Technical Seminar Report 2011 BLUE BRAIN

1. INTRODUCTION

Human brain, the most valuable creation of God. The man is called intelligent because
of the brain .Today we are developed because we can think, that other animals can not do .But
we loss the knowledge of a brain when the body is destroyed after the death of man. That
knowledge might have been used for the development of the human society. What happen if
we create a brain and up load the contents of natural brain into it.

“Blue brain” The name of the world’s first virtual brain. That means a machine that can
function as human brain. Today scientists are in research to create an artificial brain that can
think, response, take decision, and keep anything in memory. The main aim is to upload human
brain into machine. So that man can think, take decision without any effort. After the death of
the body, the virtual brain will act as the man .So, even after the death of a person we will not
loose the knowledge, intelligence, personalities, feelings and memories of that man that can be
used for the development of the human society. No one has ever understood the complexity of
human brain. It is complex than any circuitry in the world. So, question may arise “Is it really
possible to create a human brain?” The answer is “Yes”. Because what ever man has created
today always he has followed the nature. When man does not have a device called computer, it
was a big question for all .But today it is possible due to the technology. Technology is
growing faster than every thing. IBM is now in research to create a virtual brain. It is called
“Blue brain “.If possible, this would be the first virtual brain of the world.

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2. WHAT IS BLUE BRAIN?

The IBM is now developing a virtual brain known as the Blue brain. It would be
the world’s first virtual brain. With in 30 years, we will be able to scan ourselves into the
computers. Is this the beginning of eternal life? Because whatever man has created today
always he has followed the nature. When man does not have a device called computer, it was a
big question for all .But today it is possible due to the technology. Technology is growing
faster than everything. IBM is now in research to create a virtual brain. It is called “Blue brain
“.If possible, this would be the first virtual brain of the world.

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3. WHAT IS VIRTUAL BRAIN?

We can say Virtual brain is an artificial brain, which does not actually the natural
brain, but can act as the brain .It can think like brain, take decisions based on the past
experience, and response as the natural brain can. It is possible by using a super computer,
with a huge amount of storage capacity, processing power and an interface between the
human brain and this artificial one .Through this interface the data stored in the natural brain
can be up loaded into the computer .So the brain and the knowledge, intelligence of anyone
can be kept and used for ever, even after the death of the person.

3.1BUILDING OF VIRTUAL BRAIN

The goal, Dr. McIntosh says, is to create a machine that helps doctors treat patients. Say
someone has a stroke that leaves him unable to speak. A physician could scan the patient's
brain, and then input his unique neural architecture into the virtual brain. Doctors could then
identify the networks that need to be targeted for therapy. They might even be able to model
the impact of various treatments. The project is funded with $7.5-million (U.S.) over five years
from the American James S. McDonnell Foundation, Dr. McIntosh says, and is now in its third
year of that grant. To get the virtual brain into a clinical setting could take an additional $10-
million, he estimates. He and his colleagues are collecting data from different people – infants,
adults, elderly, patients with a number of brain-imaging methods. They also have to develop
the necessary structure to archive and access the data and the algorithms to analyze it and
synthesize it into the virtual brain.

A team in Switzerland is also working on a virtual brain with the support of IBM. Henry
Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne,
says he has already simulated elements of a rat brain. That work is focused, at least initially, on
the cortical columns, the building blocks of the neocortex, the outermost portion of the brain
involved in sensory perception and complex cognitive functions.

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Dr. McIntosh and his colleagues are looking more at the brain as a whole. “If you are trying
to
build a model of a car, you really want to do the whole car, not just the spark plug,” he says.
“You can model a spark plug and how it fires, but you will miss how the spark plug helps
the car move forward.”

The next step is to get their virtual fetal brain to mature. Babies have less specialized brains
than adults, but as they get older, different parts of their brains take on more specific functions,
such as processing information collected by the eyes or the ears. Dr. McIntosh is hoping to
mimic that process, and eventually build a virtual brain that can replicate the neural circuitry of
the adult organ. The wildly ambitious project is limited, however, by how little scientists really
understand about how the brain works. Brain scans offer at best an overview of brain activity.
“We are getting very little about what is actually going on,”
Dr. McIntosh says. Still, neuroscientists probably understand enough about the human brain to
build a virtual one that will be helpful in understanding epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease or stroke.
“Certainly, some things that impact stroke recovery are going to be happening at the cellular
level that we cannot measure easily in living tissue,” Dr. McIntosh says. “But it is a question of
do we need that information to make the model useful or not.”

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4. WHY WE NEED VIRTUAL BRAIN?

Today we are developed because of our intelligence. Intelligence is the inborn quality
that can not be created .Some people have this quality ,so that they can think up to such an
extent where other can not reach .Human society is always need of such intelligence and such
an intelligent brain to have with. But the intelligence is lost along with the body after the death.
The virtual brain is a solution to it. The brain and intelligence will alive even after the death.

We often face difficulties in remembering things such as people's names, their

birthdays, and the spellings of words, proper grammar, important dates, history facts, and
etcetera. In the busy life every one want to be relaxed .Can not we use any machine to assist for
all these? Virtual brain may be the solution to it. What if we upload ourselves into computer,
we were simply aware of a computer, or maybe, what if we lived in a computer as a program?

Virtual brain – still under construction – is composed of powerful computers, linked in

a grid, and racks of servers, cooled by fans. It is still early days in the ambitious multimillion-
dollar project that could take 10 years to complete. “You could almost call it a fetal brain in
some respects,” says Dr. McIntosh, a neuroscientist at the institute. The idea is to create a
machine that will mimic basic patterns of brain activity that occur when people are doing a
variety of things, such as recognizing faces or reading. So far, Dr. McIntosh and his colleagues
have been able to recreate what the brain does when it is resting. This may sound easy, but it
involves replicating a stereotypical pattern of activity across the brain that has been
documented by other researchers using scans and equipment that measures electrical activity.
From this work, Dr. McIntosh knows the details of what a brain at rest is doing – and generates
the same activity in the artificial brain, programming the virtual structures to do the same thing
as their real-life counterparts. “You can actually reproduce these patterns,” he says. He and his
colleagues were able to map activity in their virtual brain that matched the real thing – maps of

the human brain at rest created using a functional magnetic resonance imaging, or an fMRI.

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5. HOW IT IS POSSIBLE?

First, it is helpful to describe the basic manners in which a person may be uploaded into
a computer. Raymond Kurzweil recently provided an interesting paper on this topic. In it, he
describes both invasive and noninvasive techniques. The most promising is the use of very
small robots, or nanobots. These robots will be small enough to travel throughout our
circulatory systems.

Traveling into the spine and brain, they will be able to monitor the activity and
structure of our central nervous system. They will be able to provide an interface with
computers that is as close as our mind can be while we still reside in our biological form.
Nanobots could also carefully scan the structure of our brain, providing a complete readout of
the connections between each neuron. They would also record the current state of the brain.
This information, when entered into a computer, could then continue to function as us. All that
is required is a computer with large enough storage space and processing power. Is the pattern
and state of neuron connections in our brain truly all that makes up our conscious selves?
Many people believe firmly those we posses a soul, while some very technical people believe
that quantum forces contribute to our awareness. But we have to now think technically. Note,
however, that we need not know how the brain actually functions, to transfer it to a computer.
We need only know the media and contents. The actual mystery of how we achieved
consciousness in the first place, or how we maintain it, is a separate discussion.

Really this concept appears to be very difficult and complex to us. For this we have to
first know how the human brain actually works. . All that is required is a computer with large
enough storage space and processing power. Is the pattern and state of neuron connections in
our brain truly all that makes up our conscious selves? Many people believe firmly those we
posses a soul, while some very technical people believe that quantum forces contribute to our
awareness. But we have to now think technically.

