By David Stephen
If addiction or substance use disorder is now categorized as a brain disease and the problem is still prevalent, with the understanding of how the brain works limited, what is the usefulness of cutting research funds for neuroscience?
If there are all kinds of mental disorders, where people of different age groups are vulnerable, with therapy sometimes not universal and some medications either not as effective or with debilitating side-effects, why would understanding of how the brain works, by neuroscience research, not be seen as pivotal?
Aside from mental disorders and addictions, there are several neurological problems. The brain is also responsible for intelligence [even more important in the era of AI], emotions, feelings, regulation of internal senses, lots of behavior, and so forth. Why would neuroscience research be assumed as dispensable when there is a lot of broad work to be done?
There is a report [from July, 2024] in The Transmitter, Future of BRAIN Initiative funding remains unclear, stating that, “Neuroscientists concerned about the fate of the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative after steep cuts to its funding this year may have a new reason to worry. Last Thursday, Republican members of the House of Representatives passed a bill that proposes a 2.8 percent cut for the National Institute of Mental Health, which helps to fund the BRAIN Initiative, and a 0.2 percent cut for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a whole for fiscal year 2025. The 40 percent drop in BRAIN funding in 2024—down from $680 to $402 million—reflected planned decreases to the 21st Century Cures Act, the program’s other key funder; NIH contributions remained stable. For the coming fiscal year, though, Cures Act funding is set to drop again—from $172 million to $91 million—before it expires in 2026. And the proposed NIH budget would make it difficult to compensate for that additional decline. The BRAIN Initiative has funded 1,575 grants since its launch in 2013. Many of those projects are large and collaborative—and may be difficult to slot in under a different grant program.”
A problem of these cuts and why it continues to get worse may not just be about the source of the cuts, but also about some of the results expected from neuroscience research. While there have been several excellent outcomes, whose payoff would continue for years to come, some of the most visible problems in the mainstream that neuroscience would have at least sought to get in the middle of, for answers, did find it.
There is news about tens of thousands of deaths from fentanyl overdose. There have been several major stories about mental health from prominent voices. Neuroscience research did not provide a usable model of the mind, about these problems in a way that can interpose many of these stories, showing their front court relevance to those problems. [Fentanyl supply is stated as a reason for trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico imports to the United States.]
Neuroscience, for all the evidence of electrical and chemical signals across functions, does not have a major theory that uses the signals to explain mental disorders and addictions, in ways that are relatable to parallels in the mind. This absence can be described as a possible source of loss that continues to expand. Neuroscience also missed out on the opportunity in the AI revolution, without any explanation of how human intelligence works.
There is a recent story [February, 2025] in STAT, Graduate student admissions paused and cut back as universities react to Trump orders on research stating that, “Acceptances for biomedical graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are being cut back at some universities and medical centers across the country as many grapple with the potential impact of the Trump administration’s order to cut National Institutes of Health research funding. The cuts come even as the proposed reductions to funding for overhead expenses, set to start Feb.10, were temporarily halted last week by a federal judge, at least until a court hearing this Friday. Universities appear to be exercising caution, with some freezing positions and not taking new applications, or accepting fewer students than normal, according to interviews, public announcements, and internal emails obtained by STAT. The abrupt narrowing of training opportunities is leaving many future researchers at the start of their scientific journey in limbo. The academic calendar runs to the rhythm of its own seasons; right now is typically the time of year when offer letters for Ph.D. programs and postdoc positions in labs start hitting inboxes. Universities and academic medical centers were in the thick of that process when the NIH policy about overhead costs, known as indirect costs, landed.”
Neuroscience research has to prioritize mental disorders and addictions, at least to explain them conceptually, in ways that are similar to the mechanisms of mind, providing new light to the problems, shaping how those living with the conditions and their loved ones may seek care, and returning neuroscience research to the peak of support amid the current spiral.
1 Comment
It has long been the goal of the world’s wealthiest people to rid the planet of any and everyone that requires social assistance of any form except when it comes to themselves.
Some think they will zoom off to a distant uninhabitable planet like Mars and live selfishly for the rest of their lives which will be limited by food, water and oxygen that no money can buy in space.
The MAGA Party claims that the mass shooting problem in the US of A is due to mental health problems not outdated useless gun laws or American obsession with all things guns and violence.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich
Thanks to Ronnie Raygun’s elimination of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 most mental health facilities and financing was eliminated leaving many people with serious mental health issues unable to receive treatment or to be functionally employed. If the mass shooter problem is just a side effect of mental health problems in America then the Republican Party is guilty of exacerbating the problem by eliminating mental health support services and refusing to change the nations gun laws to reflect the so called mental health/mass shooter link by enacting sensible red flag laws that would prevent people with mental health disorders from purchasing, owning or possessing a firearm. Instead we want to make a fast illegal $ off of dark $ from dark gun lobbies who like Big Tech are exempt from the deaths they have caused albeit directly or indirectly. Both of these problems just became worse under the gun lobby $ loving $ grubbing Orange Felon.
It is also to MAGA’s advantage to leave the mentally feeble, feeble minded in order to convince them of their fascist Russian and Q Anon propaganda and outright lies.
Cesar Sayoc Pleads Guilty to 65 Felonies for Mailing 16 Improvised Explosive Devices in Connection with October 2018 Domestic Terrorist Attack
https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/cesar-sayoc-pleads-guilty-65-felonies-mailing-16-improvised-explosive-devices-connection
Hitler swayed and wooed the German masses the very same way- through Propaganda and Disinformation.
How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days
He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/hitler-germany-constitution-authoritarianism/681233/
Trump and his gang of billionaire felons is attempting to follow Hitler’s Mein Kampf playbook only this time eliminating any loopholes that might foil their criminal activities. Their biggest obstacle is that Trump’s IQ is about 200 pts less than Hitler’s was. Hitler actually served his country prior to becoming the hate filled drug filled buffoon he is most known for being. So Trump is basically just a figurehead without a brain being lead by those in the shadows like Musk, Bannon, Miller, Flynn and all of the rest of the MAGA Crime Syndicate.