15 July 2001
BRAIN SCIENCE: WHY YOU SHOULDN'T LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS
For anyone interested in understanding how the human brain works, these are heady times. New imaging technology — PET, fMRI, MEG, and more — reveals brain activity on a level of detail light years beyond the educated guesswork of most 20th-century psychologists and medical doctors. Advances in molecular biology have allowed neuroscientists to pin down the precise molecules involved in learning and memory, and to specify the exact structural changes that occur in the contact points between brain cells as memories are made and new knowledge is acquired. The mapping of the human genome has helped identify genes that code for specific facets of intelligence and temperament, as well as genes that can lead to brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. And sophisticated cell-tracking techniques have revealed that adult brains have stem cells that can manufacture new neurons without limit.
The implications of all this new-found knowledge are far-reaching, and sometimes scary. It's now become common knowledge among brain researchers not just how the brain codes memories on a molecular and structural level, but also how one might manipulate that process to make memory formation automatic and effortless, or to block memories from forming, or even to erase memories once they're formed. PET scans illuminate not just the parts of the brain that become active while you're listening to Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, but the parts that are active (and, equally important, inactive) during meditation or a religious epiphany. An Alzheimer's vaccine is in the offing that is designed to work by stimulating the body's own immune system to prevent or repair the damage wreaked by plaque-producing genetic mutations. The hormones and even the stem cells responsible for maintaining mental acuity may now be taken in pill form or injected directly into the brain. And the Prozac Revolution has stimulated our collective cultural imagination about how a pill that alters brain neurotransmitter systems can not only improve mood, but can manipulate ambition, self-esteem, temperament, and other aspects of personality that are uncomfortably close to the core of our identity.
As always, important new technology brings threats as well as promises, and may lead to some cures that are worse than the diseases. Neuroscientists can't make decisions about the use of this knowledge on behalf of non-experts, any more than Edward Teller could decide for the rest of us whether nuclear weapons are a good thing, or whether our government should drop a bomb on Baghdad. An understanding of at least the general findings of the new brain research is becoming an increasingly crucial part of cultural literacy. You can't wait for your doctor to tell you how to use those research findings to your advantage. You also can't rely on someone else to defend you against misapplications of that research. For both self-empowerment and self-defense, a basic grasp of brain science is important for everyone.
It's also important for everyone to know that, even though much of the technology upon which brain research depends is high-tech, arcane, and expensive, many of the research findings can be applied cheaply and easily. In fact, that's exactly why a lot of the more important findings about mind improvement and brain maintenance won't appear in full-page ads in the newspaper: they suggest applications that you can't sell for a lot of money, and that are already available to anyone. All the more reason to make sure you know what's going on.
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