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Modeling Neurons

Neurons are not all alike - they come in a variety of complex shapes. The precise shape
and structure of a neuron influences its electrical properties and connectivity with other
neurons. A neuron's electrical properties are determined to a large extent by a variety of ion
channels distributed in varying densities throughout the cell's membrane. Scientists have been
collecting data on neuron morphology and electrical behavior of the juvenile rat in the
laboratory for many years, and this data is used as the basis for a model that is run on the Blue
Gene to recreate each of the 10,000 neurons in the NCC.

Modeling connections

To model the neocortical column, it is essential to understand the composition, density

and distribution of the numerous cortical cell types. Each class of cells is present in specific
layers of the column. The precise density of each cell type and the volume of the space it
occupies provides essential information for cell positioning and constructing the foundation of
the cortical circuit. Each neuron is connected to thousands of its neighbors at points where their
dendrites or axons touch, known as synapses. In a column with 10,000 neurons, this translates
into trillions of possible connections. The Blue Gene is used in this extremely computationally
intensive calculation to fix the synapse locations, "jiggling" individual neurons in 3D space to
find the optimal connection scenario.

Modeling the column

The result of all these calculations is a re-creation, at the cellular level, of the
neocortical column, the basic microcircuit of the brain. In this case, it's the cortical column of a
juvenile rat. This is the only biologically accurate replica to date of the NCC - the neurons are
biologically realistic and their connectivity is optimized. This would be impossible without the
huge computational capacity of the Blue Gene. A model of the NCC was completed at the end
of 2006.

In November, 2007, The Blue Brain Project officially announced the conclusion of Phase I of
the project, with three specific acheivements:

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1. A new modeling framework for automatic, on-demand construction of neural circuits built
from biological data

2. A new simulation and calibration process that automatically and systematically analyzes
the biological accuracy and consistency of each revision of the model

3. The first cellular-level neocortical column model built entirely from biological data that
can now serve as a key tool for simulation-based research

The model of part of the brain was completed last year, says Markram. But now, after
extensive testing comparing its behavior with results from biological experiments, he is
satisfied that the simulation is accurate enough that the researchers can proceed with the rest of
the brain.

"It's amazing work," says Thomas Serre, a computational-neuroscience researcher at MIT.

"This is likely to have a tremendous impact on neuroscience."

The project began with the initial goal of modeling the 10,000 neurons and 30 million synaptic
connections that make up a rat's neocortical column, the main building block of a mammal's
cortex. The neocortical column was chosen as a starting point because it is widely recognized
as being particularly complex, with a heterogeneous structure consisting of many different
types of synapse and ion channels. "There's no point in dreaming about modeling the brain if
you can't model a small part of it," says Markham.

The model itself is based on 15 years' worth of experimental data on neuronal morphology,
gene expression, ion channels, synaptic connectivity, and electrophysiological recordings of
the neocortical columns of rats. Software tools were then developed to process this information
and automatically reconstruct physiologically accurate 3-D models of neurons and their
interconnections.

Although science "knows a lot of details about the brain, we do not know how the parts fit
together and how they are related to thought and learning and perception," he says.

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Peck says Markram's team will take measurements from a dozen neurons that have
been sliced from rat brains and mounted on a chip. The research will examine the physical
structure and the electrical properties of each neuron and how neurons affect one another.

Peck says that a model of multiple NCCs is still far from a model of the whole brain.
"Once we have modeled the neocortex, we will have to include models of other brain regions,
such as the basal ganglia, hippocampus, cerebellum and so on," he explains.

The Blue Gene supercomputer was installed in July, and the first simulations were run
in August, with a simulation of 25,000 simple neurons that took just 60 seconds. "This was just
not possible before, and even smaller networks of 1,000 neurons would take weeks to run on a
cluster, so this is truly a quantum leap in size and speed," Markram says. Future simulations of
10,000 complex neurons will take much longer.

