THE FUTURE OF NEUROSCIENCE
Editor's Note: Ellie S. ('17) addresses our knowledge of neuroscience and the field's direction in this essay written for her chemistry class.
QUESTION: Where do you think this particular field of science is going be in about 50 years? How much will we know about the brain by then? Do you think that anytime in the future we will have machines to read our thoughts (which we sort of do know) or any other highly advanced technology related to the brain?
Our understanding of the brain and how it interacts and controls the human body is constantly evolving, and there are still large gaps and questions to be answered. How do brain cells interact and control our bodies? What causes brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s? How can we improve treatment of traumatic brain injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
In an attempt to answer these questions and many others Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) was presented by the Obama administration in 2013. It’s goals is to produce an image of the human brain that can show how individual cells and neural circuits interact with each other, which will hopefully help us understand how tiny neurons can control our entire being. This is just one of many initiatives that are advancing the neuroscientific field, and there will be many more to come.
Brain mapping is a way of studying the brain using imaging, optogenetics, engineering, and neurophysiology. It will allow scientists to visually observe how specific neurons in the brain react and the effect they have on the body. Recently, detailed maps of the brain’s structure and different regions have been produced by the Human Brain Project, which presents the brain in a three-dimensional way that allows scientists to zoom in and out of the arrangement of cells and tissues. The group of scientists managed to slice the brain into 20 micrometer think sections considerably smaller than anything done before. This advancement helps us to see the size of regions in the brain and the correspondence between these regions. It should also lead to simulation, hopefully, providing data to answer questions about brain disease.
Despite these new initiatives and discoveries, the brain is still largely a mystery. Knowing what the structure of the brain looks like doesn't answer how the cells interact. But the hope is that brain mapping will get us a more interactive model of the brain that we can test and study from. One of the major set backs in advancing in this field of science is the technological tools we have available. Our level of technology is not advanced enough yet to carry the amount of data that the brain process. The BRAIN initiative is trying to target this issue and has engineers on board to create something that can handle that amount of data that brain collects.
A report in 2013 on the progress of neuroscience highlighted some of BRAIN’s plans which included nine goals for the future. The goals ranged from structural maps, physical connections between the brain and the responses, a census of the brain’s basic cell types, and the link to human behavior among many others. Help will be needed from many fields of science, including psychology, engineering, and tool development. The research will be interdisciplinary, extremely costly, and it may take decades to produce answers. However, if the initiative provides answers to only half of what it hopes to achieve, it will be a momentous advancement in the complicated world of neuroscience.
Our understanding of the brain and how it interacts and controls the human body is constantly evolving, and there are still large gaps and questions to be answered. How do brain cells interact and control our bodies? What causes brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s? How can we improve treatment of traumatic brain injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
In an attempt to answer these questions and many others Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) was presented by the Obama administration in 2013. It’s goals is to produce an image of the human brain that can show how individual cells and neural circuits interact with each other, which will hopefully help us understand how tiny neurons can control our entire being. This is just one of many initiatives that are advancing the neuroscientific field, and there will be many more to come.
Brain mapping is a way of studying the brain using imaging, optogenetics, engineering, and neurophysiology. It will allow scientists to visually observe how specific neurons in the brain react and the effect they have on the body. Recently, detailed maps of the brain’s structure and different regions have been produced by the Human Brain Project, which presents the brain in a three-dimensional way that allows scientists to zoom in and out of the arrangement of cells and tissues. The group of scientists managed to slice the brain into 20 micrometer think sections considerably smaller than anything done before. This advancement helps us to see the size of regions in the brain and the correspondence between these regions. It should also lead to simulation, hopefully, providing data to answer questions about brain disease.
Despite these new initiatives and discoveries, the brain is still largely a mystery. Knowing what the structure of the brain looks like doesn't answer how the cells interact. But the hope is that brain mapping will get us a more interactive model of the brain that we can test and study from. One of the major set backs in advancing in this field of science is the technological tools we have available. Our level of technology is not advanced enough yet to carry the amount of data that the brain process. The BRAIN initiative is trying to target this issue and has engineers on board to create something that can handle that amount of data that brain collects.
A report in 2013 on the progress of neuroscience highlighted some of BRAIN’s plans which included nine goals for the future. The goals ranged from structural maps, physical connections between the brain and the responses, a census of the brain’s basic cell types, and the link to human behavior among many others. Help will be needed from many fields of science, including psychology, engineering, and tool development. The research will be interdisciplinary, extremely costly, and it may take decades to produce answers. However, if the initiative provides answers to only half of what it hopes to achieve, it will be a momentous advancement in the complicated world of neuroscience.
Gorman, J. (2014, April 21). Brain Control in a Flash of Light. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/science/mind-control-in-a-flash-of-light.html?_r=0
Gorman, J. (2014, November 10). Learning How Little We Know About the Brain. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/science/learning-how-little-we-know-about-the-brain.html?ref=science&_r=1
Humphries, C. (n.d.). Brain Mapping. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526501/brain-mapping/
Marcus, G. (2013, September 17). A Map for the Future of Neuroscience. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-map-for-the-future-of-neuroscience
National Institutes of Health. (2014, November 14). What is the BRAIN Initiative? Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://braininitiative.nih.gov/
The BRAIN Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/brain
Walton, A. G. Forbes.com. What Does Human Brain Mapping Actually Tell Us? Retrieved June 21, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/06/21/what-does-human-brain-mapping-actually-tell-us/
Gorman, J. (2014, November 10). Learning How Little We Know About the Brain. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/science/learning-how-little-we-know-about-the-brain.html?ref=science&_r=1
Humphries, C. (n.d.). Brain Mapping. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526501/brain-mapping/
Marcus, G. (2013, September 17). A Map for the Future of Neuroscience. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-map-for-the-future-of-neuroscience
National Institutes of Health. (2014, November 14). What is the BRAIN Initiative? Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://braininitiative.nih.gov/
The BRAIN Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/brain
Walton, A. G. Forbes.com. What Does Human Brain Mapping Actually Tell Us? Retrieved June 21, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/06/21/what-does-human-brain-mapping-actually-tell-us/
