A joint team including the University of California, Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins University, as well as multiple institutions in Germany and Switzerland, used a miniature human brain tissue model called organoids to reveal the innate "operating system" of the brain. The latest research published in Nature Neuroscience overturns traditional cognition, indicating that the earliest neuronal discharges in the brain occur in a structured pattern and are completely independent of any external experience. This discovery suggests that the brain has pre-set basic 'instructions' on how to interact with the world before birth. Human beings have been pondering for a long time: when did thinking begin to form? Is the brain naturally configured, or do thinking patterns gradually form with sensory experiences of the surrounding world? The operation of the brain is similar to that of a computer, relying on the electrical signals of neurons to 'discharge' and transmit information. However, it has been difficult to study in depth when these signals begin to occur, as the early developing human brain is protected in the mother's uterus and cannot be directly observed. In this study, the team guided stem cells to develop into brain tissue and then used a specialized microelectrode array similar to a computer chip to record their electrical activity. In observing the process of brain tissue self assembling from stem cells into complex structures capable of processing sensory information and ultimately producing language and conscious thinking, it was found that in the first few months of development, long before the human brain could receive and process complex external sensory information such as vision and hearing, its internal cells began spontaneously emitting electrical signals with specific patterns. The patterns of these signals are remarkably similar to the characteristic patterns exhibited when processing sensory information. When observing the firing activity of individual neurons in organoids, the team found that even without receiving any sensory input from the external world, neural networks can spontaneously generate complex and time series characteristic firing activities. This strongly suggests the existence of an inherent developmental blueprint determined by genetic coding in the neural structure of living brains. Understanding that organoids can spontaneously generate the basic neural structure of the living brain opens up multiple possibilities for better understanding human neural development, neurological diseases, and the impact of environmental toxins on the brain. These models have the fundamental ability to capture complex neural dynamics, which are likely closely related to certain pathogenic mechanisms. In the future, the team will explore the development of new compounds, drug therapies, or gene editing tools at the preclinical level. When seeds are still deeply buried in the soil, they have the "potential" to break through the soil. This is not something that seeds learn later in life, but the underlying program that life evolution writes into genes. Similarly, at the beginning of human development, neurons can spontaneously emit complex electrical signals to interact with the world and prepare for processing more complex external sensory signals, which is also determined by the underlying coding of human genes. That is to say, the brain of a newborn baby is not a blank sheet of paper, but a "factory setting" pre-set for the human brain with genes. This discovery helps scientists better understand the mechanisms of human brain development and is expected to provide inspiration for using gene editing and other methods to treat congenital neurological diseases. (New Society)