Using thousands of living mouse brain cells, researchers built a simple-tissue computer that can recognize patterns of light and electricity. Such a computer could be used in robots using living muscle tissue in the future.
Although computers can perform calculations on numbers and data much faster than humans, the brain is much better at making complex logical decisions, such as identifying one animal from another.
According to Professor Thomas Hartung, the brain is still incomparable to modern computers.
For example, the latest Frontier supercomputer in Kentucky is a $600 million, 6,800-square-foot installation. It was only last June that it surpassed the computing power of a single human brain for the first time, but used a million times more energy.
According to Professor Hartung, computing and artificial intelligence have led the technology revolution, but they are reaching their ceiling. “Biocomputing is a massive effort to condense computing power and increase its efficiency to exceed our current technological limits.”
Source: New Scientist/Metro
