#biological-intelligence — Public Fediverse posts

The computers that run on human brain cells – Nature

• NEWS FEATURE
• 11 November 2025

The computers that run on human brain cells

Move over silicon: scientists want to use neurons to make powerful computers with minuscule energy needs.

By David Adam

In a town on the shores of Lake Geneva sit clumps of living human brain cells for hire. These blobs, about the size of a grain of sand, can receive electrical signals and respond to them — much as computers do. Research teams from around the world can send the blobs tasks, in the hope that they will process the information and send a signal back.

Welcome to the world of wetware, or biocomputers. In a handful of academic laboratories and companies, researchers are growing human neurons and trying to turn them into functional systems equivalent to biological transistors. These networks of neurons, they argue, could one day offer the power of a supercomputer without the outsized power consumption. Can lab-grown brains become conscious?

The results so far are limited. But keen scientists are already buying or borrowing online access to these brain-cell processors — or even investing tens of thousands of dollars to secure their own models.

Some want to use these biocomputers as straightforward replacements for ordinary computers, whereas others want to use them to study how brains work. “Trying to understand biological intelligence is a very interesting scientific problem,” says Benjamin Ward-Cherrier, a robotics researcher at the University of Bristol, UK, who rents time on the Swiss brain blobs. “And looking at it from the bottom up — with simple small versions of our brain and building those up — I think is a better way of doing it than top down.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The computers that run on human brain cells

#biocomputers #biologicalIntelligence #brainCellProcessors #howBrainsWork #lakeGeneva #nature #scientificProblem #wetware

Introducing Biological Intelligence. A new and exciting way to make videos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chSGfNP8g1Y
#videos #biologicalintelligence

#AI vs #Humans :
Will #DigitalIntelligence Replace #BiologicalIntelligence – Geoff Hinton

https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/ai-vs-humans/

I was interviewed by The Economist's Babbage podcast on their series, "The science that built AI" last month. My hour long conversation was edited to about six minutes!

I am glad they edited/fit my conversation as taking the perspective that this big data, big compute driven deep-net approach is orthogonal to human/biological vision. And that, without incorporating biological principles (in this case, vision), autonomous visual navigation systems (i.e., self-driving cars) are unlikely and/or limited.

Unfortunately, the podcast requires a subscription to The Economist (I too had to access it from my university account!). But if you do have access, let me know what you think!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4adN2gVRkQctA55Q0xswiO

#Neuroscience #History #AI #Deepnets #BiologicalIntelligence #BiologicalVision #HumanVision #MachineVision #TheEconomist #Babbage #MachineLearning

5 days left to apply for our Emerging Scientist Talk Series! You’re a postdoc in neuroscience, ecology or any field related to our research? Submit your application today! The series will take place in our institute and all travel and accommodation charges will be covered. Find out more: https://www.bi.mpg.de/2599696/postdoc-seminars

#mpiforbi #maxplanck #maxplanckinstitute #biologicalintelligence #emergingscientists #postdoc #neuroscience #ecology #research #science

The early bird catches the worm? Extensive field research on blue tits finds that higher age and earlier morning activity of males correlate independently with more mating success outside their existing partnership.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.01.016

#ornithology #biologicalintelligence #research #science #scicomm #wisskomm #maxplanck #birdresearch

📷 Axel Griesch

When hummingbirds evolved hovering flight, they lost the muscle enzyme fructose-bisphosphatase 2 through an inactivating mutation. This novel metabolic adaptation fuels hummingbirds’ extremely energy-intensive flight style.

Read more in the Science paper from Katya Osipova and Michael Hiller, with contributions from the Baldwin group: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7050

Photo: Maude Baldwin
#science #sciencemastodon #mpiforbi #maxplanckinstitute #biologicalintelligence #ornithology #hummingbird

Happy 2023! We are now officially the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, no longer in foundation! The two institutes of Neurobiology and Ornithology now officially merged to become our new institute. We wish you all such a wonderful start and happy new year! 🎉✨

#mpibi #mpiforbi #maxplanckinstitute #maxplanck #happynewyear #newyear #biologicalintelligence