"why does OpenWorm need a distributed supercomputer when the thing it's simulating needs about 10 millicalories a day" is one of those category of questions people don't like thinking about too much.
> Some simulators enable ion channel dynamics to be included and enable neurons to be described in detail in space (multi-compartmental models), while others ignore ion channels and treat neurons as points connected directly to other neurons. In OpenWorm, we focus on multi-compartmental neuron models with ion channels.
I mean how many resources can you even throw at "302 neurons and 95 muscle cells"?
edit: down the wormhole I go
just look at the screenshots of
the "brain": https://github.com/openworm/c302
and the sim: https://github.com/openworm/OpenWorm/blob/master/README.md#q...
Reading further, more physics:
> Some simulators enable ion channel dynamics to be included and enable neurons to be described in detail in space (multi-compartmental models), while others ignore ion channels and treat neurons as points connected directly to other neurons. In OpenWorm, we focus on multi-compartmental neuron models with ion channels.