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Apparently you either relied on someone else for your information, or you just didn't pay attention. So let me refresh your memory.Here's the Timeline of the Trump Administration's Response to the Wuhan CoronavirusBeth Baumann | Apr 13, 2020 8:00 PMSource: AP Photo/Alex BrandonThe Trump campaign on Monday released a timeline of the Trump administration's response to the Wuhan coronavirus. Below is the timeline of events around the world and throughout the United States. Prominent decisions and actions are bolded.DECEMBER:December 31: China reports the discovery of the coronavirus to the World Health Organization.JANUARY:January 3: CDC Director Robert Redfield sent an email to the director of the Chinese CDC, George Gao, formally offering to send U.S. experts to China to investigate the coronavirus.January 5: CDC Director Redfield sent another email to the Chinese CDC Director, George Gao, formally offering to send U.S. experts to China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak,January 6: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a travel notice for Wuhan, China due to the spreading coronavirus.January 7: The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.January 11: The CDC issued a Level I travel health notice for Wuhan, China.January 17: The CDC began implementing public health entry screening at the 3 U.S. airports that received the most travelers from Wuhan – San Francisco, New York JFK, and Los Angeles.January 20: Dr. Fauci announces the National Institutes of Health is already working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.January 21: The CDC activated its emergency operations center to provide ongoing support to the coronavirus response.January 23: The CDC sought a “special emergency authorization” from the FDA to allow states to use its newly developed coronavirus test.January 27: President Trump tweeted that he made an offer to President Xi Jinping to send experts to China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak.January 27: The CDC issued a level III travel health notice urging Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China due to the coronavirus.January 27: The White House Coronavirus Task Force started meeting to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the President.January 29: The White House announced the formation of the Coronavirus Task Force to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the President.January 31: The Trump Administration:Declared the coronavirus a public health emergency.Announced Chinese travel restrictions.Suspended entry into the United States for foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.January 31: The Department of Homeland Security took critical steps to funnel all flights from China into just 7 domestic U.S. airports.FEBRUARY:February 3: The CDC had a team ready to travel to China to obtain critical information on the novel coronavirus, but were in the U.S. awaiting permission to enter by the Chinese government.February 4: President Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus.February 6: The CDC began shipping CDC-Developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs.February 7: President Trump told reporters that the CDC is working with China on the coronavirus.February 9: The White House Coronavirus Task Force briefed governors from across the nation at the National Governors’ Association Meeting in Washington.February 11: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expanded a partnership with Janssen Research & Development to “expedite the development” of a coronavirus vaccine.February 12: The U.S. shipped test kits for the 2019 novel coronavirus to approximately 30 countries who lacked the necessary reagents and other materials.February 12: The CDC was prepared to travel to China but had yet to receive permission from the Chinese government.February 14: The CDC began working with five labs to conduct “community-based influenza surveillance” to study and detect the spread of coronavirus.February 18: HHS announced it would engage with Sanofi Pasteur in an effort to quickly develop a coronavirus vaccine and to develop treatment for coronavirus infections.February 22: A WHO team of international experts arrives in Wuhan, China.February 24: The Trump Administration sent a letter to Congress requesting at least $2.5 billion to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.February 26: President Trump discussed coronavirus containment efforts with Indian PM Modi and updated the press on his Administration’s containment efforts in the U.S. during his state visit to India.February 29: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed certified labs to develop and begin testing coronavirus testing kits while reviewing pending applications.February 29: The Trump Administration:Announced a level 4 travel advisory to areas of Italy and South Korea.Barred all travel to Iran.Barred the entry of foreign citizens who visited Iran in the last 14 days.MARCH:March 3: The CDC lifted federal restrictions on coronavirus testing to allow any American to be tested for coronavirus, “subject to doctor’s orders.”March 3: The White House announced President Trump donated his fourth-quarter salary to fight the coronavirus.March 4: The Trump Administration announced the purchase of approximately 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months to respond to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.March 4: Secretary Azar announced that HHS was transferring $35 million to the CDC to help state and local communities that have been impacted most by the coronavirus.March 6: President Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to fight the coronavirus outbreak.The bill provides $7.76 billion to federal, state, & local agencies to combat the coronavirus and authorizes an additional $500 million in waivers for Medicare telehealth restrictions.March 9: President Trump called on Congress to pass a payroll tax cut over coronavirus.March 10: President Trump and VP Pence met with top health insurance companies and secured a commitment to waive co-pays for coronavirus testing.March 11: President Trump:Announced travel restrictions on foreigners who had visited Europe in the last 14 days.Directed the Small Business Administration to issue low-interest loans to affected small businesses and called on Congress to increase this fund by $50 billion.Directed the Treasury Department to defer tax payments for affected individuals & businesses, & provide $200 billion in “additional liquidity.”Met with American bankers at the White House to discuss coronavirus.March 13: President Trump declared a national emergency in order to access $42 billion in existing funds to combat the coronavirus.March 13: President Trump announced:Public-private partnerships to open up drive-through testing collection sites.A pause on interest payments on federal student loans.An order to the Department of Energy to purchase oil for the strategic petroleum reserve.March 13: The Food & Drug Administration:Granted Roche AG an emergency approval for automated coronavirus testing kits.Issued an emergency approval to Thermo Fisher for a coronavirus test within 24 hours of receiving the request.March 13: HHS announced funding for the development of two new rapid diagnostic tests, which would be able to detect coronavirus in approximately 1 hour.March 14: The Coronavirus Relief Bill passed the House of Representatives.March 14: The Trump Administration announced the European travel ban will extend to the UK and Ireland.March 15: President Trump held a phone call with over two dozen grocery store executives to discuss on-going demand for food and other supplies.March 15: HHS announced it is projected to have 1.9 million COVID-19 tests available in 2,000 labs this week.March 15: Google announced a partnership with the Trump Administration to develop a website dedicated to coronavirus education, prevention, & local resources.March 15: All 50 states were contacted through FEMA to coordinate “federally-supported, state-led efforts” to end coronavirus.March 16: President Trump:Held a teleconference with governors to discuss coronavirus preparedness and response.Participated in a call with G7 leaders who committed to increasing coordination in response to the coronavirus and restoring global economic confidence.Announced that the first potential vaccine for coronavirus has entered a phase one trial in a record amount of time.Announced “15 days to slow the spread” coronavirus guidance.March 16: The FDA announced it was empowering states to authorize tests developed and used by labs in their states.March 16: Asst. Secretary for Health confirmed the availability of 1 million coronavirus tests, and projected 2 million tests available the next week and 5 million the following.March 17: President Trump announced:CMS will expand telehealth benefits for Medicare beneficiaries.Relevant Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act penalties will not be enforced.The Army Corps of Engineers is on ”standby” to assist federal & state governments.March 17: President Trump spoke to fast food executives from Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Burger King to discuss drive-thru services recommended by CDCMarch 17: President Trump met with tourism industry representatives along with industrial supply, retail, and wholesale representatives.March 17: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met with lawmakers to discuss stimulus measures to relieve the economic burden of coronavirus on certain industries, businesses, and American workers.March 17: Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced a partnership between USDA, Baylor University, McLane Global, and Pepsi Co. to provide one million meals per weak to rural children in response to widespread school closures.March 17: The Treasury Department:Contributed $10 billion through the economic stabilization fund to the Federal Reserve’s commercial paper funding facility.Deferred $300 billion in tax payments for 90 days without penalty, up to $1 million for individuals & $10 million for business.March 17: The Department of Defense announced it will make available to HHS up to five million respirator masks and 2,000 ventilators.March 18: President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides free testing and paid sick leave for workers impacted by the coronavirus.March 18: President Trump announced:Temporary closure of the U.S.-Canada border to non-essential traffic.Plans to invoke the Defense Production Act in order to increase the number of necessary supplies needed to combat coronavirus.FEMA has been activated in every region at its highest level of response.The U.S. Navy will deploy USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy hospital ships.All foreclosures and evictions will be suspended for a period of time.March 18: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed:1 million masks are now immediately available.The Army Corps of Engineers is in NY consulting on how to best assist state officials.March 18: HHS temporarily suspended a regulation that prevents doctors from practicing across state lines.March 18: President Trump spoke to:Doctors, physicians, and nurses on the front lines containing the spread of coronavirus.130 CEOs of the Business Roundtable to discuss on-going public-private partnerships in response to the coronavirus pandemic.March 19: President Trump announced:Very encouraging progress shown by anti-malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine for fighting coronavirus.Carnival Cruise Lines will make ships available for use as hospitals in impacted areas to use for non-coronavirus patients.March 19: Vice President Pence announced tens of thousands of ventilators have been identified that can be converted to treat patients.March 19: The State Department issued a global level 4 health advisory, telling Americans to avoid all international travel due to coronavirus.March 19: President Trump directed FEMA to take the lead on the Federal Government’s coronavirus response & visited FEMA HQ with Vice President Pence for a video call with Governors.March 20: The U.S. and Mexico agree to mutually restrict nonessential cross-border traffic.March 20: Secretary Mnuchin announced at the direction of President Trump that tax day will be moved from April 15 to July 15 for all taxpayers and businesses.March 20: President Trump:Spoke with Sen. Schumer about coronavirus response & stimulus measuresHeld a call with over 12,000 small business owners to discuss relief effortsAnnounced the CDC will invoke Title 42 to provide border patrol with tools to secure the bordersMarch 20: The Department of Education announced it will:Not enforce standardized testing requirements for the remainder of the school yearAllow federal student loan borrowers to stop payments without penalty for 60 daysMarch 20: Secretary Azar announced:FEMA is coordinating and assisting coronavirus testing at labs across the countryThe CDC is suspending all illegal entries to the country based on the public health threat, via Section 362 of the Public Health & Security ActMarch 20: Secretary Azar sent a letter to all 50 Governors that the federal government is buying and making available 200,000 testing swabsMarch 21: Vice President Pence announced to date over 195,000 Americans tested for coronavirus and have received their resultsMarch 21: The Trump Administration announced HHS placed an order for hundreds of millions of N95 masks through FEMAMarch 21: The FDA announced it had given emergency approval to a new coronavirus test that delivers results in hours, with an intended rollout of March 30March 21: Adm. Giroir confirmed 10 million testing kits had been put into the commercial market from March 2 through March 14March 22: President Trump approved major disaster declarations for:Washington StateCaliforniaMarch 22: President Trump announced:Governors will remain in command of National Guard forces & the federal govt will fund 100% of operations costHe directed the federal govt to provide 4 large federal medical stations with 2,000 beds for CA & 1,000 beds for NY & WA.March 22: President Trump confirmed his administration was working with Peru & Honduras to return Americans stranded in both countries as a result of travel restrictions.March 22: Vice President Pence announced:The testing backlog will be resolved by midweek.To date, over 254,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their results.March 22: President Trump announced that the USNS Mercy will be deployed to Los Angeles.March 22: FEMA issued guidance for tribal governments to seek federal assistance under the President’s emergency declaration.March 23: President Trump signed an executive order invoking section 4512 of the Defense Production Act to prohibit the hoarding of vital medical supplies.March 23: VP Pence announced:313,000 Americans were tested for the coronavirus & received results.FEMA established a supply chain stabilization task force so Americans get supplies they need.HHS will have commercial labs prioritize testing for hospitalized patients.March 23: The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy announced a public-private consortium to:Advance coronavirus research.Provide access to computing technology and resources for researchers.March 23: Attorney General Barr announced:The Justice Department held a National Task Force meeting on hoarding and price gouging.Each of the 93 U.S. Attorney General offices is designating a lead prosecutor to prevent hoarding.March 23: President Trump announced HHS is working to designate essential medical supplies as “scarce” to prohibit hoarding of these items.March 23: The Treasury Department announced it is working with the Federal Reserve to lend up to $300 billion to businesses and local governments.March 24: President Trump announced the Army Corps of Engineers & the National Guard are constructing four hospitals and four medical centers in New York.March 24: President Trump approved a major disaster declaration for the state of Iowa related to the coronavirus outbreak.March 24: Vice President Pence:Confirmed FEMA sent New York 2,000 ventilators.Announced individuals who have