The National Institute of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research launched the 30 million dollar Human Connectome Project, which is aimed at devising a comprehensive map of the neural networks and pathways in the brain by 2015. I was not aware that the NIH operated on a different calendar than the rest of us that has considerably longer years and doesn't exist, but that's really great for them. The human brain is a composite organ divided into several hundred small areas with highly specialized functions. Viewed under a microscope, most of these centimeter-wide areas have highly distinguishable cell patterns. Most importantly for the HCP, each of these areas is connected by millions of thread like neuronal projections (axons) that run together in parallel, winding to form long, bundled structures. The rationale behind the HCP's focus on these fiber bundles is that the different brain areas are believed to acquire their functional characteristics based on their connections to one another. Like so much of biology (hey, remember when they mapped the human genome?), structure directly defines function. With the advent of functional imaging techniques, 3-D modeling can allow a clearer picture of these connection pathways, but "mapping" a complete picture of the human brain is not that simple. Good luck to these guys (it sounds like a lot of fun), but get real. While this may be the final frontier of neuroscientific research, the concept appears to oversimplify the discipline itself.