A special room was built for Blue Gene at the EPFL, and the machine sits on top of a
large room that holds the cooling equipment and computer cables, Markram says. Ice-cold
water from Lake Geneva is pumped in to support the cooling system. The actual computer
"takes up only a small space," Markram notes, and is only about the size of four refrigerators
running on four racks.

Blue Gene is an 8,096-processor supercomputer, and it will model one to 10 neurons

per processor. The computer could allow simulations of as many as 100 million simple
neurons, which is about half the number of neurons in a rat brain. A PFLOPS Blue Gene,
which IBM says is several years away, would make it possible to simulate nearly a billion
simple neurons, Markram says. "But improvements in processing speed and memory could
mean the entire human brain could be simulated within a decade," he adds.

IBM's Ajay Royyuru, head of Blue Gene computing as applied to life sciences, says the
supercomputer's role is another indication that "biology [has become] information science."

"The scale of this computing will reveal interesting things in biology. We need that scale to get
at the complexity that biological systems have," he says. And the trickle-down effect from Blue
Brain to other computing projects in science and industry will be enormous, he adds.

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For example, Markram says, ASIC designs that emulate neuron network behavior
might be developed for use in information processing in intelligent devices. And, more
generally, he says that Blue Brain will teach lessons about real-time data processing, as
opposed to off-line processing.

"There's plenty... we can learn and bring back," Royyuru says of the Blue Brain project.

NEURON software models neuronal cells by modeling fluxes of ions inside and
outside the cell through different ion channels. These movements generate a difference of
electrical potential between the interior and the exterior of the neuronal membrane, and
modulations of this potential allows different neurons to communicate between each other.
Several biophysical models for neurons exist, such as the integrate-and-fire model or the
Hodgkin-Huxley model

Artificial neural networks have pretty much nothing to do with biological neural
networks, apart from sharing the same name. They're mathematical constructs that are
connected with each other in a weighted manner, allowing to take one or more inputs and
produce one or more outputs as much as the Blue Project is an incredible and very admirable
step towards modeling an entire brain, we are far far far far away from that goal. All these are
models, so they approximate the behaviour of biological cells, but they are in no way
complete. Furthermore, there is a high bias in the "choice" of which neurons these models
analyze. Most of the models represent certain areas of the brain (such as the cortex or the
hippocampus) of which 1) we have quite a bit of knowledge and 2) are constituted by very
organized structures of neuronal cells working together. Other parts of the brain may not be as
trivial to model (note that I use "trivial" in a jokingly way, I'm not in any way saying that
modeling the cortex is easy!), but I guess the details of this would be a bit outside the scope of
SO. Maybe when the cognitive science proposal will be operative you could pose the question
there!

Finally, to correct the quoted statement, the project did model a column of the
somatosensory cortex of the rat, which is only a very tiny part of an entire rat brain.

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5.1 Who's working on the Blue Brain Project?

The project's nucleus and leadership reside in Switzerland at the EPFL. The Core Blue Brain
team is led by:

Blue Brain Project Director

Professor Henry Markram

Blue Brain Project Advisory Board

Dr Robert Bishop, Chairman

Blue Brain Project Strategic Alliances

Dr Ronald Cicurel, Chairman

General Project Manager

Dr. Felix Schürmann

Project Manager for Computational Neuroscience

Dr. Sean Hill

Head of the IBM collaboration

Dr. Eric Kronstadt, IBM Research

In addition to these project leaders, the project currently involves researchers at other
participating institutions

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6. HOW THE NATURAL BRAIN WORKS?

The human ability to feel, interpret and even see is controlled, in computer like
calculations, by the magical nervous system. Yes, the nervous system is quite like magic
because we can't see it, but its working through electric impulses through your body.

One of the worlds most "intricately organized" electron mechanisms is the nervous
system. Not even engineers have come close to making circuit boards and computers as
delicate and precise as the nervous system. To understand this system, one has to know the
three simple functions that it puts into action: sensory input, integration, motor output.