recently been in New York should self-quarantine for 14 days.March 24: Dr. Deborah Birx announced the U.S. has conducted more coronavirus tests in the last week than South Korea has over the prior eight weeks.March 24: The U.S. Army issued orders for three army hospitals to deploy their health care professionals to New York and Washington state, at the direction of Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy.March 25: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the #coronavirus outbreak for:TexasFloridaNorth CarolinaMarch 25: President Trump & Vice President Pence held a conference call with 140 non-profit organization leaders, including The Salvation Army & The Red Cross, to discuss coronavirus response efforts.March 25: President Trump signed a bill reauthorizing The Older Americans Act, which supports senior citizens by providing meals, transportation, and other crucial services.March 25: Vice President PenceHeld a conference call with equipment manufacturers to discuss on-going coronavirus response efforts.Announced 432,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received results.Confirmed 4,000 ventilators were delivered to New York.March 25: Vice President Pence held discussions with multiple governors, including the Governor of Indiana & the Governor of MichiganMarch 26: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:IllinoisNew JerseyMarylandMissouriMarch 26: President Trump announced the USNS Comfort will depart for NYC on Saturday to assist in the coronavirus response – 3 weeks ahead of schedule!March 26: President Trump participated in a video conference with the leaders of the G20 to discuss the global coronavirus response & the need for countries to share information and data on the spread of the virus.March 26: President Trump held a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the coronavirus.March 26: Vice President Pence announced 552,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their results.March 26: Dr. Fauci announced the Federal Government is working with companies to speed up production of potential coronavirus vaccines while those drugs are still in the trial phase.March 27: President Trump signed The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law.March 27: President Trump signed a Defense Production Act memorandum ordering General Motors (GM) "to accept, perform, and prioritize federal contractors for ventilators.March 27: President Trump signed an executive order allowing the military to activate members of the Selected Reserve and Ready Reserve to active duty to assist with the Federal response to the coronavirus.March 27: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:South CarolinaPuerto RicoMarch 27: President Trump appointed Office of Trade and Manufacturing policy director Peter Navarro to serve as the Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator.March 27: President Trump announced that 100,000 ventilators are projected to be manufactured in the next 100 days, three times the amount typically manufactured in one year.March 27: President Trump announced that Boeing offered the use of three "Dreamlifter" cargo air crafts to transport medical supplies across the country.March 27: Partnering with FEMA, the CDC, and the Coronavirus Task Force, Apple released a coronavirus app which allows users to screen for their symptoms.March 27: President Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the global coronavirus response and committed to helping provide ventilators to the U.K. where possible.March 27: Vice President Pence announced that 685,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their test results.March 27: Emory University began enrolling participants for a phase one clinical trial, sponsored by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of a new, potential coronavirus vaccine.March 27: FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor spoke to the director of each of the state's emergency operations about the state-led, federally-supported coronavirus response effort.March 27: The USNS Mercy arrived in the port of Los Angelse to help relieve the strain on hospital facilities in Southern California.March 28: President Trump visited Norfolk, VA to send off the USNS Comfort to New York City where it will help relieve the strain on local hospitals.March 28: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:GuamMichiganMassachusettsKentuckyColoradoMarch 28: President Trump spoke with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis regarding the coronavirus response effort.March 28: The CDC issued new guidance for residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to avoid non-essential domestic travel for 14 days to #StopTheSpread of the coronavirus within the U.S.March 29: President Trump announced that CDC guidelines will be extended through April 30 to promote #socialdistancing and other measures to stop the spread of the #coronavirus.March 29: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:ConnecticutOregonGeorgiaWashington DCMarch 29: President Trump met with supply chain distributors including FedEx, Cardinal Health, and UPS to discuss ways to get state and local governments necessary medical supplies to combat the coronavirus.March 29: President Trump congratulated the Army Corps of Engineers for having completed construction on a 2,900 bedroom temporary hospital at the Javits Center in New York.March 29: President Trump tweeted his support for the FDA to expedite the approval process to approve mask sterilization equipment produced by Battelle.March 29: President Trump announced the on-going study of 1,100 patients in New York being treated with Hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus.March 29: President Trump directed the Treasury & Labor Departments to look at reinstating deductions of business expenses at restaurants, bars, and entertainment businesses to help the hospitality industry.March 29: The first "Project Airbridge" shipment of medical supplies from abroad, organized by FEMA, landed at JFK airport, carrying 80 tons of masks, face shields, and other vital medical supplies.March 29: President Trump announced that Cigna and Humana are waving co-pays for coronavirus treatment.March 29: Vice President Pence sent a letter to hospital administrators requesting that hospitals across the country report their coronavirus data to the Federal Government in addition to state authorities.March 29: Adm. Giroir announced that 894,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their results.March 29: HHS accepted 30 million doses of Hydroxychloroquine, donated by Sandoz, and one million doses of Chloroquine, donated by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, for clinical trials and possible treatment of coronavirus patients.March 30: President Trump announced that one million Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their results.March 30: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:AlabamaKansasPennsylvaniaRhode IslandMarch 30: Secretary Azar announced that the FDA has approved Battelle’s N95 mask sanitization process for use to decontaminate tens of thousands of masks per day.March 30: President Trump announced further private sector commitments to manufacture personal protective equipment by MyPillow, Honeywell, Jockey, Procter & Gamble, and United Technologies.March 30: President Trump announced, to date, FEMA has dedicated $1.3 billion to assist New York State’s coronavirus response.March 30: President Trump announced “more than 14,000” National Guard service members have been activated to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.March 30: President Trump spoke with the nation’s governors about their need for medical supplies.March 30: President Trump announced that in the coming days the Federal Government will be delivering:400 ventilators to Michigan300 ventilators to New Jersey150 ventilators to Louisiana150 ventilators to Illinois50 ventilators to ConnecticutMarch 30: President Trump spoke to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy and pledged to send $100 million of medical supplies to aid Italy’s battle against coronavirus.March 30: Answering President Trump’s call for the private sector to join the fight against the #coronavirus, Ford Motor Company committed to producing 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days.March 30: On coronavirus testing, Secretary Azar announced that the U.S. is currently testing nearly 100,000 samples per day.March 30: HHS took steps to accelerate a clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by Janssen Research & Development.March 30: CMS announced new regulatory changes to cut red tape and give flexibility to America’s health care workers by relaxing hospital workforce regulations, expanding child care, meal, and laundry services for health care workers, expanding tele-health reimbursement, and more.March 30: The USNS Comfort arrived in New York Harbor, providing more than 1,000 more hospital beds for patients without coronavirus, to relieve pressure on local hospitals.March 30: The USNS Mercy began treating patients in Los Angeles.March 31: President Trump officially issued “30 Days To Slow The Spread” guidance to mitigate the outbreak of coronavirus.March 31: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:OhioMontanaMarch 31: President Trump participated in a conference call with executives of American Network Service Providers to promote connectivity amid social distancing.March 31: President Trump announced that the federal government is stockpiling 10,000 ventilators to be urgently distributed as needed once the coronavirus pandemic hits its peak in the U.S.March 31: President Trump announced that the Treasury Department and SBA are rapidly mobilizing money from the CARES Act’s $349 billion paycheck protection program, with the program set to be “up and running” by April 3.March 31: President Trump spoke to Michigan Governor Whitmer about the state’s need for ventilators.March 31: President Trump announced the Army Corps of Engineers & FEMA will construct:8 facilities with 50,000 bed capacity in CaliforniaA field hospital with 250 bed capacity in Michigan2 field hospitals in Louisiana with 500 bed capacityAn alternative care sight in New Orleans with a 3,000 bed capacityMarch 31: President Trump spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the international effort to defeat the coronavirus and support the global economy.March 31: President Trump and the First Lady spoke with their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain about efforts to combat the coronavirus.March 31: Vice President Pence announced that 10 states now have access to federal funding for The National Guard to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.March 31: Vice President Pence announced that 17,000 National Guard Servicemen have been activated across the country to assist in the coronavirus response.March 31: Vice President Pence announced that 1.1 million coronavirus tests have been completed.March 31: Adm. Giroir & Surgeon General Adams issued an open letter to the U.S. health care community about how to optimize the use of ventilators.March 31: The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a two-minute coronavirus antibody test developed by Bodysphere Inc.March 31: The Treasury Department and IRS launched the employee retention credit, created by the CARES Act to incentivize businesses to keep their employees on payroll, and said businesses can begin using it.March 31: The VA announced that it had expanded virtual services to veterans, continuing to provide care while limiting in-person interactions that could potentially harm vulnerable populations at VA facilities.APRIL:April 1: President Trump approved a major disaster declaration related to the coronavirus outbreak for:North DakotaHawaiiThe Northern Mariana IslandsApril 1: President Trump spoke to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon about the need to procure gowns for hospitalsApril 1: President Trump spoke to military families whose relocation or reunion with loved ones was impacted by the coronavirus.April 1: President Trump announced that the construction & refurbishing of two additional hospital ships like the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort are being considered.April 1: Vice President Pence announced that 1.2 million coronavirus tests have been completed.April 1: The White House, HHS, and the FDA worked with Senator Rob Portman to acquire and authorize for use over two million gowns donated to the Strategic National Stockpile by Cardinal Health.April 1: Dr. Birx announced that the White House issued a challenge to universities and states to develop ELISA, or Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays, tests to detect coronavirus antibodies in larger communities more quickly.April 1: The Treasury Department released FAQs to help small and medium businesses understand the paid sick and family leave tax credits now offered under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.April 1: The Department of Labor posted a temporary rule to implement the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in order to provide paid sick and family leave.April 1: In New York City, the USNS Comfort began treating its first patients.April 1: The VA opened its East Orange, NJ medical center to serve non-veteran coronavirus patients to assist the state and FEMA in their response to coronavirus.April 1: The Treasury Department announced that Social Security recipients, including senior citizens, disabled Americans, and low-income Americans who do not file tax returns will have their coronavirus relief payments directly deposited into their bank accounts.April 2: President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to direct 3M to produce more N95 respirator masks.April 2: President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to help 6 companies (General Electric, Hill-Rom Holdings, Medtronic, ResMed, eRoyal Philips, and Vyaire Medical) get the supplies they need to make ventilators.April 2: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the #coronavirus outbreak for:VirginiaTennesseeThe U.S. Virgin IslandsApril 2: President Trump discussed the production of ventilators with GM CEO Mary Barra.April 2: President Trump announced that The Javits Center temporary hospital will be converted into a coronavirus hospital.April 2: President Trump announced that the Department of Defense will be establishing 48 more ICU beds in New York.April 2: President Trump announced that the Federal Government will be establishing a coronavirus hospital in Louisiana and Texas.April 2: President Trump took an additional coronavirus test and tested negative.April 2: President Trump ordered the Federal Government to cover the costs of all National Guard operations in states with recently approved disaster declarations.April 2: President Trump sent Senator Chuck Schumer a letter debunking false claims made against the Trump Administration’s coronavirus response.April 2: Secretary Mnuchin and Small Business Administrator Jovita Carranza announced that the Paycheck Protection Program, created by the CARES Act to provide $350 billion in loans to small businesses, will be launched tomorrow.April 2: Secretary Mnuchin announced that the first relief payments will be dispersed within two weeks.April 2: Vice President Pence announced that 1.3 million coronavirus tests have been completed.April 2: Vice President Pence announced that all Blue Cross Blue Shield Members will be waiving out of pocket costs for coronavirus treatment.April 2: Rear Adm. Polowczyk announced FEMA’s Supply Chain Stabilization Task Force has delivered:27.1 million surgical masks19.5 N95 million respirator masks22.4 million surgical gloves5.2 million face shieldsOver 7,600 ventilatorsApril 2: First Lady Melania Trump had a phone call with Mrs. