Context:
Scientists connected a brain organoid to microelectrodes to create an ‘organoid neural network’
Brainoware:
- It is a neuromorphic computing system which fuses brain-like tissue with electronics to make an ‘organoid neural network (ONN)’.
Organoid Neural Network (ONN) is a new area of research – called biocomputing which uses biological components to perform computational processes
- The brain-like networks of neurons are made up with silicon chips.
- A short term memory is placed between the memory units and data processing to reduce the time and energy demand.
- 3 layered computer system – input, reservoir, and output.
- Significance –
- Can recognise voices and solve a complex mathematical problem.
- Can process large datasets that conventional computers struggle with.
- Applications – computer vision, speech recognition, confront us with ethical concerns etc.
- Working –
- Input Signals Processing – input signals are given in the form of electrical stimulation, are processed through the ONNs.
- Reservoir – act as a black-box, converts signals into mathematical entities that the computer can efficiently process, eliminating the need for constant back-and-forth data transfer.
- Output Readout – modified conventional computer hardware, interprets Brainoware’s neural activity, providing a tangible result.
Brainoware vs. Artificial Neural Networks:
- Brainoware is more accurate than artificial neural networks that lacked a short-term memory unit but slightly less accurate than those with memory units.
- Comparable accuracy with less than a tenth of the training the artificial neural networks required.
- Eg: able to predict a Henon map
Henon map is a mathematical function that draws a curve on a graph that can be chaotic or not depending on the values of two variables.
Related terms:
- Neuromorphic Computing –
- The practice of modelling computers after the human brain – to a new level by directly including brain tissue in a computer.
- Brain organoids:
- 3-D aggregates of brain cells
- Brain cells are made by extracting human pluripotent stem cells
- Pluripotent stem cells – cells that can develop to become almost any kind of cell within the human body
- Since, brain organoids are aggregates of pluripotent cells, it has a mix of the different types of cells in the brain.
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Consider the following statements:
1. Genetic changes can be introduced in the cells that produce eggs or sperms of a prospective parent.
2. A person’s genome can be edited before birth at the early embryonic stage.
3. Human induced pluripotent stem cells can be injected into the embryo of a pig.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
