Can we reverse engineer the brain like a computer?

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Can we reverse engineer the brain like a computer?

Neuroscientists have a dizzying array of methods to listen in on hundreds or even thousands of neurons in the brain and have even developed tools to manipulate the activity of individual cells. Will this unprecedented access to the brain allow us to finally crack the mystery of how it works? Here we revisit a 2017 paper claiming that modern neuroscience approaches wouldn’t even allow us to understand the simplest “brain” (a microprocessor) and we re-evaluate that critique in the context of some exciting new research.

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"Just do it because you love it": Neurotalk S2E17 Nelson Spruston

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This week on Neurotalk, Nelson Spruston describes some of the first patch clamp recordings ever, shares the most exciting moment of his scientific career, and explains how a student in his lab discovered a new form of neural integration. Dr. Spruston is the Scientific Program Director, and a Laboratory Head at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Janelia Farm Research Campus.

This week on Neurotalk, Nelson Spruston describes some of the first patch clamp recordings ever, shares the most exciting moment of his scientific career, and explains how a student in his lab discovered a new form of neural integration. 


Dr. Spruston is the Scientific Program Director, and a Laboratory Head at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Janelia Farm Research Campus.