

When last we left University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Giulio Tononi, he was breeding a strain of mutant fruit flies for the Pentagon. These insects could get by on just a third the normal amount of sleep; the Defense Department's sci-fi research division, Darpa, hoped the work might someday lead to soldiers who could bettter withstand sleeplessness.

That Darpa program is over. But a new one has begun. Its goal: Create electronics that mimic the "function, size, and power consumption" of a cat's brain. IBM and Malibu's HRL Laboratories have already signed up for the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic

Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) program. Now, Tononi has, too.

The neuroscientist, along with researchers from Columbia University and IBM "will work on the 'software' for the thinking computer," according to the University of Wisconsin.

It all comes down to an understanding of what is necessary for teaching an artificial brain to reason and learn from experience… For example, neurons in the brain stem flood the brain with a neurotransmitter during times of sudden stress, signaling the "fight-or flight" response.

"Every neuron in the brain knows that something has changed," Tononi explains. "It tells the brain, 'I got burned, and if you want to change, this is the time to do it.'" Thus, a cat landing on a hot stovetop not only jumps off immediately, it learns not to do that again...

It won't be an easy task, says Tononi, a veteran of earlier efforts to create cognitive computers.... "I would be happy to create a mouse brain," Tononi says. "A mouse brain is quite remarkable. And from there, it shouldn't be too hard to scale up to a rat brain, and then a cat or monkey brain."

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