Build Me a Brain

When President Obama recently complained, that although "we can identify

galaxies light years away, study particles smaller than an atom ... we

still haven't unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter that

sits between our ears" - he called on scientists to unravel the

trillions of neural connections inside our brains that make our minds work. Some researchers are already doing that - trying to understand the brain

by starting to build one. At Reading University, at the newly

constructed Brain Embodiment Laboratory, researchers plan to connect

cultures of living human neurons to robots to give meaning to their

neural activity. At Georgia Tech, Atlanta, neuroengineer Steve Potter

agrees that cultured neurons not connected to the outside world suffer

sensory deprivation. His neural arrays descend into spasms of epileptic

activity when left alone. When plugged in, they can control machines

across the planet. "I believe these cultures are half-way to having a mind," says Potter.

"Wired up to listen to their own outputs, they could be self aware." Other researchers are building brains from inanimate materials - using

tendrils of silver, silicon and sulphur that spring into life like

activity when wired up to electricity. At Stanford University, plans are

afoot to meld them with living neurons - perhaps to enhance our thought

processes. These devices can learn, remember and process information - but do they

think? Can these scientists really build a brain? And what would it tell

us about ours if they could?