Artificial brain '10 Years away

A detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years, a leading scientist has claimed.

Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, has already simulated elements of a rat brain.

He told the TED Global conference in Oxford that a synthetic human brain would be of particular use finding treatments for mental illnesses.

Around two billion people are thought to suffer some kind of brain impairment, he said.

"It is not impossible to build a human brain and we can do it in 10 years," he said.

"And if we do succeed, we will send a hologram to TED to talk."

'Shared fabric'

The Blue Brain project was launched in 2005 and aims to reverse engineer the mammalian brain from laboratory data.

In particular, his team has focused on the neocortical column - repetitive units of the mammalian brain known as the neocortex.
Neurons
The team are trying to reverse engineer the brain

"It's a new brain," he explained. "The mammals needed it because they had to cope with parenthood, social interactions complex cognitive functions.

"It was so successful an evolution from mouse to man it expanded about a thousand fold in terms of the numbers of units to produce this almost frightening organ."

And that evolution continues, he said. "It is evolving at an enormous speed."

Over the last 15 years, Professor Markram and his team have picked apart the structure of the neocortical column.

"It's a bit like going and cataloguing a bit of the rainforest - how may trees does it have, what shape are the trees, how many of each type of tree do we have, what is the position of the trees," he said.

"But it is a bit more than cataloguing because you have to describe and discover all the rules of communication, the rules of connectivity."

The project now has a software model of "tens of thousands" of neurons - each one of which is different - which has allowed them to digitally construct an artificial neocortical column.

Although each neuron is unique, the team has found the patterns of circuitry in different brains have common patterns.

"Even though your brain may be smaller, bigger, may have different morphologies of neurons - we do actually share the same fabric," he said.

"And we think this is species specific, which could explain why we can't communicate across species."

World view

To make the model come alive, the team feeds the models and a few algorithms into a supercomputer.

"You need one laptop to do all the calculations for one neuron," he said. "So you need ten thousand laptops."
Computer-generated image of a human brain
The research could give insights into brain disease

Instead, he uses an IBM Blue Gene machine with 10,000 processors.

Simulations have started to give the researchers clues about how the brain works.

For example, they can show the brain a picture - say, of a flower - and follow the electrical activity in the machine.

"You excite the system and it actually creates its own representation," he said.

Ultimately, the aim would be to extract that representation and project it so that researchers could see directly how a brain perceives the world.

But as well as advancing neuroscience and philosophy, the Blue Brain project has other practical applications.

For example, by pooling all the world's neuroscience data on animals - to create a "Noah's Ark", researchers may be able to build animal models.

"We cannot keep on doing animal experiments forever," said Professor Markram.

It may also give researchers new insights into diseases of the brain.

"There are two billion people on the planet affected by mental disorder," he told the audience.

The project may give insights into new treatments, he said.

The TED Global conference runs from 21 to 24 July in Oxford, UK.

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Fat people live Longer!

Finally some good news for people on the heavier side: those ugly-looking love handles and a double chin extra can help you live longer.

That's the conclusion of a new study by the Japanese Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, which found that people who are overweight at the age of 40 live longer on average than people with other physiques.

The research, which reached the conclusion after studying the health of about 50,000 people aged 40 or older over a 12-year period, showed that thin people had the shortest life expectancy, on average dying six or seven years earlier than overweight people, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

While studying the volunteers, scientists looked at the past physiques of the participants and how long they lived past the age of 40, and grouped them according to their body mass index (BMI), an indicator of how fat a person is.

Men of regular weight (with a BMI of between 18.5 and 25) at age 40 lived for an average of 39.94 more years, while those who were overweight (BMI of between 25 and 30) at age 40 lived a further 41.64 years, the study found.

Ladies of regular weight lived on average a further 47.97 years, compared with overweight women, who lived another 48.05 years.

Obese men and women (BMI of 30 or more) lived a further 39.41 and 46.02 years, respectively. But thin men (BMI of less than 18.5) were on average expected to live 34.54 more years, and thin women another 41.79 years.

As far as the reason for the surprising finding is concerned, it could be that many thin people smoke and a theory that thin people are more susceptible to contagious diseases.

However, the link between physique and life expectancy is not clearly understood.

"People won't extend their lives by straining to put weight on," said Shinichi Kuriyama, an associate professor at Tohoku University who led the research.

The study also found that the fatter a person is, the greater their medical expenses.

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Laser out your wrinkles, sun Spots

When 48 year-old Margaret Miglia looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn't believe her youthful looks, free of all the wrinkles and sunspots, thanks to a new laser tool used by cosmetic surgeons.

"I had the procedure done two-and-a-half weeks ago and I love it. The experience for me was not really painful at all. It was more like a really bad sun burn," said a visibly pleased Miglia.

"My skin is smooth. The brown spots on my face are gone," she says. "It makes me feel much younger. It just feels good to look in the mirror," she added.

"Previous laser treatment for wrinkles and other textural issues like acne scarring used to create significant wounding," said Jeffrey Orringer, director of the University of Michigan (U-M) Cosmetic Dermatology and Laser Centre.

"While results were terrific, the downtime for patients was substantial, and the risks were significant. Then, as technology improved, the pendulum swung the other way, providing lower risks, but with less pronounced results. This new treatment offers both improved results with much fewer side effects," Orringer said.

In developing this new method, traditional carbon dioxide lasers were modified into a fractional format. The carbon laser beam is broken into numerous microscopically thin beams that strike the skin and vaporize sun damaged or scarred tissue.

This causes the skin to tighten, and during healing, produce collagen - the protein responsible for skin structure and appearance.

"The little micro-beams essentially vaporise small columns of tissue that take about two to three days to seal back up. During that time, as the skin heals back together, the lost volume essentially creates a tightening of the skin."

"In addition, around those columns of skin where the beam delivers heat, a very reproducible wound healing mechanism is created, which leads in part to the formation of new collagen in the skin," he added, according to a U-M release.

Besides, patients who undergo fractionated carbon dioxide laser treatment can expect a more even skin tone, as well as results that last for years, not weeks or months, said Orringer.

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