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau of Canada, who is recovering from the coronavirus.April 2: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced $25 billion in federal funding to support public transportation systems in response to the coronavirus.April 2: The Department of Justice and HHS distributed 192,000 N95 respirator masks confiscated from price gougers to health care workers in New York and New Jersey.April 2: The FDA approved the first coronavirus antibody test, developed by Cellex.April 2: The FDA issued new guidance to increase the supply of blood donations, reducing the deferral period for gay men from 12 months to 3 months.April 2: The Department of Education donated 5,760 N95 respirator masks discovered in storage to aid the fight against the coronavirus.April 2: Secretary Pompeo announced that the State Department has now brought home 30,000 Americans stranded overseas as a result of coronavirus-related travel restrictions.April 2: April 2: HHS announced it was relaxing enforcement of HIPAA violations to encourage health care providers to share coronavirus data and information with federal and state health care officials.April 2: The Trump Administration issued recommendations to nursing homes to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus.April 2: HUD announced it was immediately making $3 billion of CARES Act funding available to help America’s low-income families and most vulnerable citizens across the nation.April 2: The Energy Department announced it would immediately make 30 million barrels of the strategic petroleum reserve’s (SPR’s) oil storage capacity available to struggling U.S. oil producers.April 3: President Trump announced new voluntary CDC guidelines that all Americans wear non-medical, fabric or cloth face masks to prevent asymptomatic spread of coronavirus.April 3: The President met with energy execs from Phillips 66, Devon Energy, Continental Resources, Hilcorp Energy, Occidental Petroleum, The American Petroleum Institute, The Energy Transfer Partners, Chevron, & Exxon Mobil to discuss coronavirus’ impact on the energy industry.April 3: President Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss convening the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in an effort to defeat the coronavirus and discuss its impact on the world.April 3: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:New HampshireWest VirginiaIndianaArkansasOregonApril 3: President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum blocking the export of N95 and other respirator masks, surgical masks, PPE gloves, and surgical gloves to ensure they are available in the U.S. – designating them as “scarce” under the Defense Production Act.April 3: President Trump announced that Anthem will waive co-pays for coronavirus treatment for 60 days.April 3: President Trump announced that uninsured Americans will have their coronavirus treatment covered, using funding from the CARES Act.April 3: Trump Administration officials spoke to the directors of the two largest health care providers in Louisiana, Ochsner and LCMC Health, to discuss their need for medical supplies.April 3: President Trump directed FEMA to send Ochsner Surgical Gowns.April 3: President Trump announced that 9,000 retired Army medical personnel have volunteered and are assisting the federal response to the coronavirus.April 3: President Trump announced that the DOJ and HHS have together secured:200,000 N95 masks130,000 surgical masks600,000 glovesfrom hoarders and have distributed the supplies to health care workers.April 3: Vice President Pence announced that 1.4 million coronavirus tests have been completed to date.April 3: Vice President Pence announced that 18,000 machines are already available across the country to administer Abbott 15 Minute Coronavirus Tests, with another 1,200 soon to be distributed to states.April 3: Vice President Pence announced that a Project Airbridge flight landed in Columbus, Ohio with medical supplies.April 3: Secretary Azar announced a public-private partnership with Oracle to collect crowd-sourced data on coronavirus therapeutic treatments.April 3: The SBA launched the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, issuing more than 17,500 loans valued at $5.4 billion.April 3: The Army Corps of Engineers is working with states to assess 750 requests for temporary hospital facilities, having completed 673 already.April 3: The FDA announced it would coordinate the national effort to develop blood-related therapies for COVID-19.April 3: The Defense Department’s Joint Acquisition Task Force launched a new portal giving the private sector the ability to submit information and solutions to the DoD.April 3: The State Department announced that they have awarded contracts for 8 new medical facilities, totaling 9,693 new beds.April 3: The Department of Labor issued guidance to help employers reduce their use of N95 respirators, freeing up supply for the coronavirus response.April 3: HUD announced it is making $200 million in Indian housing block grants for Indian Tribes under the CARES Act.April 3: EPA Administrator Wheeler held a call with retailers and marketplace platforms to discuss ways to protect consumers from fake disinfectants.April 3: First Lady Melania Trump held a phone call with Mrs. Brigitte Macron of France to discuss the coronavirus response.April 4: President Trump announced that 1,000 members of the Defense Department’s Medical Corps will be deployed to New York to assist in the fight against coronavirus.April 4: President Trump spoke to commissioners of major league sports organizations including the MLB, NFL, & NBA, recognizing what the leagues, teams, and players are doing in their communities to combat coronavirus.April 4: President Trump tweeted encouragement to American children unable to start their Little League baseball season on time due to coronavirus.April 4: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:NebraskaWisconsinMaineNevadaApril 4: President Trump announced that he was considering a second coronavirus task force focused on the economy.April 4: President Trump urged PM Modi of India to allow Hydroxychloroquine to be shipped to the United States.April 4: President Trump announced that the U.S. government has repatriated over 40,000 Americans from 75 countries.April 4: Vice President Pence spoke to Governors of New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Maryland.April 4: FEMA obligated $44 million to Iowa under the state’s major disaster declaration to combat the coronavirus.April 5: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:South DakotaNew MexicoOklahomaMississippiApril 5: April 5: President Trump announced that by Tuesday, 3,000 military and medical personnel will have deployed to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to assist in the coronavirus response effort.April 5: President Trump announced that the Trump Administration will be sending New York 600,000 N95 masks tomorrow, including 200,000 to Suffolk County alone.April 5: President Trump announced that the Administration will soon send:300 ventilators to Michigan200 ventilators to Louisiana600 ventilators to Illinois100 ventilators to Massachusetts500 ventilators to New JerseyApril 5: President Trump announced the establishment of a federal coronavirus medical station in Washington D.C.April 5: President Trump announced that Washington has returned 400 ventilators to the strategic national stockpile.April 5: President Trump announced that 1.67 million coronavirus tests have been completed.April 5: President Trump announced that the government has stockpiled 29 million doses of HydroxychloroquineApril 5: Dr. Birx announced that testing in the New York metro area, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Washington has exceeded the testing rate of Spain and ItalyApril 5: Adm. Polowczyk announced that three Project Airbridge flights of medical supplies landed across the US today carrying:1 million gowns2.8 million surgical masks11.8 million glovesApril 5: Adm. Polowczyk spoke to top health officials from states severely impacted by the coronavirus to discuss the supply chain.April 5: Secretary Wilkie announced that the VA is making 1,500 beds available at VA hospitals to help states and localities across the country.April 5: Vice President Pence spoke to governors from states severely impacted by the coronavirus, including Michigan, Louisiana, and Illinois.April 5: FEMA and The Army Corps of Engineers completed renovations at the McCormick Place Pavilion in Chicago, providing an additional 500 hospital beds for the cityApril 6: President Trump announced an agreement with 3M to produce and import 55.5 million N95 masks each month for the next three months.April 6: President Trump held a call with CEOs from pharmaceutical and bio-tech companies to discuss potential coronavirus therapeutics.April 6: President Trump had a “very friendly” phone call with former Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the coronavirus.April 6: President Trump announced that 1.79 million coronavirus tests have been completed.April 6: President Trump approved Governor Murphy’s request to allow New Jersey patients aboard the USNS Comfort.April 6: President Trump approved Governor Cuomo’s request to allow the treatment of coronavirus patients on the USNS Comfort.April 6: President Trump announced that CVS will open two new drive-thru coronavirus testing sites in Georgia and Rhode Island. Both will use Abbott’s rapid coronavirus test.April 6: President Trump announced that the FDA authorized Inovio’s potential coronavirus vaccine for a clinical trial, wile 10 potential coronavirus therapeutic agents are in “active trials” with another 15 potential therapeutics in plans for clinical trials.April 6: President Trump praised the work of the private sector, including Apple and Salesforce, who have agreed to donate personal protective equipment to help defeat the coronavirus.April 6: President Trump announced that The Army Corps of Engineers is building 22 field hospitals and alternative care sites in 18 states.April 6: President Trump announced that 8,450 hospital beds and 8,000 ventilators have been deployed across the country from federal stockpiles.April 6: Vice President Pence announced that to date $4.1 billion has been allocated to states under federal disaster declarations.April 6: Vice President Pence announced that 21,000 National Guard Servicemen have been activated across the country to assist in the fight against coronavirus.April 6: VP Pence announced that thanks to California’s donation of 500 ventilators, the federal government will send:200 ventilators to MD100 ventilators to DE100 ventilators to NV50 ventilators to DC50 ventilators to Guam & the Northern Mariana IslandsApil 6: The CDC began publishing a new, data-centered coronavirus surveillance report on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).April 6: HHS announced an additional $186 million in CDC funding for state and local jurisdictions combatting the coronavirus.April 6: HHS announced it will be purchasing 15-minute coronavirus tests from Abbott for state, territorial, and tribal labs and for the Strategic National Stockpile.April 6: The Department of Education announced a streamlined process making it easier for states to use federal education funding for distance learning during the coronavirus outbreak.April 7: President Trump participated in a conference call with banking executives to discuss how to best deliver financial aid and technical assistance to small businesses.April 7: President Trump announced the SBA has processed “more than $70 billion” in loans to help small businesses as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.April 7: President Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Minnesota related to the coronavirus outbreak.April 7: President Trump announced that in addition to the 8,675 ventilators in the strategic national stockpile, the federal government will be acquiring 110,000 ventilators in the next three months to be distributed to states in need.April 7: President Trump announced that 1.87 million coronavirus tests have been completed.April 7: President Trump announced his intent to ask Congress for an additional $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program to loan to small businesses.April 7: Vice President Pence participated in a conference call with over 500 business owners to discuss their needs amid the coronavirus response effort.April 7: CMS Administrator Verma announced that CMS will make available an additional $30 billion in grants this week for health care organizations with increased operating costs due to the coronavirus.April 7: The State Department announced an additional $225 million in health, humanitarian, and economic assistance to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus around the world.April 7: As part of Project Airbridge, UPS and FEMA began shipments of 25 flights with more than three million pounds of medical supplies.April 7: The Department of Transportation finalized a requirement that airlines who receive assistance under the CARES Act continue flights to destinations they were serving before the outbreak, ensuring commercial flights are available.April 7: The EPA distributed over 1,100 N95 masks to the California Office of Emergency Services.April 8: President Trump spoke to over 10,000 faith leaders & more than 3,000 state, local, and tribal officials to discuss the coronavirus response effort.April 8: Secretary Pompeo announced that since January, over 50,000 Americans have been repatriated by 90 countries in over 480 flights.April 8: Under the DPA, HHS announced a $646.7M contract with Philips to produce 2,500 ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile by the end of May, and a total of 43,000 by December.April 8: President Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Vermont related to the coronavirus outbreak.April 8: President Trump announced that a Project Airbridge shipment of protective gowns landed in Dallas, Texas.April 8: President Trump announced that 10 drugs to potentially be used against the coronavirus are currently in clinical trial.April 8: President Trump thanked Indian PM Modi for allowing a shipment of the life-saving drug hydroxychloroquine to be released to the U.S.April 8: Vice President Pence announced:$98B in forgivable loans were disbursed through the Paycheck Protection Program27,000 National Guard service members were activated across the country to assist in the coronavirus responseApril 8: The CDC issued new guidance for how essential and critical workers who have been exposed to the coronavirus can return to work, with precautions.April 8: Four additional flights as part of Project Airbridge landed across the country, delivering PPE and other medical supplies.April 8: Customs and Borders Protection announced with FEMA that it will detain shipments of PPE in order to keep critical medical supplies within the U.S. for domestic use.April 8: HHS announced an agreement with DuPont and FedEx to rapidly manufacture and deliver 2.25M new Tyvek Protective Suits to the Strategic National Stockpile over the next five weeks.April 8: HHS expanded telehealth services for Native Americans through The Indian Health Service.April 8: HHS authorized pharmacists to order and administer coronavirus tests, further expanding the availability of testing.April 8: HHS awarded $1.3B from the CARES Act to 1,387 health centers in all 50 states, 8 territories, and the District of Columbia to fight coronavirus.April 8: CMS issued updated guidance based on CDC guidelines to protect patients and health care workers in hospitals from the coronavirus.April 8: The USDA announced its approval of Arizona's & California’s request for food stamp recipients to purchase food online, allowing these recipients to purchase groceries for delivery.April 8: The VA announced that it has begun using funding from the CARES Act to pay overtime, hire new staff, and purchase supplies including PPE, beds, and pharmaceuticals.April 9: President Trump spoke with mental health advocates from across the country to discuss their work amid the coronavirus outbreak.April 9: President Trump approved major disaster declarations related to the coronavirus outbreak for:AlaskaIdahoApril 9: President Trump announced that 24 Project Airbridge flights have been completed to date, with an additional 49 flights scheduled.April 9: President Trump announced that there are currently 19 potential coronavirus therapies being tested and another 26 potential therapies in