Eon Systems aims to digitally copy real (possibly human) brains neuron by neuron.
The North American startup, based in San Francisco, claims to have achieved, for the first time, the complete emulation of a fruit fly’s brain connected to a virtual body, allowing it to generate multiple behaviors in a simulated environment.
According to the company, the model reproduces more than 125,000 neurons and 50 million synapses, based on electron microscopy data that mapped the insect’s neural wiring.
According to the co-founder, Alex Wissner-Grossthe emulated brain was integrated into a digital fly body running on MuJoCo, a physics simulation engine.
The company explains that this approach differs from previous projects such as OpenWorm, which is centered on a much simpler nervous system with just 302 neurons, or machine learning-based methods such as reinforcement. Instead of developing artificial intelligence from training, Eon intends to digitally copy real brains, neuron by neuron.
The fruit fly is, they say, just the first step. The startup says it wants to emulate a mouse brain with 70 million neurons within two years, maintaining the simulation of a human brain as its final ambition.
The billionaire Elon Muskalso a neuroscience philanthropist, only had one word to say about the work announced by the startup: “Wow“, he wrote in his X.
The company published the brain model code on GitHub, but the unprecedented connection between the emulated brain and the virtual body has not yet been disclosed. For now, the code is based on a 2024 study that was in Nature, about which ZAP had already written:
