DailyDirt: Studying Gray Matter Before We Hack It…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Our brains are pretty complex bundles of nerves — that aren’t actually like CPUs at all (even though lots of folks make the brain-CPU analogy). We’re still trying to figure these wrinkled organs out with fairly primitive methods, but at least some progress is being made. Here are just a few quick links on some brain studies.
- Australian researchers think that genes may explain how ‘cost-efficient’ our brains are — and ultimately how genes affect cognitive abilities. Hopefully, no one finds and patents the ‘genius’ genes… [url]
- The iBrain is not a new product from Apple — it’s a nifty device that records data from your brain in order to diagnose various neurological disorders. Once it’s collected enough data, though, maybe it’ll help in figuring out how regular brains work, too. [url]
- Sleep deprivation has been demonstrated to reduce a mouse’s ability to retain memories. So try to get a good night’s sleep before making any best-laid plans with mice. [url]
- To discover more interesting articles on the human mind, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Comments on “DailyDirt: Studying Gray Matter Before We Hack It…”
“So try to get a good night’s sleep before making any best-laid plans with mice.”
Well, if you remember, mice are here to study us. Hopefully the Vogons won’t be any trouble.
Brain not like a CPU !
Our brains are pretty complex bundles of nerves — that aren’t actually like CPUs at all
No, CPU’s are not like our brains, but they are ‘like’ in that they both perform the same functions, process data.
the brain and a CPU may not use the same techniques as each other, but they are both performing the same basic functions.
but if you are going to say “they are just not the same, or act the same” then state why you think that!
We’re still trying to figure these wrinkled organs out with fairly primitive methods,
Primitive ???
Positron Emission tomography (PET) (anti-matter scanning)
Nuclear Magnetic resonance (NMR) (electron spin analysis)
CAT (Computer Aided Tomography).
Electron Microscopagraphy
(TEM) ?
You consider those ‘primitive’ Mike?
Re: Brain not like a CPU !
When you compare these methods to our actual brain functions, I would consider it primitive. Consider science fiction and our potential technological advancements. In a few hundred years, anything we are doing now will be perceived as primitive.
History Teacher in an Elementary School in 2211 begins his class by linking into a hive neural network and begins his daily instruction by feeding information directly into his class’s temporal lobe. “In the 21st Century, we used a series of ones and zeros to perform primitive computations by accessing various true/false conditions. This method was similar to the original sand table abacus’ used as far back as 2700 BC. Before we began utilizing and we were restricted to Silicon. This material’s ability to compute data was restricted by heat and instead of finding more innovative methods for processing data, we used complex cooling methods or simply increased the number of processing cores. Computers in the 21st Century were equipped with fans and water cooling systems found in primitive automobiles.”
Re: Re: Brain not like a CPU !
–Shouldn’t have used arrows.. lost some text;
History Teacher in an Elementary School in 2211 begins his class by linking into a hive neural network and begins his daily instruction by feeding information directly into his class’s temporal lobe. “In the 21st Century, we used a series of ones and zeros to perform primitive computations by accessing various true/false conditions. This method was similar to the original sand table abacus’ used as far back as 2700 BC. Before we began utilizing (insert futuristic computation method here) and (synthetic compound existing in quantum space) we were restricted to Silicon. This material’s ability to compute data was restricted by heat and instead of finding more innovative methods for processing data, we used complex cooling methods or simply increased the number of processing cores. Computers in the 21st Century were equipped with fans and water cooling systems found in primitive automobiles.”
Can Brains Grow Larger?
You?ve probably seen some science-fiction from the earlier part of last century portraying super-intelligent aliens with enormously-swollen brains.
Is that sort of thing possible? Would it even work? Are there physical limits to how large our brains can get? Would it boost our brain power?
Re: Can Brains Grow Larger?
Bigger is not necessarily better! I’m sure there are mammals with larger brains than ours, but that doesn’t mean those mammals are more intelligent… And some birds are supposedly smarter than some larger animals, but bird brains aren’t exactly huge.