Sensory input:

When our eyes see something or our hands touch a warm surface, the sensory cells, also
known as Neurons, send a message straight to your brain. This action of getting information
from your surrounding environment is called sensory input because we are putting things in
your brain by way of your senses.

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Integration:

Integration is best known as the interpretation of things we have felt, tasted, and
touched with our sensory cells, also known as neurons, into responses that the body recognizes.
This process is all accomplished in the brain where many, many neurons work together to
understand the environment.

Motor Output:

Once our brain has interpreted all that we have learned, either by touching, tasting, or
using any other sense, then our brain sends a message through neurons to effecter cells, muscle
or gland cells, which actually work to perform our requests and act upon our environment. The
word motor output is easily remembered if one should think that our putting something out into
the environment through the use of a motor, like a muscle which does the work for our body.

How we see, hear, feel, smell, and take decision:

Nose

Once the smell of food has reached your nose, which is lined with hairs, it travels to an
olfactory bulb, a set of sensory nerves. The nerve impulses travel through the olfactory tract,
around, in a circular way, the thalamus, and finally to the smell sensory cortex of our brain,
located between our eye and ear, where it is interpreted to be understood and memorized by the
body.

Eye

Seeing is one of the most pleasing senses of the nervous system. This cherished action
primarily conducted by the lens, which magnifies a seen image, vitreous disc, which bends and
rotates an image against the retina, which translates the image and light by a set of cells. The
retina is at the back of the eye ball where rods and cones structure along with other cells and
tissues covert the image into nerve impulses which are transmitted along the optic nerve to the
brain where it is kept for memory.

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Tongue

A set of microscopic buds on the tongue divide everything we eat and drink into four
kinds of taste: bitter, sour, salty, and sweet. These buds have taste pores, which convert the
taste into a nerve impulse and send the impulse to the brain by a sensory nerve fiber. Upon
receiving the message, our brain classifies the different kinds of taste. This is how we can refer
the taste of one kind of food to another.

Ear

Once the sound or sound wave has entered the drum, it goes to a large structure called
the cochlea. In this snail like structure, the sound waves are divided into pitches. The vibrations
of the pitches in the cochlea are measured by the Corti. This organ transmits the vibration
information to a nerve, which sends it to the brain for interpretation and memory.

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7. BRAIN SIMULATION
Now the question is how to implement this entire natural thing by using artificial
things.Here is a comparative discussion.
Natural Brain
1. INPUT
In the nervous system in our body the neurons are
responsible for the message passing. The body
receives the input by the sensory cells. These sensory
cells produces electric impulses which are received
by the neurons .The neurons transfer these electric
impulses to the brain.
2. INTERPRETATION
The electric impulses received by the brain from the
neurons are interpreted in the brain .The
interpretation in the brain is accomplished by the
means of certain states of many many neurons.
3. OUTPUT
Based on the states of the neurons the brain sends the
electric impulses representing the responses which
are further received by the sensory cell of our body
to respond. The sensory cells of which part of our
body is going to receive that, it depends upon the
state o f the neurons in the brain at that time.
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Simulated Brain
1.INPUT
In a similar way the artificial nervous system can
be created. The scientist has already created
artificial neurons by replacing them with the
silicon chip. It has also been tested that these
neurons can receive the input from the sensory
cells .So, the electric impulses from the sensory
cells can be received through these artificial
neurons and send to a super computer for the
interpretation.
2.INTERPRETATION
The interpretation of the electric impulses
received by the artificial neuron can be done by
means of a set of register .The different values in
these register will represent different states of the
brain.
3. OUTPUT
Similarly based on the states of the register the
output signal can be given to the artificial neurons
in the body which will be received by the sensory
cell.
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Natural Brain
4. MEMORY.
There are certain neurons in our brain which
represent certain states permanently. When required
these state is interpreted by our brain and we can
remember the past things. To remember thing we
force the neurons to represent certain states of the
brain permanently or for any interesting or serious
matter this is happened implicitly.
5. PROCESSING
When we take decision, think about something, or
make any computation,
Logical and arithmetic calculations are done in our
neural circuitry .The past experience stored and the
current input received are used and the states of
certain neurons are changed to give the output .
Now there is no question how the virtual brain will work .But the question is how the human
brain will be up loaded into it . This is also possible due to the first growing technology.
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BLUE BRAIN
Simulated Brain
4. MEMORY
It is not impossible to store the data permanently by
using the secondary memory .In the similar way the
required states of the registers can be stored
permanently. And when required these information
can be retrieved and used.
5. PROCESSING
In a similar way the decision making can be done by
the computer by using some stored states and the
received input and by performing some arithmetic
and logical calculations .
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Uploading human brain:

