Swedish scientists have created the world's first "living computer" from human brain tissue. Photo
Swedish scientists have created the world's first "living computer" from the human brain. It can solve the global energy crisis.
The computer consists of 16 organoids, or clumps of brain cells grown in the laboratory, which transmit information to each other. They work like traditional computer chips: they send and receive signals through their neurons, which act like circuits, MailOnline writes.
But what makes this computer special is that this living machine consumes less energy as living neurons can consume a million times less than the current digital processors currently in use.
Compared to the best computers in the world, such as the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Frontier, scientists have found that the human brain consumes 10 to 20 watts compared to a modern computer that requires 21 megawatts at the same speed and 1000 times more memory.
One megawatt is equal to one million watts.
FinalSpark co-founders Fred Jordan and Martin Kutter
Source: finalspark.com
Organoids can store information transmitted by electrodes.
Source: finalspark.com
The living machine was developed by scientists at FinalSparks, a startup that focuses on creating solutions with biological neural networks.
"This idea is common in science fiction, but there hasn't been a lot of real research on it," Dr. Fred Jordan, co-CEO of FinalSpark, said.
The scientists took stem cells and cultured them for about one month until they formed functions such as neurons. The FinalSparks mini brain is built from about 10,000 living neurons with a diameter of about 0.5 mm. The organoids are trained with doses of dopamine: when they perform a task correctly, they receive a stream of the chemical as a reward. Scientists administer dopamine by exposing a specific area of the brain's organoid to light, just as it is released in the human brain when a particular area is activated.
The information is transmitted to the “brain" through electrodes.
Source: finalspark.com
Organoids store information in the form of a “biobit".
Source: finalspark.com
The mini brain is surrounded by eight electrodes that measure activity in the organoids, and researchers can send a current through the electrode to act on the neuron. These electrodes have a dual role: they stimulate the organoids and record the data they process. The organoids are also contained in a microfluidic incubator, which acts as a mini-plumbing system for tiny amounts of fluid that provides nutrients to the cells, and also provides the nutrients needed to keep them alive. The incubator maintains the body temperature of the organoids and automates the flow and maintenance of the cellular medium, providing a stable environment free of bacteria and viruses.
Cells in the "living computer" live and die within 100 days, assembled together in a three-dimensional organoid structure. But they are similar to those in the real human brain and have similar electrical activity.
Researchers working with organoids.
Source: finalspark.com
"Neurons in your brain live for about 80 years: when you die, they will be the same as when you were born. We are not as good as nature at keeping them alive, so our artificial neurons live for 100 days. And then we just grow new ones to replace the dead ones," the scientist explained.
The team recently launched the brain computer as an online platform that allows global researchers to conduct remote experiments on biological neurons in vitro. Three dozen universities have already expressed interest in using the platform.
"The platform offers round-the-clock access to 16 human brain organoids. To be more precise, these are neural tissues placed on microelectrode arrays (MEAs) that fully support electrophysiological experiments. Three-dimensional neural structures have a long service life and are therefore suitable for experiments lasting several months," Finalspark writes.
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