Michael Ibbotson, UOM.
The human brain weighs just 1.3kg, contains 86 billion neurons, perhaps 100 trillion connections and was described by physicist Michio Kaku as “the most complicated object in the known universe”. Indeed, the human brain is remarkable; it can conceptualise the infinity of the universe while burning only 13 calories (54kJ) per hour, or less than the energy in a cup of tea with milk. Some suggest that the brain is ten times more efficient than a computer, but the scaling factor depends on what is being compared; brains are likely more efficient than realised. Importantly, the brain is not a computer and comparisons with computers need to be placed carefully in context.
The brain evolved to make humans better at surviving, not to optimise clock speed. What distinguishes humans from most animals is very high-resolution vision, which requires complex neural processing, explaining why 40% of the human brain is devoted to visual tasks and why we tend to “think in images”. The deep, interconnected neural networks that evolved to understand our surroundings have since evolved to create a biological machine that can conceptualize our universe in abstract ways. The talk will introduce neurons and brain architecture, in the context of the brain as an energy efficient “ideas generator”, rather than a computer.
About the presenter
Michael Ibbotson is a neuroscientist and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Melbourne. Originally from the UK, Michael obtained his PhD from The University of London before moving to the Australian National University, where he held an Australian Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Michael’s leadership roles include Head of the Visual Sciences Department and Founding Director of the Eccles Institute of Neuroscience, ANU, and Director of the National Vision Research Institute, Melbourne. Michael has worked in a diverse range of fields ranging from fundamental neuroscience to the development of biomimetic unmanned aerial vehicles and medical devices. As such, he has a very broad skill base including biology, neuroscience and engineering.
Michael has been a Chief Investigator in two ARC Centres of Excellence (Vision Science & Brain Function) and also the ARC Special Fund that lead to the creation of ‘Bionic Vision Australia’. Current research includes an industry partnership with start-up company Carbon Cybernetics to develop flexible carbon fibre electrodes for neural implantation to allow direct communication with the brain, along with fundamental neurophysiological projects to understand how the brain processes information.