active planning for clinical trials.April 9: President Trump announced that, to date, over 2 million coronavirus tests have been completed.April 9: Vice President Pence announced that $125B in Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans has been approved to date.April 9: Vice President Pence announced that a total of 29,000 National Guard service members have been activated across the country to assist in the coronavirus response.April 9: Vice President Pence announced that to date 4,100 military medical personnel have been deployed to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.April 9: The Treasury Department announced that it extended over 300 tax filing, payment, and administrative deadlines to give relief to taxpayers.April 9: Working with the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve announced new lending programs providing up to $2.3T in loans to businesses and state & local governments.April 9: HHS announced it would relax enforcement of HIPPAA for pharmacies and other organizations that are working at coronavirus testing sites, helping these groups focus on testing.April 9: Secretary of Education DeVos announced that $6.3B in CARES Act funding will be immediately distributed to colleges and universities to provide cash grants to students affected by the coronavirusApril 9: The EPA announced that more than 11,500 pieces of PPE have been transferred to FEMA, which will be later transferred to state and local agencies across New England combating the coronavirus.April 9: The USDA launched the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program in Michigan, which will help feed children eligible for USDA school lunch programs who are now home during the coronavirus outbreak.April 9: The USDA announced relief for farmers across the country by giving borrowers 12 months to repay marketing assistance loans (MAL), helping protect farmers from being forced to sell crops to make loan payments.April 9: CMS temporarily suspended a number of regulations so that hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers can book the number of staff to confront the coronavirusApril 10: President Trump announced that 60 mask sterilization systems, with the ability to clean over 80,000 masks approximately 20 times, will be sent to 10 cities.April 10: President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the global coronavirus response and the global energy market.April 10: President Trump announced that a field hospital in Seattle will be leaving, as Washington State’s coronavirus outbreak becomes more manageable.April 10: President Trump announced that his administration is working to bring blood-based serology tests to market “as quickly as possible” so Americans can determine if they have had the coronavirus.April 10: President Trump announced that he will be establishing an “Opening Our Country Council” with more details coming early next week.April 10: President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to facilitate the supply of medical equipment and other humanitarian relief to Italy.April 10: Dr. Fauci spoke to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon to discuss coronavirus mitigation in those states.April 10: Vice President Pence, CDC Director Redfield, & Surgeon General Adams spoke to over 400 leaders of the African American community, including Jesse Jackson, NAACP representatives, & the National Black Nurses Association to discuss the impact of the coronavirus.April 10: Vice President Pence spoke to Colorado Governor Jared Polis about the specific needs of his state’s battle against the coronavirus.April 10: Vice President Pence announced that more than 2.1M coronavirus tests have been completed to date.April 10: Vice President Pence announced that:29,600 National Guard Troops have been activated4,700 active duty medical personnel have been deployed to nine statesApril 10: Vice President Pence announced that to date, 26 Project Airbridge flights have landed in the U.S. with PPE, with four flights scheduled to land today with 250,000 gowns and 25M pairs of gloves.April 10: HHS began delivering $30B in relief funding to health care providers, part of the $100B allocated to health care providers by the CARES Act.April 10: The FDA approved an emergency authorization for a blood purification device to treat coronavirus patients.April 10: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced $1B for Amtrak to continue rail service and respond to the spread of the coronavirus.April 10: The Treasury Department launched a web portal to help Americans who did not file tax returns receive their coronavirus relief payments under the CARES Act.April 10: The Treasury Department announced it will launch a new “get my payment” app where Americans can enter their direct deposit information to get coronavirus relief payments quicker.April 10: The VA deployed medical staffers to New Orleans to help “surge” personnel in the area, which is currently being heavily impacted by the coronavirus.April 11: President Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Wyoming related to the coronavirus outbreak, marking the first time in U.S. history a President has declared that a major disaster exists in all 50 states.April 11: The DoD announced it is using The Defense Production Act to get the private sector to produce 39 million N95 masks within 90 days, a $133M investment.April 11: Three Project Airbridge flights landed in Chicago, Illinois, delivering over 62 million gloves.April 11: The Department of Justice announced it is monitoring state and local social distancing regulations to ensure religious organizations are not unfairly targeted.April 11: The USDA added Florida & Idaho to the food stamp online pilot program, allowing food stamp recipients to purchase food online.April 11: CMS expanded the requirements that private health insurers provide free coronavirus testing, saying that this includes anti-body testing and costs related to coronavirus testing, like emergency room or urgent care visits.April 12: A deal brokered by President Trump was announced between The OPEC countries, Russia, and the U.S. to cut production and stabilize the oil market amid dual disruptions from coronavirus and the price war between Saudi Arabia & Russia.April 12: The FDA issued an emergency authorization to devices from Advanced Sterilization Products, which can decontaminate approximately 4 million N95 respirators each day.April 12: The FBI uncovered an international fraud scheme related to the attempted purchase of 39 million N95 masks by a Service Employees International Union Affiliate.Editor's Note: Want to support Townhall so we can keep telling the truth about China and the virus they unleashed on the world? 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Q. If everyone is given the same brain, then why does IQ vary from person to person?1. Henry Markram and Human Brain ProjectIn 2013 the European Commission awarded neuroscientist Henry Markram $1.3 billion to pursue an audacious goal: building a simulation of the human brain.For decades Henry Markram has dreamed of reverse engineering the human brain. In 1994, as a postdoctoral researcher then at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, he became the first scientist to “patch” two living neurons simultaneously—to apply microscopic pipettes to freshly harvested rat neurons to measure the electrical signals fired between them. .His work landed him a position as senior scientist at the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and by the time he was promoted to professor in 1998, he was one of the most esteemed researchers in the field.Then he began to get frustrated. Although researchers worldwide were publishing tens of thousands of neuroscience studies every year, neither our understanding of basic brain functions nor our ability to treat brain disorders seemed to be progressing much. Markram's consternation was also deeply personal. While he was still in Germany, his son Kai had been diagnosed with autism. As he told The Guardian in 2013, he wanted “to be able to step inside a simulation of my son's brain and see the world as he sees it.” The only way to do that, he reasoned, was to go beyond individual experiments with behaviors, diseases and brain anatomy and instead model the circuitry of the entire human brain.In a 2009 TED talk, he first presented to the general public his vision of mathematically simulating the brain's 86 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses on a supercomputer. “We can do it within 10 years,” he promised the audience, suggesting that such a mathematical model might even be capable of consciousness.In various talks, interviews and articles, he suggested that a mathematical brain model would deliver such fundamental breakthroughs as simulation-driven drug discovery, the replacement of certain kinds of animal experiments and a better understanding of disorders such as Alzheimer's. As if that were not enough, the simulated brain would also spin off technology for building new and faster computers and create robots with cognitive skills and possibly intelligence.His vision seemed vindicated in January 2013, when the European Union awarded him $1.3 billion, spread over 10 years, to build his simulated brain.Excerpt fromhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/…/why-the-human-brain-pr…/---Very Very long answer (Explanation)Tabula rasa (Children are blank slate)-Tabula rasa, means "blank slate" in Latin and originates from the Roman tabula.-The term also is used as the name of an epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that all of their knowledge comes from experience and perception.Human intellect at birth resembled a tabula rasa, a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know. Persian philosopher Ibn SinaAt birth the (human) mind is a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences. John Locke-Generally, the tabula rasa thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects of one's personality, social and emotional behavior, and intelligence.-Scholarly and popular discussion about nature and nurture relates to the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities (nature) as compared to an individual's personal experiences (nurture) in causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.FromTabula rasa - WikipediaNature versus nurture - Wikipedia--ON INTELLIGENCE-Fall of the Tabula rasa (Blank slate) concept-Generations later, people questioned about the blank state theory of mind. When observing the children, they found out that the children had distinct personalities, characters, talent since young. Within same culture, within same environment and even within same big families, some children were introvert, some were extrovert, some were easily angry, some had sense of humor, some learnt easily in studying, some had talents in arts, music, dancing, playing piano, etc, some had talent in different sports since young, majority of children had sense of morality since young (they knew what is good, what is bad without learning from adults).-Some researchers even found out that they could predict which children will be successful in later life, who would complete university education by doing so simple experiment to the children.(The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a series of studies on delayed gratification in the late 1960s and early 1970s led by psychologist Walter Mischel, then a professor at Stanford University. In these studies, a child (4-7 years of age) was offered a choice between one small reward (sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel, etc.) provided immediately or two small rewards if he or she waited until the tester returned (after an absence of approximately 15 minutes). In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) and other life measures.From Stanford marshmallow experiment)-Fall of the Blank slate and rise of the role of genes-Some researchers even said that whether the children will be successful in later life was already determined by the time they were born.-(In late 1990s, US department of Education undertook a project called the early childhood longitudinal study (ECLS). It sought to measure the academic progress of more than 20000 children from kindergarden through the fifth grade. The subjects were chosen from across the country to represent an accurate cross section of American schoolchildren. The result is an incredibly rich set of data which tells some surprising stories.--Following factors are strongly correlated with test scores.The child has highly educated parents.The child’s parents have high socioeconomic status.The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time of her first child’s birth.The child had low birth-weight. (Negative correlation)The child is adopted. (Negative correlation)The child’s parents are involved in the PTAThe child has many books in his home.--Following factors are not correlated with test scores.The child’s family is intact.The child’s parents recently moved into a better neighborhood.The child’s mother didn’t work between birth and kindergarten.The child attended Head Start. (Federal preschool program for poor children)The child’s parents regularly take him to museums.The child is regularly spanked.The child frequently watches television.In addition, ECLS data show no correlation between computer use and school test scores.The child’s parents read to him nearly everyday.--To overgeneralize a bit, the strongly correlated factors describe things that parents are. The non correlated factors describe things that parents do.-By the time most people pick up a parenting book, it is far too late. Most of the things that matter were decided long ago – who you are, whom you married, what kind of life you lead. If you are smart, hardworking, well educated, well paid, and married to someone equally fortunate, then you children are likely to succeed. But it isn’t so much a matter of what you do as a parent; it’s who you are.-So how much do parents really matter?-The previous data have made it clear that parents matter a great deal in some regards (most have been determined by the time a child is born.) and not at all in others (the one we obsess about).-But there is also a huge random effects. You may have known some intelligent and devoted parents who child went badly off the rails. You may have also known of the opposite instance, where a child succeeds despite his parents’ worst intention and habits.From What makes a perfect parent?Excerpt from Freakonomics)--1. Genetics and intelligenceResearchers Identify Intelligence Gene NetworksDec 22, 2015 by EditorsA group of scientists led by Imperial College London researcher Michael Johnson has identified two ‘gene networks’ associated with human cognitive abilities.The newly identified gene-regulatory networks, named M1 and M3, appear to influence cognitive function.The M3 network consists of 150 genes, and M1 has more than 1,100 genes. The networks are likely to be under the control of master regulator switches.