New US brain wave: Unlocking the mind
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WASHINGTON:
The Obama administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to
examine the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map
of its activity, seeking to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for genetics.
The project, which the administration has been looking to unveil as early as March, will include federal agencies, private foundations and teams of neuroscientists and nanoscientists in a concerted effort to advance the knowledge of the brain's billions of neurons and gain greater insights into perception, actions and, ultimately, consciousness . Scientists with the highest hopes for the project also see it as a way to develop the technology essential to understanding diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's , as well as to find new therapies for a variety of mental illnesses. Moreover, the project holds the potential of paving the way for advances in artificial intelligence.
The project, which could ultimately cost billions of dollars, is expected to be part of the president's budget proposal next month. And, four scientists and representatives of research institutions said they had participated in planning for what is being called the Brain Activity Map project. The details are not final, and it is not clear how much federal money would be proposed or approved for the project in a time of fiscal constraint or how far the research would be able to get without federal financing. In his state of the union address, Obama cited brain research as an example of how the government should "invest in the best ideas" .
"Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy — every dollar," he said. "Today our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer's . They're developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs , devising new materials to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation."
The initiative, if successful, could provide a lift for the economy . "The Human Genome Project was on the order of about $300 million a year for a decade," said George M Church, a Harvard University molecular biologist who helped create that project . "If you look at the total spending in neuroscience and nanoscience that might be relative to this today, we are already spending more than that. We probably won't spend less money, but we will probably get a lot more bang for the buck." Scientists said they hoped that federal financing would be more than $300 million a year.
The project, which the administration has been looking to unveil as early as March, will include federal agencies, private foundations and teams of neuroscientists and nanoscientists in a concerted effort to advance the knowledge of the brain's billions of neurons and gain greater insights into perception, actions and, ultimately, consciousness . Scientists with the highest hopes for the project also see it as a way to develop the technology essential to understanding diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's , as well as to find new therapies for a variety of mental illnesses. Moreover, the project holds the potential of paving the way for advances in artificial intelligence.
The project, which could ultimately cost billions of dollars, is expected to be part of the president's budget proposal next month. And, four scientists and representatives of research institutions said they had participated in planning for what is being called the Brain Activity Map project. The details are not final, and it is not clear how much federal money would be proposed or approved for the project in a time of fiscal constraint or how far the research would be able to get without federal financing. In his state of the union address, Obama cited brain research as an example of how the government should "invest in the best ideas" .
"Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy — every dollar," he said. "Today our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer's . They're developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs , devising new materials to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation."
The initiative, if successful, could provide a lift for the economy . "The Human Genome Project was on the order of about $300 million a year for a decade," said George M Church, a Harvard University molecular biologist who helped create that project . "If you look at the total spending in neuroscience and nanoscience that might be relative to this today, we are already spending more than that. We probably won't spend less money, but we will probably get a lot more bang for the buck." Scientists said they hoped that federal financing would be more than $300 million a year.
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