by EPFL to build the virtual
brain.
Reconstructing the brain piece by piece and building a virtual brain in
a supercomputer—these are some of the goals of the Blue Brain Project. The
virtual brain will be an exceptional tool giving neuroscientists a new
understanding of the brain and a better understanding of neurological diseases. A realistic simulation could
provide a better understanding of the way drugs act on the brain, and of their possible
side effects. It could even help to develop completely new treatments. The Blue
Brain project sets out to make neuroscientific research more efficient and in
the long run will help to limit the need to use laboratory animals.
GOALS OF BLUE
BRAIN PROJECT:
The Blue Brain project represents an essential
first step toward achieving a complete virtual human brain. The researchers
have demonstrated the validity of their method by developing a realistic model
of a rat cortical column, consisting of about 10,000 neurons. Eventually,
of course, the goal is to simulate systems of millions and hundreds of millions
of neurons.
- Neocortical column modeling:
The initial goal of the project is completed
in December 2006.It was the simulation of a rat neocortical column. The cortical column can be considered the
basic unit of the cortex. Notably, it is by accumulating an ever-increasing
number of columns that the brain has evolved over millions of years. Each
column seems to be allotted to a simple yet essential function. For example, it
has been possible to show that in the rat, one specific column is devoted to
each whisker.
The
cortical column is no larger than the head of a pin. In the rat, it contains
only about 10,000 neurons. But as a basic unit, it represents an essential
component of cerebral mechanics. That is why, initially, the researchers are
working to simulate its functioning.
The
Blue Brain project team has succeeded in isolating about fifty different types
of neuron within the cortical column. As in an ecosystem, each “species” differs from the others in
essential characteristics such as morphology, behavior, population density etc.
- Move From the Real to the Virtual:
The
researchers have been working to explain the behavior of and the way they
connect to form circuits. This kind of knowledge makes it possible
to isolate basic principles they can incorporate in their simulations.
The
scientists have translated their
observations into mathematics, developing powerful algorithms
to represent neuronal behavior in a realistic way, and to make the best
possible use of supercomputing power.
Blue Brain is
a resounding success. In five years of work, Henry Markram’s (head of the
project) team has perfected a facility that can create realistic models of one
of the brain’s essential building blocks. This process is entirely data driven
and essentially automatically executed on the supercomputer. Meanwhile the
generated models show a behavior already observed in years of neuroscientific
experiments. These models will be basic building blocks for larger scale models
leading towards a complete virtual brain.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Chinese astronauts blast off on historic mission
Shenzhou 9 spacecraft carries 1st female astronaut from China into space
The Associated Press
Posted: Jun 16, 2012 5:58 AM ET
Last Updated: Jun 16, 2012 9:59 AM ET
Liu Yang waves during a sending-off ceremony as she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad in Jiuquan, China on Saturday. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)China launched its most ambitious space mission yet on Saturday, carrying its first female astronaut and two male colleagues in an attempt to dock with an orbiting module and work on board for more than a week.
China space launch1:44
The Shenzhou 9 capsule lifted off as scheduled at 6:37 p.m. local time (1237 GMT) evening from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert. All systems functioned normally and, just over 10 minutes later, it opened its solar panels and entered orbit.
Female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, and two male crew members — veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng and newcomer Liu Wang — are to dock the spacecraft with a prototype space lab launched last year in a key step toward building a permanent space station.
The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)
Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems while the third will remain in the capsule to deal with any unexpected emergencies.
China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintained space stations into orbit. It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own.
Another manned mission to the module is planned for later this year, while possible future missions could include sending a man to the moon.
The program is a source of enormous national pride for China, reflecting its rapid economic and technological progress and ambition to rank among the world's leading nations.
At a sending off ceremony for the astronauts, the ruling Communist Party's No. 2 official, Wu Bangguo, told the crew, "The country and people await your victorious return."
The module, called Tiangong 1, is only a prototype, and the plan is to replace it with a larger permanent space station due for completion around 2020.
That station is to weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station.
China has only limited co-operation in space with other nations and its exclusion from the ISS, largely on objections from the United States, was one of the key spurs for it to pursue an independent space program 20 years ago.
China first launched a man into space in 2003 followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008 that featured the country's first space walk.
In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 successfully docked twice with Tiangong 1 by remote control.
The selection of the first female astronaut is giving the space program an additional publicity boost.
"Arranging for women astronauts to fly is not only a must for the development of human spaceflight, but also the expectation of the public," space program spokeswoman Wu Ping said. "This is a landmark event."
Speaking Friday, Liu Yang said: "We won't let you down. We will work together and successfully complete this mission."
© The Associated Press, 2012
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