More problems for brain project

Money trouble looks set to compound the Human Brain Project’s problems, a probe into the €1-billion EU initiative has revealed.

A mediation report on the project to model the human brain was requested by the European Commission and published on 19 March. It was intended to quell the controversy that emerged last July when a group of cognitive neuroscientists publicly denounced the focus and direction of the HBP.

But the report says that, as well as questions about its scientific goals, the project faces mounting financial pressure from three different directions: reduced EU funding, widening scientific goals, and a reluctance from national agencies to be project partners.