Your Brain by the Numbers

Check out the infographic from Scientific American containing some fascinating statistics concerning the human brain at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mind-in-pictures-your-brain-by-the-numbers

To me, perhaps the most interesting of these statistics is the number of calculations per second that the “average” brain is capable of performing… a truly amazing 10 quadrillion (10 million billion) calcs per second!  In a recent post (Supercomputer) I introduced you to the current world’s fastest supercomputer, a Cray XK7 called “The Titan”.  This computing platform (which occupies the floor space of a basketball court, is the rough equivalent in computing power of 500,000 laptops and consumes 8.2 megawatts of power) is capable of “only” about 17.59 petaflops… 17.59 quadrillion calcs per second.

Clearly the human brain has the capability of being one of the greatest “supercomputers” ever created… it’s a shame that, for some people, it is a completely wasted resource!!