“We know that genetics plays a major role in intelligence but until now haven’t known which genes are relevant. This research highlights some of genes involved in human intelligence, and how they interact with each other,”“What’s exciting about this is that the genes we have found are likely to share a common regulation, which means that potentially we can manipulate a whole set of genes whose activity is linked to human intelligence.”From http://www.sci-news.com/…/intelligence-gene-networks-03530.From http://www.nature.com/…/jou…/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.4205.html-2. Genetics and intelligence- Luck and random accidents make genes to develop intelligence..... new studies looking for small effects of thousands of genes in large samples have pinpointed a few genetic loci that each accounts for a fraction of an IQ point. More studies are in the pipeline and will link those genes to brain development, showing that they are not statistical curiosities. The emerging picture is that most behavioral traits are affected by many, many genes, each accounting for a tiny percentage of the variance.What is the additional factor shaping us that cannot be identified with our genes or families? The answer may be luck. We’ve long known that the genome can’t wire the brain down to the last synapse, so there is tremendous room for unpredictable zigzags in development.Random accidents also shape the genome itself. Each of us inherits about 60 new mutations, and as we live our lives, our neurons fill up with still more mutations, which can affect how our brains work. We are all mutants, so our genes may have an even bigger role in shaping us and our children than we thought.FromSteven Pinker on New Advances in Behavioral GeneticsFrom http://graphics.wsj.com/…/steven-pinker-on-new-advances-in-…-3. Genetics and intelligence-In Western philosophy of science, all is based on materialism. All about living materials are based on genetics. Evolution of living organisms from simple unicellular organisms into complex multicellular animals (including human beings) is under the influence of genes. What makes those genes evolve like that? Genes themselves make it. If one gives enough time, continuous combination of genes (causing different arrangements of sequences of genes) will make evolution complete. So genes are everything. All the living things including human beings are under the influence of genes.-What makes human beings distinct from other animals? Intelligence. What makes human beings have that unique intelligence? Give genes enough time to have random different combination of genetic sequence, some sequences of genetic arrangement will make some kind of change in neuronal network in brain causing intelligence!-So all the differences of human beings from other animals including intelligence are due to random effect of genes.-So all the innate behaviors of human beings are due to luck, due to random sequence of genetic combination.-So scientists are looking for the genetic information for intelligence because it is the shortcut for further advancement of human beings. If one finds the sequence of genes for intelligence, and if one can manipulate and insert that sequence into future generation, those people will become super-intelligent ones without any other effort.-4. Genetics and intelligence-The Repository for Germinal Choice (originally named the Hermann J. Muller Repository for Germinal Choice, after Nobel laureate Hermann Joseph Muller) was a sperm bank that operated in Escondido, California from 1980 to 1999. The repository is commonly believed to have accepted only donations from recipients of the Nobel Prize, although in fact it accepted donations from non-Nobelists, also. The first baby conceived from the project was a girl born on April 19, 1982. Founded by Robert Klark Graham, the repository was dubbed the "Nobel prize sperm bank" by media reports at the time. The only contributor who became known publicly was William Shockley, Nobel laureate in physics. ……………… Graham's original intention was to monitor the outcomes of children produced through the bank's sperm, and he asked families using the bank's sperm to agree to periodic surveys; however, most recipients showed no interest in sharing information on their children once the procedure was over, and when he sent out a survey to recipient families in the early 1990s, few families responded. Two women who claimed to have been the recipients of Repository sperm and to have raised children born of that sperm responded anonymously to a series of articles in Slate in 2001. Both stated that their children were extremely intelligent and healthy.A later segment of the same Slate article reported on the highlights of the lives of fifteen of the resultant children. Of the fifteen, six reportedly had 4.0 GPAs and two were reported to be "artistically precocious". Still others were reported to be "geniuses" and "whizzes" at various disciplines. All the children contacted by Slate were in good health, except one, who had what his mother described as a "developmental disability".From Repository for Germinal Choice - Wikipedia-Zhao’s goal is to use those machines to examine the genetic underpinnings of genius like his own. He wants nothing less than to crack the code for intelligence by studying the genomes of thousands of prodigies, not just from China but around the world. He and his collaborators, a transnational group of intelligence researchers, fully expect they will succeed in identifying a genetic basis for IQ. They also expect that within a decade their research will be used to screen embryos during in vitro fertilization, boosting the IQ of unborn children by up to 20 points. In theory, that’s the difference between a kid who struggles through high school and one who sails into college.From https://www.wired.com/2013/07/ge...-Now, researchers at BGI (formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute) in Shenzhen, China, the largest gene-sequencing facility in the world, are searching for the quirks of DNA that may contribute to such gifts. Plunging into an area that is littered with failures and riven with controversy, the researchers are scouring the genomes of 1,600 of these high-fliers in an ambitious project to find the first common genetic variants associated with human intelligence.From https://www.nature.com/news/chin...--Problem with geneticsTransmission of intelligenc-Intelligence Is in the Genes, but Where? Most Genes Thought to Be Linked to Intelligence Probably Have No Bearing On IQOct. 2, 2012 — You can thank your parents for your smarts -- or at least some of them. Psychologists have long known that intelligence, like most other traits, is partly genetic. But a new study led by psychological scientist Christopher Chabris of Union College reveals the surprising fact that most of the specific genes long thought to be linked to intelligence probably have no bearing on one's IQ. And it may be some time before researchers can identify intelligence's specific genetic roots.Chabris and David Laibson, a Harvard economist, led an international team of researchers that analyzed a dozen genes using large data sets that included both intelligence testing and genetic data.In nearly every case, the researchers found that intelligence could not be linked to the specific genes that were tested. The results are published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science."In all of our tests we only found one gene that appeared to be associated with intelligence, and it was a very small effect. This does not mean intelligence does not have a genetic component. It means it's a lot harder to find the particular genes, or the particular genetic variants, that influence the differences in intelligence," said Chabris.It had long been believed, on the basis of studies of identical and fraternal twins, that intelligence was a heritable trait. The new research affirms that conclusion. But older studies that picked out specific genes had flaws, Chabris said, primarily because of technological limits that prevented researchers from probing more than a few locations in the human genome to find genes that affected intelligence."We want to emphasize that we are not saying the people who did earlier research in this area were foolish or wrong," Chabris said. "They were using the best technology and information they had available. At the time, it was believed that individual genes would have a much larger effect -- they were expecting to find genes that might each account for several IQ points."Chabris said additional research is needed to determine the exact role genes play in intelligence."As is the case with other traits, like height, there are probably thousands of genes and their variants that are associated with intelligence," he said. "And there may be other genetic effects beyond the single gene effects. There could be interactions among genes, or interactions between genes and the environment. Our results show that the way researchers have been looking for genes that may be related to intelligence -- the candidate gene method -- is fairly likely to result in false positives, so other methods should be used."ReferenceC. F. Chabris, B. M. Hebert, D. J. Benjamin, J. Beauchamp, D. Cesarini, M. van der Loos, M. Johannesson, P. K. E. Magnusson, P. Lichtenstein, C. S. Atwood, J. Freese, T. S. Hauser, R. M. Hauser, N. Christakis, D. Laibson. Most Reported Genetic Associations With General Intelligence Are Probably False Positives. Psychological Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1177/0956797611435528---So children's success in later life are set by their parents' genes. The parents with good genes determine the fate of their children.-Or is it?--The higher IQs the parents have, the more likely the children have ????--Autism Clusters Found in California's Major CitiesCalifornia scientists have identified autism clusters where children are twice as likely to have autism and mostly have highly educated parentsJan 6, 2010 |By Marla Cone and Environmental Health NewsFrom scientificamerican.co...--Are Geeky Couples More Likely to Have Kids with Autism?Children of scientists and engineers may inherit genes that not only confer intellectual talents but also predispose them to autismBy Simon Baron-CohenIn 1997 my colleague Sally Wheelwright and I conducted a study involving nearly 2,000 families in the U.K. We included about half these families because they had at least one child with autism, a developmental condition in which individuals have difficulty communicating and interacting with others and display obsessive behaviors. The other families had children with a diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome, Down syndrome or language delays but not autism. We asked parents in each family a simple question: What was their job? Many mothers had not worked outside the home, so we could not use their data, but the results from fathers were intriguing: 12.5 percent of fathers of children with autism were engineers, compared with only 5 percent of fathers of children without autism.From Are Geeky Couples More Likely to Have Kids with Autism?--Rise in autism 'may be linked to clever parents'Scientists are testing the theory that intelligent parents are fuelling the rise in the number of autistic children.Nov 2011A team of researchers at Cambridge University is exploring the link between high-achieving parents, such as engineers, scientists and computer programmers, and the development of their children.Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Center at the university, said there were signs that adults who work in science and math-based jobs were more likely to have autistic children."A clear test of the hypothesis will enable us to test if couples who are both strong systemisers, for example, those who studied and works in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) and other fields related to systemising, are more likely to have a child with an autism spectrum diagnosis than couples where only one is a strong systemiser, or where neither is," he said.The study will involve recruiting graduates to survey the development of their children along with the subject studied at university to test the theory, which has already been highlighted in other research.In 2001, a report found mathematicians had higher rates of autism than other professions. A study in 1997 found the children and grandchildren of engineers were more likely to be autistic.From Rise in autism 'may be linked to clever parents' - Telegraph--What Genius and Autism Have in CommonA study of eight child prodigies finds that share some striking characteristics, most notably high levels of autistic traits and an over-representation of autism in their close family membersBy Maia Szalavitz @maiaszJuly 10, 2012From 2012 | TIME.com...--So at first it was thought that individuals were born without built-in mental content and that all of their knowledge comes from experience and perception.-Later, people found out that the children had distinct personalities, characters, talent since young.-So people thought that children's success in later life are set by their parents' genes. The parents with good genes determine the fate of their children.-Later it was found that the higher IQs the parents have, the more likely the children have autism.-??????????????---According to modern concept, all the life in earth were arise from simple DNA. First it started as a single cell as an unicellular organism and later evolved into complex multicellular organism. All those organisms are related and evolved by the simple DNA instruction. Charles Darwin was the first to formulate a scientific argument for the theory of evolution by means of natural selection.-So DNA is the life of organism. No DNA, no life.-In human being, DNA of the child of is given by mother and father. The child's external features (physical characteristics) are built up according to those shared DNA. So scientists figure that the internal characteristics (Personalities, intelligence quotient, Emotional Intelligence, etc) of the child must be also derived from the parents.-When DNA makes a human being, mind spontaneously occur in that human and it permanently disappear when that living being dies.--According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, each and every human being has own unique soul and when that human being dies, most of the souls has continual repetitive cycle of birth and death called samsara (not just in human world, also in other living worlds) according to his karma. In Buddhism, karma specifically refers to those actions of body, speech or mind that spring from mental intent ("cetana"), and bring about a consequence or fruit, (phala) or result (vipāka).-If that particular soul comes back to human world as rebirth, that particular human being will have distinct habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., according to his daily routine doings, habits previously. Those characters are not derived from his own parents, according to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism.-So one human being will have habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., distinct from his father and mother. In other words, if one pair of parents produces a lot, a lot of children, the parents will find that their children will have so many distinct personalities and intelligence different not only from the parents but also among the siblings.-But science will not accept that kind of answer because science has no concept of soul.---And also, one can know the impact of genetics on one's intelligence by studying the identical twins.-According to present day science, identical twins must have very similar or same intelligence due to same DNAs in their bodies.-In present day science of genetics and evolution concept, it cannot explain how the identical twins have different habits, different behaviors, different personalities, different I.Qs, different characters, different interests, different thinking process, etc. Someone will see a lot of explanations with different mechanisms. But those different mechanisms can't explain the initial differences during the first 3- 5 years of ages. Genetics can only give identical external physical appearances. Genetics cannot determine so called internal characters. Those internal characters are determined (inherited) by different unique soul or spirit.-Although science cannot explain the cause of differences in internal characters between identical twins, extreme differences between children and their parents (i.e very, very far from the tree), those differences can be explained by rebirth concept.-According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, although the identical twins have identical physical appearances due to identical genes, each has different intelligence (I.Q), personality, character according to actions and habits, etc from previous individual's lifetime. So one will see different personality, character, intelligence and talent between identical twins. It must be miracle to see those identical twins have same or identical so-called internal characters between them because they have different souls. And those extreme differences will be more and more common in society like USA because USA is the land of immigrants and rebirths may occur in family of different cultures, different concepts, different values, etc. One cannot select to rebirth in family with same culture, race with previous one.