Neuroscience Prospectus
Neuroscience is a specialized study of the brain and nervous system that emerged from a collective effort to promote and investigate problems from traditional scientific fields of anatomy, biochemistry, biology, pathology, and physiology. In this context, training programs were established for systematic advanced scientific methodology and to engage faculty members and students in intellectual endeavors. The Society for Neuroscience (SfN), which began in 1969, is the world’s largest organization for dedicated study of the brain and nervous system. The members of SfN represent over 80 countries and 40,000 graduate students, professors, medical scientists, and related professionals.
Neuroscience has been considered a way of thinking or approaching selected problems rather than study in a single discipline. Accordingly, many people have dedicated their adult lives to the study of (1) a specific neuron, (2) specific genes, (3) systems neuroscience such as vision, hearing, and somotosensation, and (4) behaviors that have been associated with normal and pathologic processes. Experimental studies have led to dramatic findings in medical treatment and scientific discoveries, which have allowed us to extract possibilities from once-improbable circumstances. Still, some scientific investigations have led to even more questions, but those queries spur us on toward ultimate solutions.
Clearly, these are exciting times for those who have been working diligently and methodically in laboratories and institutions worldwide. However, reduced federal research dollars and limited private funding have produced a challenge for the advancement of life sciences and biophysics.
The banner of neuroscience must not be conflated or confused with pseudoscience—that is, false science. It has turned out that marketers have reduced “neuroscience” to a label or an adjective for a wide spectrum of categories including toys, music, listening programs, and treatments. This misuse of neuroscience has led to anti-intellectualism and skepticism among some laypersons, because many of these so-called “neuroscience-based” and “brain-based” programs have been coupled to dubious results. Further, such misuse and misinformation has been a disservice to many dedicated researchers who have contributed much to improve the human condition, rather than financial gain.
The human brain may contain between one billion-to-one trillion neurons (nerve cells) and connections. The complex connections between neurons mediate and modulate a variety of bodily functions, which are related to pain, disease, the pharmacokinetics of drugs, and even language disorders. This complexity has increased the importance of the White House Brain Initiative. The initiative is not assigned to a political agenda. Rather, the initiative is somewhat like the “space race to the moon” of the 1960s. In this manner, we all will benefit from “brain exploration” for generations to come.
A systems neuroscience approach to auditory perceptual and language impairments involves a comprehensive analysis of language and behavioral problems. In the context, exploration of the brain will require expertise from many disciplines that have not been considered in neuroscience including physics, engineering, materials science, optics, and acoustics.
The frontier of the brain and nervous system has not been mapped and it may be many years before we can determine how long the journey will last. However, we can project that the brain will “unfold” and reveal its secrets for generations to come.
Updated: 05 January 2024 08:37:11 -06;00UTC
