Simulating the brain

Many years ago, I bought my first PC emulator (for my Macintosh computer). I was astonished to learn that it consisted of a complete software simulation of the Pentium processor hardware. So every flip or flop that the processor would perform was being simulated, leading to the higher-level functions being performed. That was 1997.

Today, I read a similarly mind-boggling story about a software simulation of a section of the human brain. What the researchers have done is to build a molecule-by-molecule simulation of the neocortex, and then put it through its paces. I have no idea where this leads, but it is an astonishing achievement.

Here's the story.