-But science will not accept that kind of answer because science has no concept of soul and science denies concept of rebirth.-Which concept is right? One needs to look into identical twins studies. Thousands of twins pairs were studied by scientists in the past. Or one can ask directly to those twins or their parents if you have friends with them.--So,- Human beings are not blank slate at birth. According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, each and every human being has own unique soul and when that human being dies, most of the souls has continual repetitive cycle of birth and death called samsara (not just in human world, also in other living worlds) according to his karma. In Buddhism, karma specifically refers to those actions of body, speech or mind that spring from mental intent ("cetana"), and bring about a consequence or fruit, (phala) or result (vipāka).-If that particular soul comes back to human world as rebirth, that particular human being will have distinct habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., according to his daily routine doings, habits previously. Those characters are not derived from his own parents, according to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism.-So one human being will have habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., distinct from his father and mother.---Child Prodigy in Piano PlayingAll our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits. William James-In psychology research literature, the term child prodigy is defined as person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert performer. Child prodigies are rare, and in some domains there are no child prodigies at all. Prodigiousness in childhood does not always predict adult eminence. (From Wikipedia)-Some researchers believe that prodigious talent tends to arise as a result of the innate talent of the child, and the energetic and emotional investment that the child ventures. Others believe that the environment plays the dominant role, many times in obvious ways.-In child prodigy, there were many children talented in piano playing. They were recognized for piano playing ability since very young. Among them, many of them lost interest in piano playing in adulthood. Some of them continued to play in concert and are still famous as gifted piano players in later life. A small portion of them became famous composers in addition to gifted piano playing. What is certain is that those who continue to become musicians are devoting significant amount of time in practicing piano playing besides their in born talent of piano playing. It means they need a lot of practice to maintain the piano playing ability.-If someone is not a piano prodigy and if he is interested in playing piano, he has to do a lot of practice and needs a lot of years to become a professional piano player.-So what is the nature of child prodigy in piano playing? It is not due to inheritance from genetic traits because many of them have no talented piano players in their previous generations. Some said it is due to in-born trait (like just lucky brain development which makes one easy in learning piano playing).-In a book called The power of habit written by Charles Duhigg, there is a chapter about a man called Eugene Pauly who got viral encephalitis and it destroyed part of brain and made him permanent loss of the recent memory. He could remember his past, his previous experiences very well. But he could not remember what happened each and every moment after viral encephalitis. When he met a stranger and he was introduced to that man and made conversation with him for a time, he couldn't remember that particular man when he met again him later that day. He didn't even remember what he did an hour ago. After watching a particular TV program, when someone made him watch that again, he would watch that program as if entirely new to him. So he could not form recent memory and remote memory starting from the time of viral encephalitis.-When he was discharged from hospital, he and his wife moved into a new house with new environment. His doctors warned his wife not to get lose him. His wife took him on a walk outside their home, always together and always along the same route everyday for a period of time. But one day, Eugene went out without his wife and he returned safely later. When he was asked, he didn’t know whether he went out along and how he walked back home without losing his way.(….. It was clear to Squire (The scientist who made research on Eugene) that Eugene was absorbing new information. But where inside his brain was that information residing? How could someone find his way home when he had no idea which house was his? How were new patterns forming inside Eugene’s damaged brain?To test if Eugene was forming new habits, Squire devised an experiment. He took sixteen different objects—bits of plastic and brightly colored pieces of toys—and glued them to cardboard rectangles. He then divided them into eight pairs: choice A and choice B. In each pairing, one piece of cardboard, chosen at random, had a sticker placed on the bottom that read “correct.”Eugene was seated at a table, given a pair of objects, and asked to choose one. Next, he was told to turn over his choice to see if there was a “correct” sticker underneath. This is a common way to measure memory. Since there are only sixteen objects, and they are always presented in the same eight pairings, most people can memorize which item is “correct” after a few rounds.Eugene couldn’t remember any of the “correct” items, no matter how many times he did the test. He repeated the experiment twice a week for months, looking at forty pairings each day.But as the weeks passed, Eugene’s performance improved. After twenty-eight days of training, Eugene was choosing the “correct” object 85 percent of the time. At thirty-six days, he was right 95 percent of the time. After one test, Eugene looked at the researcher, bewildered by his success.“How am I doing this?” he asked her.The experiments demonstrated that Eugene had the ability to form new habits, even when they involved tasks or objects he couldn’t remember for more than a few seconds. This explained how Eugene managed to go for a walk every morning. ……….Excerpt from The power of habit by Charles Duhigg)--Suppose that Eugene is able to remember what he does for one day and forgets on the second day. Suppose he has never used bow and arrow in his whole life. Suppose we train him to shoot a target with bow and arrow everyday. He will wake up everyday and he will feel that he has never practiced shooting a target with bow and arrow previously, his arrow shooting skill will get better and better day by day. And finally one day, he will very surprised to find himself that although he feels that he has never shot and practiced arrow shooting in the past, he can shoot straight into target nearly every time he makes attempts. He will be surprised and satisfied about his in-born skill (so he thought) of arrow shooting.-Just like above example, suppose that we train Eugene to play piano likewise, ..................……………………………………………………….-And finally one day, he will very surprised to find that although he has never learned to play the piano in the past (so he thought), he finds out that he can play the piano very well. He will be surprised and satisfied about his in-born skill (so he thought) of piano playing.-Just like above example, suppose a human being is interested in music and learns to play the piano his/her whole life and he/she can play the piano very well finally. He/She grows old and dies one day. Suppose that philosophy of Theravada Buddhism is true and each and every so-called soul or spirit or mind or consciousness will come into cycles of life unless he/she becomes liberated (reach Nirvana). Suppose that particular he/she comes back to human life. Suppose that although he/she cannot remember previous life, he/she will find out he/she can play piano very well since very young. People will be surprised about his/her in-born skill in piano playing. …………………………-Just like above example, suppose a human being is interested in (one particular subject) and learns and study (one particular subject) his/her whole life and he/she knows, understand (one particular subject) very well finally. He/She grows old and dies one day. Suppose that philosophy of Theravada Buddhism is true and each and every so-called soul or spirit or mind or consciousness will come into cycles of life unless he/she becomes liberated (reach Nirvana). Suppose that particular he/she comes back to human life. Suppose that although he/she cannot remember previous life, he/she will find out he/she can learn, know, understand (one particular subject) very well since very young. People will be surprised about his/her in-born skill in (one particular subject). ……-All the livings cannot take their belongings, wealth, servants with them when dead. The only thing they can take is the good deeds (actions) or bad deeds (actions) done by themselves physically, mentally or verbally. Gotama Buddha---2. Henry Markram and Human Brain Project--The philosophy of present day western science is dominated by DNA (genes) and theory of evolution. Living organisms became alive, then evolved from unicellular organism into multi-cellular one by the manipulation of genes and for the main purpose of survival of those genes.-So the idea of Professor Henry Markram can be explained by that philosophy. Human life form is the most advanced living organism. Human beings also evolves from earlier generation to later generation. Therefore later generation must be more advanced than earlier generation. So his son should be more evolved, more advanced than parents. Nowadays, the world becomes more advanced by human beings due to science, technology and a lot of knowledge, information. So genes prepare the next generation to receive those information overloads. During the pregnancy, some events (or insult) may make it extra-sensitive (to external stimuli).-So Professor Henry Markram wanted to build the model of whole human brain with each and every neuron connecting one another and details of neurotransmitters traveling among them. By building the brain model, we human beings will understand about consciousness, changes during learning, differences among different individuals, etc.-When scientists first discovered the DNA structure, they thought all about living organisms could be explained by genes. So they tried to copy the whole sequences of living things including human being (human genome project). After they knew about the complete sequence of human genes, all about human beings (differences in physical structures, behaviors, etc.) could be explained by studying different DNA sequences or changes among individuals, they thought.-Then something unexpected occurred from different research group.-There were many identical twins born into the world. Many university affiliated research groups were collecting the data of those identical twins pairs, from birth to their whole lifetimes. Researchers thought identical twins were same in DNA sequence. So their physical structures and behaviors must be the same since birth and what differences could be found during their lifetimes in different or same environments (because some of identical twins were reared apart). When they saw the data, they found something was wrong.-When the large data were examined, they found some identical twins pairs had different behaviors since young. One was introvert, shy, wanted to be alone, the other one was extrovert, always making friend with other people (between the same identical twins). They also found extreme difference in personality, I.Q, E.Q, behaviors, habits since young. They even saw left handed and right handed one in same identical twins (some called it mirror image twins), one normal, the other gay (or lesbian, or trans-gender) in same identical twins (should we call complementary twins??), etc. So the researchers know those behavior differences could not be explained genes alone. Those differences could not be explained by environment either because most were appeared since young.-And then some researchers suggested epigenetics concept. (Epigenetics literally means "above" or "on top of" genetics. It refers to external modifications to DNA that turn genes "on" or "off." These modifications do not change the DNA sequence, but instead, they affect how cells "read" genes.) Some researchers accepted. Some did not. How did it happen those epigenetics only made behavior changes in twins? Why did not change physical appearance, like one male and one female in same identical twins?-And finally the researchers targeted those different behaviors in neurological structures. The reasoned that something (genes or environment) changes in neuronal connection and amount of different neurotransmitters in brain caused those different behaviors in identical twins. The reason made differences among people. So studying the brain became the very big project and governments and private institutes of developed countries funded those projects. e.g, The Human Brain Project, The White House BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), The Human Connectome Project (HCP), The Blue Brain Project, The Allen Mouse and Human Brain Atlases, BrainMaps, "Google Brain" project, Project Joshua Blue, etc.-3. Henry Markram and Human Brain Project-According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, so-called individual soul, or mind, or consciousness, or spirit will be coming and going back and forth in cycle of life until liberated (reached Nirvana). That individual one will reach higher life form or lower life form according to his past actions. When that individual one reaches the human life, he will bring along his previous repeated actions as behavior, habits or personality. So the same identical twins cannot have same habit, behavior and personality even if they have similar physical appearances and even similar brain structures.-So according to this kind of philosophy, the studying of individual neuron structure, neuronal network, different neurotransmitters will not tell about the difference between identical twins (and even about differences among individual human beings).-It will be like finding the difference between two computers of same model run by two different softwares by studying the complicated circuits of computer hardware. One will find out the same circuits with different outcomes at computer screens. And then one will conclude that the different electric currents occurred in the same type of computer make different images in the computer screens. It will have wrong conclusion.-Is it worthy to spend a lot of money and resources to study this kind of research??--The BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, also referred to as the Brain Activity Map Project) is a proposed collaborative research initiative announced by the Obama administration on April 2, 2013, with the goal of mapping the activity of every neuron in the human brain. Based upon the Human Genome Project, the initiative has been projected to cost more than $300 million per year for ten years.News reports said the research would map the dynamics of neuron activity in mice and other animals and eventually the tens of billions of neurons in the human brain.Scientists offered differing views of the plan.Neuroscientist Donald Stein expressed concern that it would be a mistake to begin by spending money on technological methods, before knowing exactly what would be measured.Neuroscientists estimated that the project would generate 300 exabytes of data every year, presenting a significant technical barrier. Most of the available high-resolution brain activity monitors are of limited use, as they must be invasively implanted surgically by opening the skull.From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRAIN_Initiative-A strange dream (Computer Initiative)-The global warming is real and human beings are facing with total annihilation in the near future. People know they all cannot escape from the disaster. So they plan to leave their knowledge for future in case the intellect living beings reappear in future according to evolution process. So the scientists develop the two identical computers with latest technology and the most durable materials. Those computers get power from sunlight and self activated. One of the computers contains all the knowledge of mankind including science and technology the mankind discovered and invented. The other one contains all the arts and entertainments the mankind created. The people store all sorts of things they know into those two computers, except one thing. They forget to store the knowledge and technology of how they construct those two computers, both about hardware and software.-And then disaster strikes the earth and all the creatures on the land wipe out. Only those living beings in the deep sea area survive. After a long time, the land above the water becomes suitable for living creatures and the living beings evolve into animals that can live on land again. Those living animals gradually evolve into intelligent creatures and human beings appear again. Those human beings become more and more intelligent and one day they find out the two computers.-Those computers are still functioning and easy to use. So the human beings can watch and study the content in these computers. After a long time, some people want to find out how the computers work. They think that since these two computers have the exact physical appearance but two totally different contents in there, there must be some different mechanisms between the two computers. These two computers' outer covers are transparent and the people can see the circuits in the computers clearly. After thinking and searching for the solution for a long time the human beings reach a conclusion finally. They know the answer, they think. There are billions of circuits and connections in the computers. Since these circuits and connections are no different between those computers, the only way to store the two completely different contents in those computers is that the information are store in those billions of circuits and connections as different chemicals. So people start the ambitious, mega project (spending trillion dollars) called Computer Initiative to study the circuits and connection and the chemical messengers among them. It's too early to tell whether it will be successful or not, but the scientists have too much confidence in their method of research. …………….