The uploading is possible by the use of small robots known as the Nanobots .These robots are
small enough to travel through out our circulatory system. Traveling into the spine and brain,
they will be able to monitor the activity and structure of our central nervous system. They will
be able to provide an interface with computers that is as close as our mind can be while we still
reside in our biological form. Nanobots could also carefully scan the structure of our brain,
providing a complete readout of the connections. This information, when entered into a
computer, could then continue to function as us. Thus the data stored in the entire brain will be
uploaded into the computer.

Simulating the microcircuit

Once the microcircuit is built, the exciting work of making the circuit function can
begin. All the 8192 processors of the Blue Gene are pressed into service, in a massively
parallel computation solving the complex mathematical equations that govern the electrical
activity in each neuron when a stimulus is applied. As the electrical impulse travels from
neuron to neuron, the results are communicated via inter-processor communication (MPI).
Currently, the time required to simulate the circuit is about two orders of magnitude larger than
the actual biological time simulated. The Blue Brain team is working to streamline the
computation so that the circuit can function in real time - meaning that 1 second of activity can
be modeled in one second.

Interpreting the results

Running the Blue Brain simulation generates huge amounts of data. Analyses of
individual neurons must be repeated thousands of times. And analyses dealing with the
network activity must deal with data that easily reaches hundreds of gigabytes per second of
simulation. Using massively parallel computers the data can be analyzed where it is created
(server-side analysis for experimental data, online analysis during simulation).

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8. CURRENT RESEARCH WORK

1.

IBM, in partnership with scientists at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de

Lausanne's (EPFL) Brain and Mind Institute will begin simulating the brain's biological
systems and output the data as a working 3-dimensional model that will recreate the high-speed
electro-chemical interactions that take place within the brain's interior. These include cognitive
functions such as language, learning, perception and memory in addition to brain malfunction
such as psychiatric disorders like depression and autism. From there, the modeling will expand
to other regions of the brain and, if successful, shed light on the relationships between genetic,
molecular and cognitive functions of the brain.

NEWS: The EPFL Blue Gene was the 8th fastest supercomputer in the world

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2.

Researchers at Microsoft's Media Presence Lab are developing a "virtual brain," a PC-based
database that holds a record of an individual's complete life experience. Called MyLifeBits, the
project aims to make this database of human memories searchable in the manner of a
conventional search engine. "By 2047, almost all information will be in cyberspace including
all knowledge and creative works, said one of the project's leaders, Gordon Bell.

3.
According to the new scientist Magazine report Rodrigo Laje and Gabriel Mindlin of the
University of Buenos Aires in Argentina have devised a computer model of a region of the
brain called the RA nucleus which controls muscles in the lungs and vocal folds.

The model brain can accurately echo the song of a South American sparrow. The bird
sing by forcing air from their lungs past folds of tissue in the voice box. The electric impulses
from the brain that force the lungs had been recorded and when the equivalent impulses were
passed to the computer model of the lungs of the bird it begins to sing like the bird.

Mr. Mindlin told the weekly science magazine he was surprised that simple instructions
from the brain change a constant signal into a complex series of bursts to produce the
intricacies of birdsong.

