3 ms·

Simulated too? I assume that if you can map it then you can simulate it. Am I correct?

glial 2y ago
I doubt that's been done yet but I'd be surprised if it didn't happen soon using something like NEURON [1]. It would be telling to see how similar the simulation is to the living organism, since there is a lot going on inside the brain in addition to the neuron spiking. [1] https://nrn.readthedocs.io/en/8.2.6/ https://nrn.readthedocs.io/en/8.2.6/
meindnoch 2y ago
Simulating it would require many orders of magnitude more compute. Biological neurons are not just a sigmoid function.
- roywiggins 2y ago
  > In one paper, for example, researchers used the connectome to create a computer model of the entire fruit-fly brain, including all the connections between neurons. They tested it by activating neurons that they knew either sense sweet or bitter tastes. These neurons then launched a cascade of signals through the virtual fly’s brain, ultimately triggering motor neurons tied to the fly’s proboscis — the equivalent of the mammalian tongue. When the sweet circuit was activated, a signal for extending the proboscis was transmitted, as if the insect was preparing to feed; when the bitter circuit was activated, this signal was inhibited. To validate these findings, the team activated the same neurons in a real fruit fly. The researchers learnt that the simulation was more than 90% accurate at predicting which neurons would respond and therefore how the fly would behave. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03190-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03190-y
jknoepfler 2y ago
If I understand what you're asking for correctly, then no, not in any meaningful sense. This is the gross structural anatomy of a dead brain, which is a small but important step towards understanding dynamics. Inference from structure to dynamics in a brain is several orders of magnitude less plausible than inferring from a record of local weather reports to simulating actual weather patterns. Maybe a better analogy would be inferring from Grey's Anatomy to the regulatory dynamics of proteins at the cellular level in vivo (although I think that might actually be easier?)

I doubt that's been done yet but I'd be surprised if it didn't happen soon using something like NEURON [1]. It would be telling to see how similar the simulation is to the living organism, since there is a lot going on inside the brain in addition to the neuron spiking. [1] https://nrn.readthedocs.io/en/8.2.6/ https://nrn.readthedocs.io/en/8.2.6/

meindnoch 2y ago

Simulating it would require many orders of magnitude more compute. Biological neurons are not just a sigmoid function.

roywiggins 2y ago
> In one paper, for example, researchers used the connectome to create a computer model of the entire fruit-fly brain, including all the connections between neurons. They tested it by activating neurons that they knew either sense sweet or bitter tastes. These neurons then launched a cascade of signals through the virtual fly’s brain, ultimately triggering motor neurons tied to the fly’s proboscis — the equivalent of the mammalian tongue. When the sweet circuit was activated, a signal for extending the proboscis was transmitted, as if the insect was preparing to feed; when the bitter circuit was activated, this signal was inhibited. To validate these findings, the team activated the same neurons in a real fruit fly. The researchers learnt that the simulation was more than 90% accurate at predicting which neurons would respond and therefore how the fly would behave. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03190-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03190-y

jknoepfler 2y ago

If I understand what you're asking for correctly, then no, not in any meaningful sense. This is the gross structural anatomy of a dead brain, which is a small but important step towards understanding dynamics. Inference from structure to dynamics in a brain is several orders of magnitude less plausible than inferring from a record of local weather reports to simulating actual weather patterns. Maybe a better analogy would be inferring from Grey's Anatomy to the regulatory dynamics of proteins at the cellular level in vivo (although I think that might actually be easier?)