"Blue Brain" Simulated Human Brain Project Started

[Vesko]

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7470 (Source: flipcode.com)

An effort to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain, right down to the molecular level, was launched on Monday.

The “Blue Brain” project, a collaboration between IBM and a Swiss university team, will involve building a custom-made supercomputer based on IBM’s Blue Gene design.

The hope is that the virtual brain will help shed light on some aspects of human cognition, such as perception, memory and perhaps even consciousness.

It will be the first time humans will be able to observe the electrical code our brains use to represent the world, and to do so in real time, say Henry Markram, director of Brain and Mind Institute at the Ecole Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

[Robanan]

I feel that this project would shed light upon the structure and functions of the brain. If my speculations are correct the blue brain model should reveal some shadowy activity which would not be possible to relate to the phisycal functions of the body.