Author: jlolds

Native Angeleno, professor of Neuroscience and Public Policy at George Mason University

Decade of the Mind IV, V and beyond


We returned to Washington on the red-eye from Long Beach Airport and arrived on Monday morning, in time for the festivities–although we didn’t brave the crowds on the Mall. I note that President Obama clearly mentioned science in his inaugural address–that and his high quality appointments make me very optimistic about this administration.

The money quote:

The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

The Decade of the Mind IV meeting went better than I could have ever expected–just a superb set of presentations, Q&A sessions and off-line discussions. The picture is of the New York Times’ science reporter George Johnson and Director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine Adrianne Noe. Dr. Noe is also the current chair of the Krasnow Advisory Board. I’m in the middle. The river in the background is the Rio Grande with the Sandia Mountains as the backdrop.

Decade of the Mind V, will be held in Berlin Germany on September 10-12 of this year. I’ll have more information soon, so stay tuned. And in the meantime, we’re working on future plans to keep the momentum moving into Asia.

Jim

All is well at the NSF

Just got back from an NSF review panel–although getting back is really the wrong word–the National Science Foundation is located in Arlington Virginia, about a mile down Glebe Road from my house. What’s becoming ever more clear to me is that while there are indeed many parts of the US government that seem to be broken, the Foundation is one agency that works well. Every time that I return from panel or just a visit, I’m impressed with the institutional shared vision: funding the very best science with transparency and rigor.

Monday I’m off to New Mexico for the Fourth Decade of the Mind Conference. I’ll be blogging from the road if I can manage a decent internet connection. Then off to California for a quick visit to my Mom and the house I grew up in, about a block from Caltech in Pasadena.

Jim

Regulating Sugar and Memory

From today’s NY Times….

In the study, researchers used high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging to map brain regions in 240 elderly subjects. They found a correlation between elevated blood glucose levels and reduced cerebral blood volume, or blood flow, in the dentate gyrus, an indication of reduced metabolic activity and function in that region of the brain.

And by the way: Happy New Year!

Jim

Moving on to 2009

I write these words as 70 mph winds rumble by our mountain ridge. One hope that the “sail” that is our roof remains firmly attached to the pylons that constitute our anchor. Otherwise, we’ll be flying west!

This has been an extremely uplifting year for the Institute.  We are further expanding the Institute’s physical footprint, we’ve continued hiring, we’re continuing to publish in high-impact journals and the process of scientific discovery combined with graduate education remains a constant all while the macro-economy went into free-fall. We were able to do this because our University remains on solid ground, and because the University leadership continues to believe in the vision of advanced study as a means of catalyzing the advance of the overall goal to become a major research university.

This does not mean that there wont be real challenges ahead–there most certainly will, but I feel more confident than ever, that the Institute has a great future ahead of it–one where it can play a central role in the National Decade of the Mind Project. And one where high-risk, high-payoff scientific research is rewarded on the basis of merit.

Happy New Year,

Jim

Ape Neuroeconomics

Orangutans apparently can learn to use “currency”. Money quote:

Researchers from the University of St Andrews found orangutans could learn the value of tokens and trade them, helping each other win bananas.

An article in Biology Letters, claims it is the first evidence of “calculated reciprocity” in non-human primates.

Thomas Friedman gets it exactly right

Tom Friedman nails it in his op-ed piece in today’s NY Times. His comparison of Hong Kong’s modern airport to JFK mirrors my own experience last week leaving Munich and arriving at Dulles with its antique mobile lounges and confused immigration lines.

But his most important point is about how the the rescue package for the US economy gets spent:

That’s why we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history. Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’ future, is spent wisely. 

It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants. Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will be the end of us.

Jim

Honey bees and their reward system

Gene Robinson at the University of Illinois has found that honey bees, when they are high on cocaine, exagerate.

Money quote from the press release:

Normally, foraging honey bees alert their comrades to potential food sources only when they’ve found high quality nectar or pollen, and only when the hive is in need. They do this by performing a dance, called a “round” or “waggle” dance, on a specialized “dance floor” in the hive. The dance gives specific instructions that help the other bees find the food.

Foraging honey bees on cocaine are more likely to dance, regardless of the quality of the food they’ve found or the status of the hive, the authors of the study report.

Robinson believes that the cocaine-effect is evidence of an insect-brain reward system. The full report is in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Obama’s scientific team

Last week, the President-elect filled out his scientific team. He had already named Nobel Laureate Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy. The new picks include Harvard’s John Holdren as Presidential Science Advisor, well known within the climate-change community but also include two outstanding molecular biologists to co-chair the PCAST (President’s Council on Science and Technology). Varmus, also a Nobel Laureate for his seminal work on oncogenes with Michael Bishop, was director of the NIH during my post-doctoral years when I trained in Bethesda; Lander is director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

These choices represent a qualitative shift towards depoliticizing science and science policy for the new Administration. And that’s a good thing. The challenges that we face, are too complex and daunting for ideologues.

Snowy in Munich

I was walking back to my hotel yesterday evening past Sankt Anna church that sits on the block through the snow and the Christmas decorations–it’s very much appropriate for the season here. We had an excellent meeting at the headquarters of the Max Plank Society yesterday afternoon. The conference room was five stories above the Hofgarten below–an impressive view.

I have a great deal of respect for what the MPS does in Germany and its new international ventures, particularly in Florida. The notion of stable funding for PI directed basic and applied research is extremely attractive. In some ways, it’s directly complementary to the US model of extramural grants and some hybrid approach might be an interesting variation for new scientific investments in the States.
Jim