He plans to add more brain power to his model which might reveal how birds improve their
songs and learn them from other birds.

He hopes it might one day be possible to use similar models to map the neural [brain]
circuitry of animals without distressing lab experiments - just by recording their calls and
movements, the magazine said.

9. APPLICATIONS OF BLUE BRAIN PROJECT

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What can we learn from Blue Brain?

Detailed, biologically accurate brain simulations offer the opportunity to answer some
fundamental questions about the brain that can’t be addressed with any current experimental or
theoretical approaches. These include,

Defining functions of the basic elements

Despite a century of experimental and theoretical research, we are unable to provide a

comprehensive definition of the computational function of different ion channels, receptors,
neurons or synaptic pathways in the brain. A detailed model will allow fine control of any of
these elements and allow a systematic investigation of their contribution to the emergent
behavior.

Understanding complexity

At present detailed , accurate brain simulations are the only approach that could allow us to
explain why the brain needs to use different ions channels, neurons and synopsis. A spectrum
of receptors and complex dendritic and axonal arborizations rather than the simplified, uniform
types found in many models.

Exploring the role of dendrites

This is the only current approach to explore the dendritic object theory, which proposes that
3D voltage objects are generated continuously across dendritic segments regardless of the
origin of the neurons, and that spikes are used to maintain such dendritic objects.

Revealing functional diversity

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Most models engineer a specific function, where as a spectrum of functions might be possible
with a biological basic design. Understanding memory storage and retrieval.

10. ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATION

10.1 Advantages

1. We can remember things without any effort.

2. Decision can be made without the presence of a person.

3. Even after the death of a man his intelligence can be used.

4. The activity of different animals can be understood. That means by interpretation of the
electric impulses from the brain of the animals, their thinking can be understood easily.

5. It would allow the deaf to hear via direct nerve stimulation, and also be helpful for many
psychological diseases. By down loading the contents of the brain that was uploaded into the
computer, the man can get rid from the mad ness.

Gathering and Testing 100 Years of Data

The most immediate benefit is to provide a working model into which the past 100 years
knowledge about the microstructure and workings of the neocortical column can be gathered
and tested. The Blue Column will therefore also produce a virtual library to explore in 3D the
microarchitecture of the neocortex and access all key research relating to its structure and
function.

Cracking the Neural Code

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The Neural Code refers to how the brain builds objects using electrical patterns. In the same
way that the neuron is the elementary cell for computing in the brain, the NCC is the
elementary network for computing in the neocortex. Creating an accurate replica of the NCC
which faithfully reproduces the emergent electrical dynamics of the real microcircuit, is an
absolute requirement to revealing how the neocortex processes, stores and retrieves
information.

Understanding Neocortical Information Processing

The power of an accurate simulation lies in the predictions that can be generated about the
neocortex. Indeed, iterations between simulations and experiments are essential to build an
accurate copy of the NCC. These iterations are therfore expected to reveal the function of
individual elements (neurons, synapses, ion channels, receptors), pathways (mono-synaptic,
disynaptic, multisynaptic loops) and physiological processes (functional properties, learning,
reward, goal-oreinted behavior).

A Novel Tool for Drug Discovery for Brain Disorders

Understanding the functions of different elements and pathways of the NCC will provide a
concrete foundation to explore the cellular and synaptic bases of a wide spectrum of
neurological and psychiatric diseases. The impact of receptor, ion channel, cellular and
synaptic deficits could be tested in simulations and the optimal experimental tests can be
determined.

A Global Facility

A software replica of a NCC will allow researchers to explore hypotheses of brain function and
dysfunction accelerating research. Simulation runs could determine which parameters should
be used and measured in the experiments. An advanced 2D, 3D and 3D immersive
visualization system will allow "imaging" of many aspects of neural dynamics during
processing, storage and retrieval of information. Such imaging experiments may be imposible
in reality or may be prohibitively expensive to perform.

