APA Weighs In On BRAIN
When President Obama--here with NIH director Francis Collins-- announced the BRAIN Initiative last week, some wondered whether he realized brain research had already been alive and well. But American Psychological Association CEO Norman Anderson explains that the project will create technologies based on new findings on the human brain's inner workings. Scientists can measure activity of a single neuron through electrodes or the function of large brain regions through technology like an MRI, but the in-between step is missing, says APA. The BRAIN project could develop new ways to treat, cure, or even prevent certain illnesses, on the same scale as the HumanGenomeProject. Norman says it could take $3B and over a decade to complete.