Q. What part of the brain is different in a “prodigy’s brain”? What is different in their brain that makes them naturally so good at anything?1. Henry Markram and Human Brain ProjectIn 2013 the European Commission awarded neuroscientist Henry Markram $1.3 billion to pursue an audacious goal: building a simulation of the human brain.For decades Henry Markram has dreamed of reverse engineering the human brain. In 1994, as a postdoctoral researcher then at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, he became the first scientist to “patch” two living neurons simultaneously—to apply microscopic pipettes to freshly harvested rat neurons to measure the electrical signals fired between them. .His work landed him a position as senior scientist at the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and by the time he was promoted to professor in 1998, he was one of the most esteemed researchers in the field.Then he began to get frustrated. Although researchers worldwide were publishing tens of thousands of neuroscience studies every year, neither our understanding of basic brain functions nor our ability to treat brain disorders seemed to be progressing much. Markram's consternation was also deeply personal. While he was still in Germany, his son Kai had been diagnosed with autism. As he told The Guardian in 2013, he wanted “to be able to step inside a simulation of my son's brain and see the world as he sees it.” The only way to do that, he reasoned, was to go beyond individual experiments with behaviors, diseases and brain anatomy and instead model the circuitry of the entire human brain.In a 2009 TED talk, he first presented to the general public his vision of mathematically simulating the brain's 86 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses on a supercomputer. “We can do it within 10 years,” he promised the audience, suggesting that such a mathematical model might even be capable of consciousness.In various talks, interviews and articles, he suggested that a mathematical brain model would deliver such fundamental breakthroughs as simulation-driven drug discovery, the replacement of certain kinds of animal experiments and a better understanding of disorders such as Alzheimer's. As if that were not enough, the simulated brain would also spin off technology for building new and faster computers and create robots with cognitive skills and possibly intelligence.His vision seemed vindicated in January 2013, when the European Union awarded him $1.3 billion, spread over 10 years, to build his simulated brain.Excerpt fromhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/…/why-the-human-brain-pr…/--Very Very long answer (Explanation)Tabula rasa (Children are blank slate)-Tabula rasa, means "blank slate" in Latin and originates from the Roman tabula.-The term also is used as the name of an epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that all of their knowledge comes from experience and perception.Human intellect at birth resembled a tabula rasa, a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know. Persian philosopher Ibn SinaAt birth the (human) mind is a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences. John Locke-Generally, the tabula rasa thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects of one's personality, social and emotional behavior, and intelligence.-Scholarly and popular discussion about nature and nurture relates to the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities (nature) as compared to an individual's personal experiences (nurture) in causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.FromTabula rasa - WikipediaNature versus nurture - Wikipedia--ON INTELLIGENCE-Fall of the Tabula rasa (Blank slate) concept-Generations later, people questioned about the blank state theory of mind. When observing the children, they found out that the children had distinct personalities, characters, talent since young. Within same culture, within same environment and even within same big families, some children were introvert, some were extrovert, some were easily angry, some had sense of humor, some learnt easily in studying, some had talents in arts, music, dancing, playing piano, etc, some had talent in different sports since young, majority of children had sense of morality since young (they knew what is good, what is bad without learning from adults).-Some researchers even found out that they could predict which children will be successful in later life, who would complete university education by doing so simple experiment to the children.(The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a series of studies on delayed gratification in the late 1960s and early 1970s led by psychologist Walter Mischel, then a professor at Stanford University. In these studies, a child (4-7 years of age) was offered a choice between one small reward (sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel, etc.) provided immediately or two small rewards if he or she waited until the tester returned (after an absence of approximately 15 minutes). In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) and other life measures.From Stanford marshmallow experiment)-Fall of the Blank slate and rise of the role of genes-Some researchers even said that whether the children will be successful in later life was already determined by the time they were born.-(In late 1990s, US department of Education undertook a project called the early childhood longitudinal study (ECLS). It sought to measure the academic progress of more than 20000 children from kindergarden through the fifth grade. The subjects were chosen from across the country to represent an accurate cross section of American schoolchildren. The result is an incredibly rich set of data which tells some surprising stories.--Following factors are strongly correlated with test scores.The child has highly educated parents.The child’s parents have high socioeconomic status.The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time of her first child’s birth.The child had low birth-weight. (Negative correlation)The child is adopted. (Negative correlation)The child’s parents are involved in the PTAThe child has many books in his home.--Following factors are not correlated with test scores.The child’s family is intact.The child’s parents recently moved into a better neighborhood.The child’s mother didn’t work between birth and kindergarten.The child attended Head Start. (Federal preschool program for poor children)The child’s parents regularly take him to museums.The child is regularly spanked.The child frequently watches television.In addition, ECLS data show no correlation between computer use and school test scores.The child’s parents read to him nearly everyday.--To overgeneralize a bit, the strongly correlated factors describe things that parents are. The non correlated factors describe things that parents do.-By the time most people pick up a parenting book, it is far too late. Most of the things that matter were decided long ago – who you are, whom you married, what kind of life you lead. If you are smart, hardworking, well educated, well paid, and married to someone equally fortunate, then you children are likely to succeed. But it isn’t so much a matter of what you do as a parent; it’s who you are.-So how much do parents really matter?-The previous data have made it clear that parents matter a great deal in some regards (most have been determined by the time a child is born.) and not at all in others (the one we obsess about).-But there is also a huge random effects. You may have known some intelligent and devoted parents who child went badly off the rails. You may have also known of the opposite instance, where a child succeeds despite his parents’ worst intention and habits.From What makes a perfect parent?Excerpt from Freakonomics)--1. Genetics and intelligenceResearchers Identify Intelligence Gene NetworksDec 22, 2015 by EditorsA group of scientists led by Imperial College London researcher Michael Johnson has identified two ‘gene networks’ associated with human cognitive abilities.The newly identified gene-regulatory networks, named M1 and M3, appear to influence cognitive function.The M3 network consists of 150 genes, and M1 has more than 1,100 genes. The networks are likely to be under the control of master regulator switches.“We know that genetics plays a major role in intelligence but until now haven’t known which genes are relevant. This research highlights some of genes involved in human intelligence, and how they interact with each other,”“What’s exciting about this is that the genes we have found are likely to share a common regulation, which means that potentially we can manipulate a whole set of genes whose activity is linked to human intelligence.”From http://www.sci-news.com/…/intelligence-gene-networks-03530.From http://www.nature.com/…/jou…/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.4205.html-2. Genetics and intelligence- Luck and random accidents make genes to develop intelligence..... new studies looking for small effects of thousands of genes in large samples have pinpointed a few genetic loci that each accounts for a fraction of an IQ point. More studies are in the pipeline and will link those genes to brain development, showing that they are not statistical curiosities. The emerging picture is that most behavioral traits are affected by many, many genes, each accounting for a tiny percentage of the variance.What is the additional factor shaping us that cannot be identified with our genes or families? The answer may be luck. We’ve long known that the genome can’t wire the brain down to the last synapse, so there is tremendous room for unpredictable zigzags in development.Random accidents also shape the genome itself. Each of us inherits about 60 new mutations, and as we live our lives, our neurons fill up with still more mutations, which can affect how our brains work. We are all mutants, so our genes may have an even bigger role in shaping us and our children than we thought.FromSteven Pinker on New Advances in Behavioral GeneticsFrom http://graphics.wsj.com/…/steven-pinker-on-new-advances-in-…-3. Genetics and intelligence-In Western philosophy of science, all is based on materialism. All about living materials are based on genetics. Evolution of living organisms from simple unicellular organisms into complex multicellular animals (including human beings) is under the influence of genes. What makes those genes evolve like that? Genes themselves make it. If one gives enough time, continuous combination of genes (causing different arrangements of sequences of genes) will make evolution complete. So genes are everything. All the living things including human beings are under the influence of genes.-What makes human beings distinct from other animals? Intelligence. What makes human beings have that unique intelligence? Give genes enough time to have random different combination of genetic sequence, some sequences of genetic arrangement will make some kind of change in neuronal network in brain causing intelligence!-So all the differences of human beings from other animals including intelligence are due to random effect of genes.-So all the innate behaviors of human beings are due to luck, due to random sequence of genetic combination.-So scientists are looking for the genetic information for intelligence because it is the shortcut for further advancement of human beings. If one finds the sequence of genes for intelligence, and if one can manipulate and insert that sequence into future generation, those people will become super-intelligent ones without any other effort.-4. Genetics and intelligence-The Repository for Germinal Choice (originally named the Hermann J. Muller Repository for Germinal Choice, after Nobel laureate Hermann Joseph Muller) was a sperm bank that operated in Escondido, California from 1980 to 1999. The repository is commonly believed to have accepted only donations from recipients of the Nobel Prize, although in fact it accepted donations from non-Nobelists, also. The first baby conceived from the project was a girl born on April 19, 1982. Founded by Robert Klark Graham, the repository was dubbed the "Nobel prize sperm bank" by media reports at the time. The only contributor who became known publicly was William Shockley, Nobel laureate in physics. ……………… Graham's original intention was to monitor the outcomes of children produced through the bank's sperm, and he asked families using the bank's sperm to agree to periodic surveys; however, most recipients showed no interest in sharing information on their children once the procedure was over, and when he sent out a survey to recipient families in the early 1990s, few families responded. Two women who claimed to have been the recipients of Repository sperm and to have raised children born of that sperm responded anonymously to a series of articles in Slate in 2001. Both stated that their children were extremely intelligent and healthy.A later segment of the same Slate article reported on the highlights of the lives of fifteen of the resultant children. Of the fifteen, six reportedly had 4.0 GPAs and two were reported to be "artistically precocious". Still others were reported to be "geniuses" and "whizzes" at various disciplines. All the children contacted by Slate were in good health, except one, who had what his mother described as a "developmental disability".From Repository for Germinal Choice - Wikipedia-Zhao’s goal is to use those machines to examine the genetic underpinnings of genius like his own. He wants nothing less than to crack the code for intelligence by studying the genomes of thousands of prodigies, not just from China but around the world. He and his collaborators, a transnational group of intelligence researchers, fully expect they will succeed in identifying a genetic basis for IQ. They also expect that within a decade their research will be used to screen embryos during in vitro fertilization, boosting the IQ of unborn children by up to 20 points. In theory, that’s the difference between a kid who struggles through high school and one who sails into college.From https://www.wired.com/2013/07/ge...