May 9, 2011 | 13 Supercomputers may soon approach the brain’s
power, but much is unknown about how it works In "Too Hard for
Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to
explore that they don’t think could be investigated. For
instance, they might involve machines beyond the realm of
possibility, such as particle accelerators as big as the sun, or
they might be completely unethical, such as lethal experiments
involving people. This feature aims to look at the impossible
dreams, the seemingly intractable problems in science. However,
the question mark at the end of "Too Hard for Science?" suggests
that nothing might be impossible. The scientist: Luis
Bettencourt, a research scientist at Los Alamos National
Laboratory and professor at the Santa Fe Institute. The idea:
The brain is the most powerful computer we know of, "and
understanding it is one of the ultimate challenges in science,"
Bettencourt says. "It’s what makes humans special. We want to
know what it does and how it works." The huma