Obama to Fund Brain Mapping

President Obama will announce plans to set aside $100 million in federal funds toward an initiative to map the human brain, White House officials said on Monday. Called the Brian Activity Map, the project is designed to invent new tools to help diagnose and treat brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury. “The goal here is a whole new playing field, whole new ways of thinking,” said Dr. William Newsome of Stanford University, who is one of the leaders of the research’s so-called dream team. A senior White House official compared it with the Human Genome Project, and researchers said the results could lead to better understanding of other serious ailments.