Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a blueprint for something called “organoid intelligence” or biocomputers.

What is an organoid?

An organoid is a bunch of cells or tissue that has been grown in a lab to look like an organ.

Biocomputers are systems that link brains made in a lab to sensors and input/output devices in the real world. Researchers anticipate the technology will enable brain processing.

As a result, they could learn more about how the mind works and how people learn. In addition to what causes different brain diseases.

Mini-brains!

• Researchers have traditionally relied on the brains of rats when investigating a wide variety of human neurological conditions.
• This method has proven to be challenging to say the least for the following reasons.
  • Firstly, there are a number of structural and practical distinctions between the brains of rodents and humans.
  • Secondly, there exist visible differences in mental capacities as well.
  • Although rats provide a simpler and more accessible system to study the brain, there are significant differences between the two.
• So, scientists are experimenting with creating “mini-brains” in labs.
  • These “mini-brains,” could be as large as 4 millimetres in diameter.
  • Also, they are constructed from human stem cells.
  • As a result, in the process of growing up, they replicate many of the physical and functional features of the human brain.
• Researchers are currently utilising “mini-brains” to research the development of the human brain.
• As well as test various medications to determine how they react.
• However in order to evolve into a human brain the mini-brains also require a variety of sensory inputs.
• For example touch, smell, vision, etc.
• On the other hand, the brain organoids that are generated in the lab are not quite as advanced as the human brain.
• Because the organoids do not currently have blood circulation, their capacity for growth is currently restricted.

Bio-computers

• In order to construct “bio-computers,” the researchers will integrate “mini-brains” with contemporary computing techniques.
• They aspire to combine organoids with machine learning.
• In other words, cultivate the organoids within flexible structures that are fastened with a number of electrodes.
• Firstly, these structures will apply electrical stimulation in an effort to simulate the effects of sensory input.
• Secondly, they will be able to record the firing patterns of the neurons.
• Thereafter, machine learning techniques will be used to conduct an analysis of the response pattern of the neurons and their effect on human behaviour or biology.

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Watch a video

TED-Ed explains “mini-brains” to us.

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