In an article published today in Frontiers in Science, the team outlines how biological computers could surpass today’s electronic computers for certain applications while using a small fraction of the electricity required by today’s computers and server farms.
They’re starting by making small clusters of 50,000 brain cells grown from stem cells and known as organoids. That’s about a third the size of a fruit fly brain. They’re aiming for 10 million neurons which would be about the number of neurons in a tortoise brain. By comparison, the average human brain has more than 80 billion neurons.
The article highlights how the human brain continues to massively outperform machines for particular tasks. Humans, for example, can learn to distinguish two types of objects (such as a dog and a cat) using just a few samples, while AI algorithms need many thousands. And while AI beat the world champion in Go in 2016, it was trained on data from 160,000 games – the equivalent of playing for five hours each day, for more than 175 years.
Brains are also more energy efficient. Our brains are thought to be able to store the equivalent of more than a million times the capacity of an average home computer (2.5 petabytes), using the equivalent of just a few watts of power. US data farms, by contrast, use more than 15,000 megawatts a year, much of it generated by dozens of coal-fired power stations.
In the paper, the authors outline their plan for “organoid intelligence”, or OI, with the brain organoids grown in cell-culture. Although brain organoids aren’t “mini brains”, they share key aspects of brain function and structure. Organoids would need to be dramatically expanded from around 50,000 cells currently.
“For OI, we would need to increase this number to 10 million,” says senior author Prof Thomas Hartung of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Brett and his colleagues at Cortical Labs have already demonstrated that biocomputers based on human brain cells are possible. A recent paper in Neuron showed that a flat culture of brain cells could learn to play the video game Pong.
“We have shown we can interact with living biological neurons in such a way that compels them to modify their activity, leading to something that resembles intelligence,” says Kagan of the relatively simple Pong-playing DishBrain.
“Working with the team of amazing people assembled by Professor Hartung and colleagues for this Organoid Intelligence collaboration, Cortical Labs is now trying to replicate that work with brain organoids.”
“I would say that replicating [Cortical Labs’] experiment with organoids already fulfils the basic definition of OI,” says Thomas.
“From here on, it’s just a matter of building the community, the tools, and the technologies to realise OI’s full potential,” he said.
“This new field of biocomputing promises unprecedented advances in computing speed, processing power, data efficiency, and storage capabilities – all with lower energy needs,” Brett says. “The particularly exciting aspect of this collaboration is the open and collaborative spirit in which it was formed. Bringing these different experts together is not only vital to optimise for success but provides a critical touch point for industry collaboration.”
And the technology could also enable scientists to better study personalised brain organoids developed from skin or small blood samples of patients suffering from neural disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and run tests to investigate how genetic factors, medicines, and toxins influence these conditions.
TH and LS consult AxoSim. JS is named as inventor on a patent by the University of Luxembourg on the production of midbrain organoids, which is licensed to OrganoTherapeutics SARL, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. JS is also co-founder and shareholder of OrganoTherapeutics SARL.
AM is a co-founder and has equity interest in TISMOO, a company dedicated to genetic analysis and human brain organogenesis, focusing on therapeutic applications customized for autism spectrum disorders and other neurological disorders with genetic origins.
The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the University of California, San Diego, in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. BK is an inventor on patents for technology related to this paper along with being employed at and holding shares in Cortical Labs Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia.
No specific funding or other incentives were provided for involvement in this publication.
News
False Memories Under Fire: Surprising Science Behind What We Really Recall
New research challenges the ease of implanting false memories, highlighting flaws in the influential “Lost in the Mall” study. By reexamining the data from a previous study, researchers found that many supposed false memories [...]
Born Different? Cambridge Scientists Uncover Innate Sex Differences in Brains
Cambridge researchers found that sex differences in brain structure exist from birth, with males having more white matter and females more grey matter, highlighting early neurodiversity. Research from the Autism Research Centre at the University [...]
New study shows risk factors for dementia – virus causes deposits in the brain
Research into the causes of Alzheimer's is not yet complete. Now a new study shows that head trauma can activate herpes viruses and promote the disease. Frankfurt am Main – As a neurodegenerative disease, [...]
Are Machines Truly Thinking? Modern AI Systems Have Finally Achieved Turing’s Vision
Modern AI systems have fulfilled Turing’s vision of machines that learn and converse like humans, but challenges remain. A new paper highlights concerns about energy consumption and societal inequality while calling for more robust [...]
The Surprising Link Between Smell, Sound, and Emotions
New research reveals how smell and hearing interact in the brain to drive social behavior, using mouse maternal instincts as a model. Imagine you’re at a dinner party, but you can’t smell the food [...]
Brain cells age at different rates
As our body ages, not only joints, bones and muscles wear out, but also our nervous system. Nerve cells die, are no longer fully replaced, and the brain shrinks. "Aging is the most important risk factor [...]
Long COVID Breakthrough: Spike Proteins Persist in Brain for Years
Researchers have discovered that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein persists in the brain and skull bone marrow for years after infection, potentially leading to chronic inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers from Helmholtz Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) have [...]
Water-Resistant Paper Could Revolutionize Packaging and Replace Plastic
A groundbreaking study showcases the creation of sustainable hydrophobic paper, enhanced by cellulose nanofibres and peptides, presenting a biodegradable alternative to petroleum-based materials, with potential uses in packaging and biomedical devices. Researchers aimed to [...]
NIH Scientists Discover Game-Changing Antibodies Against Malaria
Novel antibodies have the potential to pave the way for the next generation of malaria interventions. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified a novel class of antibodies that target a previously unexplored region [...]
Surprising Discovery: What If Some Cancer Genes Are Actually Protecting You?
A surprising discovery reveals that a gene previously thought to accelerate esophageal cancer actually helps protect against it initially. This pivotal study could lead to better prediction and prevention strategies tailored to individual genetic [...]
The Cancer Test That Exposes What Conventional Scans Miss
Researchers at UCLA have unveiled startling findings using PSMA-PET imaging that reveal nearly half of patients diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer might actually have metastases missed by traditional imaging methods. This revelation could profoundly affect future [...]
Pupil size in sleep reveals how memories are processed
Cornell University researchers have found that the pupil is key to understanding how, and when, the brain forms strong, long-lasting memories. By studying mice equipped with brain electrodes and tiny eye-tracking cameras, the researchers [...]
Stanford’s Vaccine Breakthrough Boosts Flu Protection Like Never Before
Stanford Medicine researchers have developed a new method for influenza vaccination that encourages a robust immune response to all four common flu subtypes, potentially increasing the vaccine’s efficacy. In laboratory tests using human tonsil [...]
Water’s Worst Nightmare: The Rise of Superhydrophobic Materials
New materials with near-perfect water repellency offer potential for self-cleaning surfaces in cars and buildings. Scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) have developed a surface [...]
Japanese dentists test drug to help people with missing teeth regrow new ones
Japanese dentists are testing a groundbreaking drug that could enable people with missing teeth to grow new ones, reducing the need for dentures and implants, AFP recently reported. Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at [...]
An AI system has reached human level on a test for ‘general intelligence’
A new artificial intelligence (AI) model has just achieved human-level results on a test designed to measure "general intelligence." On December 20, OpenAI's o3 system scored 85% on the ARC-AGI benchmark, well above the previous AI best [...]
