IBM and EPFL will try to unlock the mysteries of the human brain

Cognitive intelligence is living its last days of mystery as IBM and EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) announced last week a collaboration whose objective will be the development of the Blue Brain Project, a super-computer which will allow the detailed research of brain function and processes.

In the next two years, researchers from both organizations will join forces to make the best out of IBM's eServer Blue Gene processing capacities.

The task is to generate a detailed model of neurocortex's circuitry which is the largest and most complex area of the human brain. The experts hope that by using the same system to explore other areas of the brain, at some point they will be able to build an accurate model of the entire brain.

Up until now, the available information on the functioning process of the brain were vague and scarce in number. By using the digital model, scientists will be able to run simulations and decipher the complex mechanisms of the process of thinking, perception and memory. It is hoped that in this way, they will find out why some areas of the brain don't function correctly and what the causes of autism, schizophrenia and depression are.

By using the Blue Gene system for running experiments in real time, experts anticipate a significant improvement in the study of brain. The system will occupy the space of approximately four refrigerating units and will have an operating frequency of approximately 22.8 trillion of instructions (teraflops) per second, which means that Blue Gene is still among the most powerful supercomputers in the world.