Digital Twin Brain Technology: Recreating the Human Mind in a Digital Environment
UK and Chinese scientists are examining 'Digital Twin Brain' technology with the aim of creating a dynamic digital model of a living brain.
Quick Look
- UK and Chinese researchers discuss 'Digital Twin Brain' technology in their study published in Nature Electronics.
- The project, which aims to create a digital model of a living brain updated with instant data, includes technical obstacles and medical potential.
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Why It Matters
By creating the entire neuron map of a fruit fly in 2024, scientists managed to get a reaction on the digital model. The human brain, on the other hand, has a much more complex structure as it contains billions of neurons and trillions of synaptic connections.
The world of neuroscience and computer engineering is preparing to recreate the brain, the most complex organ of human biology, in the digital world. The comprehensive review, conducted jointly by scientists from the United Kingdom and China and published in the prestigious Nature Electronics journal, revealed the latest situation in "Digital Twin Brain" (DTB) technology.
Instead of performing a general brain simulation, the technology in question aims to create a dynamic model that works simultaneously with the original in the digital environment outside the body and is constantly updated, by taking instant data from the brain of a specific living individual.
Researchers report that great strides have already been made in creatures with a much simpler structure than the human brain. Scientists, who mapped all the neurons and connections in the brain of a fruit fly in 2024, documented that the virtual brain reacted by extending its proboscis when they stimulated the digital model with sweets.
However, digitizing the human brain, which contains billions of neurons and trillions of synaptic connections, requires a data capacity beyond current technological possibilities.
The leader of the research team, Dr. Ruohan Zhang emphasizes that their goal is not how many cells can be simulated, but how much of a living brain can be observed and updated instantly. Scientists list 3 main technical obstacles that must be overcome for digital twin brains to become a reality:
The technology to instantly image the human brain at the required high resolution is not yet available,
Insufficiency of hardware and software to process the huge data load obtained from trillions of neural connections,
Failure to solve the problem of simultaneous transfer of instantaneous changes and learning processes in the biological brain to the digital model (updatability).
If all technical and ethical obstacles are overcome, digital twin brains will offer uses that push the limits in medical and non-medical fields. Neuroscientists will be able to perform heavy neurological experiments and drug tests on these digital models, which are ethically impossible to perform on the living human brain.
In the healthcare industry, patients' responses to brain disorders and treatments will be simulated in advance, breaking new ground in "personalized medicine" applications.
On the other hand, it is aimed to find a solution to the huge energy crisis experienced by artificial intelligence data centers and to develop much faster, more efficient processors, thanks to "neuromorphic computers" inspired by the working principles of the human brain.
Open Questions
- When will the technology needed to image the human brain be developed?
- How will ethical obstacles be overcome?
