Bil­lion pound brain project under way (BBC News):

“Sci­en­tists from 135 insti­tu­tions, most­ly in Europe, are par­tic­i­pat­ing in The Human Brain Project (HBP). Co-fund­ed by the EU, it aims to devel­op the tech­nol­o­gy need­ed to cre­ate a com­put­er sim­u­la­tion of the brain. It will also build a data­base of brain research from the tens of thou­sands of neu­ro­science papers pub­lished annu­al­ly.

“The Human Brain Project is an attempt to build com­plete­ly new com­put­er sci­ence tech­nol­o­gy that will enable us to col­lect all the infor­ma­tion we have built up about the brain over the years,” said Prof Hen­ry Markram, Direc­tor of the HBP at EPFL (Ecole Poly­tech­nique Fédérale de Lau­sanne), in Switzer­land.

“We should begin to under­stand what makes the human brain unique, the basic mech­a­nisms behind cog­ni­tion and behav­iour, how to objec­tive­ly diag­nose brain dis­eases, and to build new tech­nolo­gies inspired by how the brain com­putes.”

To Learn More:

• Watch Pre­sen­ta­tion by Sean Hill at 2013 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit (requires log-in)