Singapore launches world’s first data centre powered by living human brain cells
By Murray Hunter SINGAPORE has unveiled the world’s first independently operated data centre that harnesses living human brain cells for computing tasks. Developed by the National University of Singapore’s medical school (NUS Medicine) in partnership...
Singapore has launched the world's first data centre powered by living human brain cells, marking a significant advancement in biological computing. Developed by the National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) in collaboration with DayOne and Cortical Labs, the prototype features 20 CL1 biological computers, each containing at least 200,000 lab-grown human neurons.
These neurons, originating from reprogrammed blood cells, communicate with conventional hardware to convert natural activity into usable computing power. The system operates with a fraction of the energy required by traditional data centres, drawing only around 30 watts per unit, compared to up to 700 watts for high-end AI processors and over 10,000 watts for multi-chip servers.
While not intended to replace silicon-based systems, this innovation complements them by offering flexible learning capabilities and adapting to sparse or changing data. The technology holds potential applications in drug discovery, robotics, cybersecurity, and fraud detection. Given Singapore's previous data centre construction pause due to sustainability concerns, the lower power demand of these biological systems presents a promising path toward more sustainable computing infrastructure.
Brief written by urgent.news from The Vibes's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
