Our brains may have more computing power than previously thought: Study

Scientists have identified an unique way to communicate with cells in the human brain that has never been seen before.

The discovery implies that human brains may be more powerful computational units than previously thought.

Last year, researchers from institutes in Germany and Greece disclosed a process in the brain's outer cells that produced a new "graded" signal of their own, which could allow individual neurons another means to carry out their logical functions.

The study, which was published in the journal Science on January 3, 2020, notes that the newfound electrical property has never been observed in any animal tissue other than human tissue, raising the question of whether the signal contributes exclusively to human intelligence or to that of our evolutionary cousins, primates.

The signal is a wave of opening and closing channels in neurons that exchange charged particles like sodium, chloride, and potassium.

An action potential is a pulse of ions in motion.

Neurons manage these messages chemically at the ends of branches called dendrites, rather than using transistors.

"The dendrites are central to understanding the brain because they are at the core of what determines the computational power of single neurons," Humboldt University neuroscientist Matthew Larkum told Walter Beckwith at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in January 2020.

Dendrites, also dendrons, are branched protoplasmic extensions of a nerve cell that propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites project.

Our nervous system's traffic lights are dendrites.A substantial action potential can be communicated to neighbouring nerves, which can either block or convey the message.

Calcium-mediated dendritic action potentials, or dCaAPs, were triggered by mix of positively charged ions, resulting in waves of voltage that had never been seen previously.

Brains, particularly human brains, are frequently compared to computers.The analogy has its limitations, although they accomplish jobs in similar ways on some levels.

(With inputs from agencies)