The annual national economic burden of brain-related disorders has reached over $1 trillion

Source: "Brain Tech is Here: Neurotechnology Leaves the Nest but Waits for Policy Push" by Zack Lynch, Science Progress, October 4th, 2007.

Lynch's article on the coming developments in neurotechnology, and the need for a policy push in the area, is interesting and useful.

I point out however that it is on a website, Science Progress, that seems very good. Thanks to my son for pointing it out. Check out, on that site, Chris Mooney's "New Paradigm for Science Communication: The Culture Wars Teach Us a Lesson":

We’ll be hearing it a lot today: 50 years ago, the Soviets launched Sputnik. In the ensuing melee, the U.S. government established an exceedingly strong relationship with the nation’s scientific community and relied upon its expertise to find a way to increase our national scientific and technological competitiveness. Science-in-policymaking reached a zenith—and then started a precipitous decline.

The culture wars exploded. Our national politics became more polarized and contentious. Science fights erupted regularly around environmental, regulatory, and moral issues. In some cases science advisers were even fired.

And then came the Bush administration, demonstrating just how large the gap between a president and the nation’s knowledge base can really get. Today we look around anguished and feel sorely tempted to label the 1950s and early 1960s a golden age of scientific inquiry married to effective government policymaking.

Science Progress is a project of the Center for American Progress, a liberal thinktank.