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The human brain is incredibly complex, and understanding how it functions could be one of the biggest scientific efforts ever undertaken.
I think this could be one of the most difficult things that humans have ever attempted to do. To get a physical basis for our thoughts our actions our emotions and our behavior could be literally the most challenging project that anyone has ever tried.
Why are human brains different than animals? What happens to the brain that leads to mental illness or degenerative issues? These are puzzles that haven't yet been solved by science.
Everyone wants to understand what it means to be human. How is it that this organ in our heads gives us all of these perceptions and understanding and feeling? And when we get to an understanding of how that comes about mechanistically, I think it's really going to change our view of what it is that we are and what it means to be human.
The University of Chicago has made a big effort to grow its study of the neurosciences. That's one of the reasons why Bobby Kasthuri came here to work on the brain mapping project. On his background and enthusiasm actually for tackling ridiculously big problems like this one is what I find exciting. You know, he's kind of bold and brave.
So at a basic level, what Bobby is trying to do is to figure out what is the map of the brain in terms of all of these connections, all of the cells, how they are connected to each other, and what does this mean. What does it mean in the context of normal brain function? And what happens to these connections in the context of various diseases?
The power of the tools provided by Argonne along with the university's efforts in neuroscience make this a unique environment.
The university's connectivity to Argonne and in particular or operating of Argonne for the US Department of Energy gives us a very particular relationship and very particular opportunities for using this type of infrastructure that again, as I've said, there's no university in the world that can have this level and scale of infrastructure.
I think there's a great opportunity here at the University of Chicago to do something really special in neuroscience. Argonne, obviously, gives us a type of data that we would be able to get anywhere else. But there's more than that. The university has a long tradition of rigorous thought, quantitative approaches, and interdisciplinary work, which is central to neuroscience.
Two things are unique to Argonne that will be crucial to this work.
We have big machines here on the scale that you can't find anywhere else often on the planet. So for example, two of the things that Argonne has are leading computing. So that means that we have bigger, faster, more powerful computers than anywhere else. And another tool that Argonne has is the advanced photon source, which is a huge microscope.
The advanced photon source is currently the most powerful X-ray in the world, and it is being modified to become 1,000 times stronger. Argonne is also building a new supercomputer unlike anything the world has ever seen. It will take this kind of power to do the brain mapping work.
Looking at the connections, the wiring diagrams of the brain, doing exhaustive reconstructions of small parts of brain circuits where we can see every connection between every cell and at least a limited part of the brain, that's new information. That's the sort of thing we've never had before. And with what's available at Argonne, we can do it here uniquely in the world.
So we're proposing in a single experiment to collect volumes of data, which are as large as anything has ever been done. The only place you could actually do that is here.
The brain contains billions of neurons. Each of these neurons connects with other cells, forming quadrillions of connections. That's why it's so important to have huge computing resources for this effort.
That diagram of how every neuron connects to every other neuron not only contains all the information about you -- your personality, your memories, et cetera -- but that many of the things that we call illnesses are mis-routings, mis-wirings of that diagram.
But the brain continues to change throughout our lives. Somehow we learn from experiences, but scientists don't quite understand how that works.
This is the fundamental nature of the human condition. We are born completely helpless, completely useless, and completely hapless. Every one of us grows into adults that learn a million things about the world around us, learn how the world works and how to manipulate it. And I realized if I could figure that out, I could actually figure out, in my view, the fundamental thing it means to be human.
This is what the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory are all about -- attracting the best minds to tackle the biggest challenges humankind faces.
I think that we are committed as an institution to creating interesting opportunities that allow the best and most creative people to flourish.
Advancing artificial intelligence is just one of the possible benefits of brain mapping. Mental health and curing degenerative diseases of the brain are natural areas where brain mapping can have a great impact. Another area is energy. Much of the world's energy will one day be used to move data to and from the cloud. The brain is incredibly energy efficient, operating on only about 20 watts of power. Scientists think unlocking some of the secrets of the brain might lead to more energy efficient computers.
Understanding the brain I think has broad reaching societal implications beyond understanding the kidney or the liver. These include the future of computing, the future of artificial intelligence, the future of energy. And literally, if I can push this, imagine that we can even understand the biological basis of mental disorders.
A roadmap of the most complex, intricate thing known. What will this do for mankind? Will it cure mental illness? End the suffering of Alzheimer's? Will it make robots who are capable of things we can only currently imagine? Will it solve a pending energy crisis? It could be one of the greatest scientific endeavors of all time. And it's happening now.
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