The Missing Piece

We are probably experiencing the most frantic and urgent race in human history. European Union, USA, China and several other countries join forces to tackle one of the most complex missions that science has ever faced: decoding the human brain. If we do not discover for the brain what we have already discovered for the remaining organs, we will live longer but demented. There is a global urgency to find solutions to neuronal diseases and brain disorders that affect 2 billion people worldwide and will increase in the coming decades. Alzheimer's disease accounts for half of the cases of dementia and is expected to double by the middle of the century, if neuroscience fails to reverse the trend. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults.