IBM creates simulation of cat’s brain

Scientists say they’ve made a breakthrough in their pursuit of computers that “think” like a living thing’s brain - an effort that tests the limits of technology.

Even the world’s most powerful supercomputers can’t replicate basic aspects of the human mind. The machines can’t imagine a wall painted a different color, for instance, or picture a person’s face and connect that to an emotion.

If researchers can make computers operate more like a brain thinks - by reasoning and dealing with abstractions, among other things - they could unleash tremendous insights in such diverse fields as medicine and economics.

A computer with the power of a human brain is not yet near. But last week researchers from ...