Now, I'm not trying to overly politicize my A to Z Challenge theme here, but I do think it deserves to be mentioned that President Barack Obama has recently announced he wants $100 million dollars to be spent on neuroscience, and especially brain mapping, the process of building a model of the neurons within the brain.
Critics state there is no actual clear and defined goal of the "Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnology" or BRAIN project--even if it does put more resources into neuroscience--unlike the Human Genome Project. The objective can be interpreted as ambiguous: Which areas should be mapped first? How extensive should the mapping be? Essentially, the human brain is complicated, and there are hundreds of different ways one could go about "mapping" its structure.
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Sources:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/neuroscience
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medlineplus/neuroscience
http://www.unp.uab.edu/program-information-/faq/237-what-is-neuroscience.html
http://www.neuroscience.manchester.ac.uk/research/whatis/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/science/obama-to-unveil-initiative-to-map-the-human-brain.html?_r=0
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2013/04/02/obama-brain-initiative/2046935/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/brain-mapping1.htm
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Do you think the BRAIN project is a good idea? Do you think there should be more direction in the program or that the funds themselves will be sufficient to kickstart breakthroughs in the field?
-----The Golden Eagle
