The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

The Brain According to Henry Markram (Video)

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by Aaron Saenz on November 13th, 2009
Henry Markram's computer model of a brain is built one neuron at a time.

Henry Markram's model of a brain is built one neuron at a time.

Once you start building a brain in a box you get two things: admission into the Mad Scientists’ Club, and a chance to speak at TED. Henry Markram is the director of the Blue Brain Project, a collaboration between European scientists and IBM that aims to construct a life-like simulation of a brain using a supercomputer. Earlier this year Markram spoke at TED Global discussing how most of human perception is based on decision making within the brain. BBP hopes it will only take another decade to create a fully functioning computer model of a human mind, and Markram will guide you through some of the most important concepts behind the simulated brain today. Check out the TED Global 2009 video after the break.

This is neither the first Blue Brain Project story, nor even the first video of Markram that we’ve discussed here at Singularity Hub. What keeps us coming back to the topic? The amazing possibilities created by the BBP research and the uncertainty as to whether it will ever succeed. While not aimed at creating an artificial intelligence, a fully functioning simulated brain would be hard to define as anything else. Even ignoring the AI applications, BBP could help neuroscientists learn what causes certain mental illnesses, or how to repair trauma to the brain, or how to improve the way the brain processes information. Right now, BBP is exploring different theories on how the mind works. Yet it’s still much too early to tell if Markram will ever be able to exploit those theories to create a full fledged simulation.

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IBM Hypes DNA Transistor, Genomes for Less than $1000

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by Aaron Saenz on October 13th, 2009
The IBM device would read single strands of DNA as they passed through layers of a microchip.

The IBM device would read single strands of DNA as they passed through layers of a microchip.

Sequencing your genome is going to be such big business that everyone wants to get in on it, even if they aren’t ready. In a recent press release, IBM announced that it is working to create a microchip that will sequence DNA by running it through tiny ‘nanopores’. The DNA Transistor will be able to sequence the entire genome rapidly and for less than $1000. While a working prototype of the chip won’t be created for three more years, IBM thinks that the theory and computation behind the concept is sound. If ultimately successful, the computer giant would launch itself to the forefront of the genome sequencing field. For now though, the company is just pushing an idea, not a product. I love it when companies compete in a field, but IBM’s got years of hard work before it could be a genome sequencing competitor. A fact that makes their press release seem premature at best. Still, you should check out the admittedly cool PR video after the break.

The first human genome cost around three billion dollars to sequence. Today, Illumina is offering to do the same for $50,000 and Complete Genomics is looking to a $5000 price tag under certain conditions by the end of next year. But the big hurdle is $1000. At that point, sequencing a genome will become accessible to almost anyone, and could see wide spread adoption in health and medicine. Using genetic information, doctors could provide personalized health care that would target illnesses and choose treatments which best suit your body. Knowing more, we could live much longer.
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IBM Celebrates 20 Years Since First Manipulating an Atom

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by Aaron Saenz on September 28th, 2009
In 1989 Don Eigler manipulated atoms to spell 'IBM'.

In 1989 Don Eigler manipulated atoms to spell 'IBM'.

It was twenty years ago when Don Eigler, a fellow at IBM, made history by moving individual atoms for the first time. Like any good employee he used his new found ability to do something productive for the company: spell out ‘IBM’ using thirty five xenon atoms. With that microscopic marketing ploy began a new era of research into nanotechnology that continues today. Check out IBM’s anniversary video after the break.

IBM had long been at the forefront of atomic research, building the first Scanning Tunneling Microscope in 1981. Eigler was using a STM in 1989 when he made the discovery he could manipulate individual atoms with the instrument. Recently, IBM continued to astound the world by creating nanoscale MRI, and imaging a molecule for the first time. The ability to move atoms and molecules, and observe what you are doing, is a revolutionary technology that opens the door to molecular machines – devices built of just a handful of atoms.

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Henry Markram’s Artificial Brain in a Computer (Video)

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by Aaron Saenz on September 21st, 2009
The Blue Brain Project was able to simulate part of the brain during a thought.

The Blue Brain Project was able to simulate part of the brain during a thought.

Many of you, like me, are excited about the possibilities of modeling and simulating the human brain. The Blue Brain Project, based in Switzerland, and made possible by IBM, is one of the leading endeavors to understand how the brain functions and how we can build a computer that will simulate those functions for us to explore. If our earlier article on the Blue Brain Project left you eager to learn more, check out the new presentation that Project Director Henry Markram gave as part of Seed Magazine’s Seed Design Series. The 15 minute video is embedded after the break.

If you want to understand something, it helps to be able to explore it, tinker with it, and watch how it works. Computer simulations allows scientists to do just that. For an instrument as complex and beautiful as the human brain, a simulation would require enormous resources. Markram estimates that it will take computers 20,000 times more powerful than any produced today, and with memory capacity 500 times the current size of the Internet. We’re talking exaflops worth of computing power and peta or exabytes of memory stored. Yet Markram seems confident we can reach these goals in about 10 years.

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Microscope Sees Molecules for First Time

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by Aaron Saenz on September 1st, 2009

For the first time, IBM was able to take real images of a molecule. These pentacene molecules are shown on an Angstrom (10^-10 m) scale.

For the first time, IBM was able to take real images of a molecule. These pentacene molecules are shown on an Angstrom (10^-10 m) scale.

Imagine trying to read braille printed on wet tissue paper. That’s what it’s been like trying to take a picture of a molecule. Advanced electron microscopes can get amazing resolution, fine enough to see inside an atom, but molecular bonds usually aren’t strong enough to hold up to their scrutiny. Luckily, a team of researchers at IBM has produced the first Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) with a carbon monoxide tip. Using this new device, they’ve produced the first real images of a molecule. Check out the pics of the pentacene molecule, they’re one of a kind.

Being able to examine a molecule without it falling apart is a first step into understanding how to manipulate those molecules with precision. Pentacene has uses as an organic semiconductor. IBM has had success with microscopy in the past, and thinks its research will pave the way for designing and building electronic devices at the atomic level. One day, entire computers and even everyday objects could be manufactured from the atom up, allowing for incredible breakthroughs in processing power and efficiency.

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Boom! Question Answering Engines Take Off. IBM Sets Sights On Jeopardy, Wolfram Alpha

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by Keith Kleiner on April 30th, 2009

Boom!  That is the sound skittering across the information industry landscape this week as IBM has suddenly stepped into the ring, proposing that its Watson question answering engine will be able to best humans in a live televised game of Jeopardy within a year.

watson_question_answering_computing_system

IBM's Watson Question Answering Computing System

Already, Singularity Hub and the rest of the information industry have been in a tizzy for weeks, obsessing over the much hyped, much anticipated May launch of the Wolfram Alpha question answering engine.  Now with the entry of IBM into the game, the race to create a question answering engine that matches the intelligence of a human while offering the near infinite memory, speed, and computation of a computer has shifted into high gear.

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Birth of nanotechnology documented by this historic IBM photo

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by Keith Kleiner on July 16th, 2008

From the IEEE report on the singularity I found a cool reference to the birth of nanotechnology in the article titled “Rupturing The Nanotech Rapture” By Richard A.L. Jones:

“The birth of nanotechnology is popularly taken to be 1989, when IBM Fellow Don Eigler used a scanning tunneling microscope to create the company’s logo out of xenon atoms.”

By working with xenon and nickel at very low temperatures, an IBM
scientist was the first to use a tiny needle to position individual atoms
on a surface.

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