Science

28 February 2023 / Jacinta Bowler

It started with Pong.


Researchers have created a roadmap for how to build tiny biocomputers out of human neurons or brain cells.

“We can use a culture of the human brain to show something which is not just living cells. We can show that this is learning, this is memorising, this is making decisions, it is possibly even at some point, ‘sentient’ in the sense that it can sense its environment,” Professor Thomas Hartung, a Johns Hopkins ‘organoids’ researcher, told Cosmos.

“We are the explorers who have stumbled into a completely new field.”

The Australian company behind ‘Dishbrain’ (which learnt to play Pong last year) is collaborating with scientists at Johns Hopkins University in the US, whose research paper has outlined how these ‘biocomputers’ could allow us to understand memory, learning and other integral parts of human understanding. They also suggest it could rival supercomputers or AI.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/biocomputers-organoid-intelligence-neurons-science/