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A Foundation for Whole Brain Simulations

With current and envisageable future computer technology it seems unlikely that a mammalian
brain can be simulated with full cellular and synaptic complexity (above the molecular level).
An accurate replica of an NCC is therefore required in order to generate reduced models that
retain critical functions and computational capabilities, which can be duplicated and
interconnected to form neocortical brain regions. Knowledge of the NCC architecture can be
transferred to facilitate reconstruction of subcortical brain regions.

A Foundation for Molecular Modeling of Brain Function

An accurate cellular replica of the neocortical column will provide the first and essential step to
a gradual increase in model complexity moving towards a molecular level description of the
neocortex with biochemical pathways being simulated. A molecular level model of the NCC
will provide the substrate for interfacing gene expression with the network structure and
function. The NCC lies at the interface between the genes and complex cognitive functions.
Establishing this link will allow predictions of the cognitive consequences of genetic disorders
and allow reverse engineering of cognitive deficits to determine the genetic and molecular
causes. This level of simulation will become a reality with the most advanced phase of Blue
Gene development.

10.2 Disadvantages

Further, there are many new dangers these technologies will open. We will be susceptible to
new forms of harm.

1. We become dependent upon the computer systems.

2. Others may use technical knowledge against us.

3. Computer viruses will pose an increasingly critical threat.

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11. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIRMENT

1. A super computer.

2. Memory with a very large storing capacity.

3. Processor with a very high processing power.

4. A very wide network.

5. A program to convert the electric impulses from the brain to input signal, which is to be
received by the computer, and vice versa.

6. Very powerful Nanobots to act as the interface between the natural brain and the computer

Milestones

• 2002 - Henry Markram founds the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL

• June 6, 2005 - signature of agreement between EPFL and IBM, birth of the Blue
Brain Project.
• April 2006, Barcelona: Cajal Centenary Conference, first public appearance & keynote
at Neuroscience Conference.
• July 2006, Vienna: Forum of European Neuroscience (FENS), public presentation of
toolchain (21 posters).
• Summer 2006 - 10,000 neuron NCC of the rat successfully built with simplified
neurons.
• December 2006 - Completion of 10,000 neuron NCC with automatically generated,
biologically accurate neurons.
• January 2007 - presentation of BBP at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland .
• November 26, 2007 - announcement of the completion of Phase I of the Blue Brain
Project, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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11.1WHAT’S THE NEXT FOR BLUE BRAIN PROJECT?

Phase I marks the completion of a proof-of-principle simulation-based research process that

has resulted in a cellular-level model of the neocortical column. We have achieved biological
fidelity such that the model itself now serves as a primary tool for evaluating the consistency
and relevance of neurobiological data, while providing guidance for new experimental efforts.
These new data will serve to further refine the neocortical column model. The assembled
process allows neuroscientists to investigate scientific questions by integrating the available
experimental data and evaluating hypotheses of network dynamics and neural function.
The completion of phase I provides the basis now for increasing the resolution of the models
down to the molecular level and expanding the size of the models towards the whole brains of
mammals.
In the future, information from the molecular and genetic level will be added to the
algorithms that generate the individual neurons and their connections, and thus this level of
detail will be reflected in the circuit's construction. The simulations can be used to explore
what happens when this molecular or genetic information is altered -- situations such as a
genetic variation in particular neurotransmitters, or what happens when the molecular
environment is altered via drugs.

The project will continue to expand and will necessarily involve additional scientists and
research groups from around the world.

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12. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we will be able to transfer ourselves into computers at some point. Most
arguments against this outcome are seemingly easy to circumvent. They are either simple
minded, or simply require further time for technology to increase. The only serious threats
raised are also overcome as we note the combination of biological and digital technologies.

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13. REFERENCES

– http://Google.com
• tons of stuff, including a bunch of online papers

– http://www.wikipedia.com
- .http://www.Blue brain.com

– http://www.bbrws.org
• Lots of references related to Blue brain, including a link to an interesting
e-journal…

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