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.

Space Blob Baffles Astronomers

BBC News story

Breaking the code...

A news item from the TOI about the Indus Valley script.

Fractures

From time to time, one of you turns up at school in a cast. I wonder if you have a clear picture of just what happens if it is a bone that you have fractured. Here are a couple of videos that show different ways in which bones break.

Fractures video 1

Fractures video 2

The Inner Life of a Cell

It's not new, but it's quite stunning.

Look at this animated video of the inner structure and processes within a cell. Specifically, the response of a White Blood Cell to an inflammatory agent.

There's another version of this with a commentary explaining the processes and structures involved.

And here's the transcript, by someone who seems to understand this better than I do.

The first mechanical computer?

They call it the world's first mechanical computer. It was created some 2000 years ago. And some months ago, somebody built a working model, based on the original. Read about the Antikythera mechanism.

Water, water everywhere

While we search for water on Mars, having sent spacecraft and landers there to do our searching, we're managing to find the stuff up to 11 billion light years away. Here's how and where.