There is an upcoming event important to brain science, NIH Scientific Freedom Lecture – Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19, on March 20, 2026, 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM EST (1 hours, 30 minutes), with details:
“This lecture series is designed to promote the principles of gold standard science by providing a formal venue for thoughtful discussion of complex scientific topics. Each session will highlight areas where important scientific issues have generated significant scholarly debate, with the aim of fostering a culture grounded in evidence, integrity, and respectful exchange. Inaugural Lecture: Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19.”
NIH Brain Initiative
There are lots of focus areas for the National Institutes of Health [NIH]; however, what should continue to be a priority is the brain, at least conceptually, to answer unknown questions with respect to mental disorders, drug addictions, neurological conditions, and human intelligence.
The gold standard science for now, about the brain are the electrical and chemical signals because of their central role across functions. For example, there is no location neurons are in, or any function they are responsible for, that does not involve electrical and chemical signals.
So, in exploring to pursue better answers about how the brain works, it is possible to just focus on both signals, for conceptual answers across questions, while linking them to observations.
The NIH should be having talks for just those two, with dedicated sessions and meetings on how to explain functions for them, and then on how to develop a new nosology for mental disorders, drug addiction, neurology, and human intelligence.
There are intentions of the American Psychiatric Association to advance from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision [DSM-5-TR]. The direction of progress is to focus on the electrical and chemical signals in the brain, so that conditions are not simply described by labels, or some diagnosis, by assessments, surveys, observations, or questionnaires.
Psychiatry is seeking new biomarkers for mental disorders, but it is possible that, for now, those could be conceptual, where the architecture of electrical and chemical signals, per function, is [say] matched as the pathology of disorders, to move closer to more precise management and care.
This is the postulation in Conceptual Biomarkers and Theoretical Biological Factors for Psychiatric and Intelligence Nosology.
The objective is to leap from neurons to electrical and chemical signals as the defining factors of functions. The NIH Brain Initiative has a lot of responsibility in this era, even as geopolitics evolve and anxiety spikes across the economy.
Also, in an era of artificial intelligence, with its capabilities on the rise, the question is what can be done about human intelligence, towards important problem-solving?
There are also personal use cases for AI, for companionship, relationships, therapy and so forth. The likelihood of AI reinforcing delusions for some and inducing psychosis for others mounts. So, what are the ways to reduce the risks around these, toward mind safety for consumers?
The future for the NIH is tied to conceptual brain science, using electrical and chemical signals. It is pivotal to also keep those along with other meeting concerns for now.
This article was written for WHN by David Stephen, who currently does research in conceptual brain science with a focus on the electrical and chemical signals for how they mechanize the human mind, with implications for mental health, disorders, neurotechnology, consciousness, learning, artificial intelligence, and nurture. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.
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