Excerpt
RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): During his State of the Union address, the president suggested for the first time that he will propose a decade-long effort to map the activity of the human brain. No dollar figures have been attached to the project, but scientists suggested it could result in hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually on new research, in much the way the Human Genome Project was funded in the '90s.
The president connected those two projects as well, making the case for it as economic investment.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Now, if we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 dollars to our economy, every dollar.
Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer's. They're developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs, devising new materials to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation.
RAY SUAREZ: Dr. Francis Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project back then. Today, he's the director of the National Institutes of Health, which would coordinate much of the brain project.
And he joins me now.
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RAY SUAREZ: A partnership between public and private. Why shouldn't it be just private? If there's such a tremendous potential return, why isn't the private sector rushing to get ahead of you to do this kind of work?
FRANCIS COLLINS, National Institutes of Health: Well, because, Ray, the turnaround, the time it takes for that return on investment is unpredictable, and it's probably not short.
And the private sector, understandably -- they have stockholders to answer to -- are not going to put hundreds of millions of dollars into something where the return is somewhat uncertain and may not happen for years to come.
Ah, yes. Greed and short-term world view. More money, more money NOW!
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