Obama wants to Map the Brain‏

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/02/17565983-obama-unveils-white-house-brain-mapping-project#comments 

The White House plans to unveil a human brain research program that could point to new strategies for dealing with illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and autism later Tuesday. 

The project will be jump-started with a $100 million investment in 2014, the White House said, although the scientists who inspired the idea say the focus is not so much raising money as harnessing new technologies to uncover the secrets of neural function less expensively and more completely. 

The public-private initiative, with money from groups such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's brain mapping project, aims to find a way to take pictures of the brain in action in real time. 

The $100 million funding will come from the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation, the White House said. 

I have no problem with this…..BUT why do tax payers need to be funding it?  

This kind of research should be happening at colleges and Universities.  Last I checked these institutions were swimming in money.  Let them fund it. 

Does Harvard not have any money these days?  Does Yale not have any money these days.  Oh look….Yes they do. 

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2012/11/27/10-colleges-with-largest-financial-endowments

School name (state)	FY 2011 Endowment	U.S. News rank & category
Harvard University (MA)	$32,012,729,000	1, National Universities
Yale University (CT)	$19,174,387,000	3, National Universities
Princeton University (NJ)	$17,162,603,000	1, National Universities
Stanford University (CA)	$16,502,606,000	6, National Universities
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	$9,712,628,000	6, National Universities
Columbia University (NY)	$7,789,578,000	4, National Universities
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor	$7,725,307,000	29, National Universities
University of Pennsylvania	$6,582,030,000	8, National Universities
University of Notre Dame(IN)	$6,383,344,000	17, National Universities
Duke University (NC)	$5,747,377,000	8, National Universities