White House BRAIN Initiative Challenges Researchers to Unlock Mysteries of Human Mind

Last week at the White House, President Obama unveiled the “BRAIN”
Initiative—a bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the
human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders
like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury.
The BRAIN Initiative — short for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative
Neurotechnologies — promises to accelerate the invention of new technologies
that will help researchers produce real-time pictures of complex neural
circuits and visualize the rapid-fire interactions of cells that occur at the
speed of thought. Such cutting-edge capabilities, applied to both simple and
complex systems, will open new doors to understanding how brain function is
linked to human behavior and learning, and the mechanisms of brain disease. The
BRAIN Initiative is one of the Administration’s “Grand Challenges” — ambitious
but achievable goals that require advances in science and technology to
accomplish. The President called on companies, research universities,
foundations, and philanthropies to join with him in identifying and pursuing additional
Grand Challenges of the 21st century — challenges that can create the jobs and
industries of the future while improving lives.

Learn more.

Watch a clip of Stephen Colbert’s take on the BRAIN
initiative.