-Now, researchers at BGI (formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute) in Shenzhen, China, the largest gene-sequencing facility in the world, are searching for the quirks of DNA that may contribute to such gifts. Plunging into an area that is littered with failures and riven with controversy, the researchers are scouring the genomes of 1,600 of these high-fliers in an ambitious project to find the first common genetic variants associated with human intelligence.From https://www.nature.com/news/chin...--Problem with geneticsTransmission of intelligenc-Intelligence Is in the Genes, but Where? Most Genes Thought to Be Linked to Intelligence Probably Have No Bearing On IQOct. 2, 2012 — You can thank your parents for your smarts -- or at least some of them. Psychologists have long known that intelligence, like most other traits, is partly genetic. But a new study led by psychological scientist Christopher Chabris of Union College reveals the surprising fact that most of the specific genes long thought to be linked to intelligence probably have no bearing on one's IQ. And it may be some time before researchers can identify intelligence's specific genetic roots.Chabris and David Laibson, a Harvard economist, led an international team of researchers that analyzed a dozen genes using large data sets that included both intelligence testing and genetic data.In nearly every case, the researchers found that intelligence could not be linked to the specific genes that were tested. The results are published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science."In all of our tests we only found one gene that appeared to be associated with intelligence, and it was a very small effect. This does not mean intelligence does not have a genetic component. It means it's a lot harder to find the particular genes, or the particular genetic variants, that influence the differences in intelligence," said Chabris.It had long been believed, on the basis of studies of identical and fraternal twins, that intelligence was a heritable trait. The new research affirms that conclusion. But older studies that picked out specific genes had flaws, Chabris said, primarily because of technological limits that prevented researchers from probing more than a few locations in the human genome to find genes that affected intelligence."We want to emphasize that we are not saying the people who did earlier research in this area were foolish or wrong," Chabris said. "They were using the best technology and information they had available. At the time, it was believed that individual genes would have a much larger effect -- they were expecting to find genes that might each account for several IQ points."Chabris said additional research is needed to determine the exact role genes play in intelligence."As is the case with other traits, like height, there are probably thousands of genes and their variants that are associated with intelligence," he said. "And there may be other genetic effects beyond the single gene effects. There could be interactions among genes, or interactions between genes and the environment. Our results show that the way researchers have been looking for genes that may be related to intelligence -- the candidate gene method -- is fairly likely to result in false positives, so other methods should be used."ReferenceC. F. Chabris, B. M. Hebert, D. J. Benjamin, J. Beauchamp, D. Cesarini, M. van der Loos, M. Johannesson, P. K. E. Magnusson, P. Lichtenstein, C. S. Atwood, J. Freese, T. S. Hauser, R. M. Hauser, N. Christakis, D. Laibson. Most Reported Genetic Associations With General Intelligence Are Probably False Positives. Psychological Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1177/0956797611435528---So children's success in later life are set by their parents' genes. The parents with good genes determine the fate of their children.-Or is it?--The higher IQs the parents have, the more likely the children have ????--Autism Clusters Found in California's Major CitiesCalifornia scientists have identified autism clusters where children are twice as likely to have autism and mostly have highly educated parentsJan 6, 2010 |By Marla Cone and Environmental Health NewsFrom scientificamerican.co...--Are Geeky Couples More Likely to Have Kids with Autism?Children of scientists and engineers may inherit genes that not only confer intellectual talents but also predispose them to autismBy Simon Baron-CohenIn 1997 my colleague Sally Wheelwright and I conducted a study involving nearly 2,000 families in the U.K. We included about half these families because they had at least one child with autism, a developmental condition in which individuals have difficulty communicating and interacting with others and display obsessive behaviors. The other families had children with a diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome, Down syndrome or language delays but not autism. We asked parents in each family a simple question: What was their job? Many mothers had not worked outside the home, so we could not use their data, but the results from fathers were intriguing: 12.5 percent of fathers of children with autism were engineers, compared with only 5 percent of fathers of children without autism.From Are Geeky Couples More Likely to Have Kids with Autism?--Rise in autism 'may be linked to clever parents'Scientists are testing the theory that intelligent parents are fuelling the rise in the number of autistic children.Nov 2011A team of researchers at Cambridge University is exploring the link between high-achieving parents, such as engineers, scientists and computer programmers, and the development of their children.Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Center at the university, said there were signs that adults who work in science and math-based jobs were more likely to have autistic children."A clear test of the hypothesis will enable us to test if couples who are both strong systemisers, for example, those who studied and works in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) and other fields related to systemising, are more likely to have a child with an autism spectrum diagnosis than couples where only one is a strong systemiser, or where neither is," he said.The study will involve recruiting graduates to survey the development of their children along with the subject studied at university to test the theory, which has already been highlighted in other research.In 2001, a report found mathematicians had higher rates of autism than other professions. A study in 1997 found the children and grandchildren of engineers were more likely to be autistic.From Rise in autism 'may be linked to clever parents' - Telegraph--What Genius and Autism Have in CommonA study of eight child prodigies finds that share some striking characteristics, most notably high levels of autistic traits and an over-representation of autism in their close family membersBy Maia Szalavitz @maiaszJuly 10, 2012From 2012 | TIME.com...--So at first it was thought that individuals were born without built-in mental content and that all of their knowledge comes from experience and perception.-Later, people found out that the children had distinct personalities, characters, talent since young.-So people thought that children's success in later life are set by their parents' genes. The parents with good genes determine the fate of their children.-Later it was found that the higher IQs the parents have, the more likely the children have autism.-??????????????---According to present day concept, all the life in earth were arise from simple DNA. First it started as a single cell as an unicellular organism and later evolved into complex multicellular organism. All those organisms are related and evolved by the simple DNA instruction. Charles Darwin was the first to formulate a scientific argument for the theory of evolution by means of natural selection.-So DNA is the life of organism. No DNA, no life.-In human being, DNA of the child of is given by mother and father. The child's external features (physical characteristics) are built up according to those shared DNA. So scientists figure that the internal characteristics (Personalities, intelligence quotient, Emotional Intelligence, etc) of the child must be also derived from the parents.-When DNA makes a human being, mind spontaneously occur in that human and it permanently disappear when that living being dies.--According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, each and every human being has own unique soul and when that human being dies, most of the souls has continual repetitive cycle of birth and death called samsara (not just in human world, also in other living worlds) according to his karma. In Buddhism, karma specifically refers to those actions of body, speech or mind that spring from mental intent ("cetana"), and bring about a consequence or fruit, (phala) or result (vipāka).-If that particular soul comes back to human world as rebirth, that particular human being will have distinct habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., according to his daily routine doings, habits previously. Those characters are not derived from his own parents, according to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism.-So one human being will have habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., distinct from his father and mother. In other words, if one pair of parents produces a lot, a lot of children, the parents will find that their children will have so many distinct personalities and intelligence different not only from the parents but also among the siblings.-But science will not accept that kind of answer because science has no concept of soul.---And also, one can know the impact of genetics on one's intelligence by studying the identical twins.-According to present day science, identical twins must have very similar or same intelligence due to same DNAs in their bodies.-In present day science of genetics and evolution concept, it cannot explain how the identical twins have different habits, different behaviors, different personalities, different I.Qs, different characters, different interests, different thinking process, etc. Someone will see a lot of explanations with different mechanisms. But those different mechanisms can't explain the initial differences during the first 3- 5 years of ages. Genetics can only give identical external physical appearances. Genetics cannot determine so called internal characters. Those internal characters are determined (inherited) by different unique soul or spirit.-Although science cannot explain the cause of differences in internal characters between identical twins, extreme differences between children and their parents (i.e very, very far from the tree), those differences can be explained by rebirth concept.-According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, although the identical twins have identical physical appearances due to identical genes, each has different intelligence (I.Q), personality, character according to actions and habits, etc from previous individual's lifetime. So one will see different personality, character, intelligence and talent between identical twins. It must be miracle to see those identical twins have same or identical so-called internal characters between them because they have different souls. And those extreme differences will be more and more common in society like USA because USA is the land of immigrants and rebirths may occur in family of different cultures, different concepts, different values, etc. One cannot select to rebirth in family with same culture, race with previous one.-But science will not accept that kind of answer because science has no concept of soul and science denies concept of rebirth.-Which concept is right? One needs to look into identical twins studies. Thousands of twins pairs were studied by scientists in the past. Or one can ask directly to those twins or their parents if you have friends with them.--So,- Human beings are not blank slate at birth. According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, each and every human being has own unique soul and when that human being dies, most of the souls has continual repetitive cycle of birth and death called samsara (not just in human world, also in other living worlds) according to his karma. In Buddhism, karma specifically refers to those actions of body, speech or mind that spring from mental intent ("cetana"), and bring about a consequence or fruit, (phala) or result (vipāka).-If that particular soul comes back to human world as rebirth, that particular human being will have distinct habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., according to his daily routine doings, habits previously. Those characters are not derived from his own parents, according to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism.-So one human being will have habits, behaviors, personality, I.Q, E.Q, thinking process, characters, etc., distinct from his father and mother.---Child Prodigy in Piano PlayingAll our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits. William James-In psychology research literature, the term child prodigy is defined as person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert performer. Child prodigies are rare, and in some domains there are no child prodigies at all. Prodigiousness in childhood does not always predict adult eminence. (From Wikipedia)-Some researchers believe that prodigious talent tends to arise as a result of the innate talent of the child, and the energetic and emotional investment that the child ventures. Others believe that the environment plays the dominant role, many times in obvious ways.-In child prodigy, there were many children talented in piano playing. They were recognized for piano playing ability since very young. Among them, many of them lost interest in piano playing in adulthood. Some of them continued to play in concert and are still famous as gifted piano players in later life. A small portion of them became famous composers in addition to gifted piano playing. What is certain is that those who continue to become musicians are devoting significant amount of time in practicing piano playing besides their in born talent of piano playing. It means they need a lot of practice to maintain the piano playing ability.-If someone is not a piano prodigy and if he is interested in playing piano, he has to do a lot of practice and needs a lot of years to become a professional piano player.-So what is the nature of child prodigy in piano playing? It is not due to inheritance from genetic traits because many of them have no talented piano players in their previous generations. Some said it is due to in-born trait (like just lucky brain development which makes one easy in learning piano playing).-In a book called The power of habit written by Charles Duhigg, there is a chapter about a man called Eugene Pauly who got viral encephalitis and it destroyed part of brain and made him permanent loss of the recent memory. He could remember his past, his previous experiences very well. But he could not remember what happened each and every moment after viral encephalitis. When he met a stranger and he was introduced to that man and made conversation with him for a time, he couldn't remember that particular man when he met again him later that day. He didn't even remember what he did an hour ago. After watching a particular TV program, when someone made him watch that again, he would watch that program as if entirely new to him. So he could not form recent memory and remote memory starting from the time of viral encephalitis.-When he was discharged from hospital, he and his wife moved into a new house with new environment. His doctors warned his wife not to get lose him. His wife took him on a walk outside their home, always together and always along the same route everyday for a period of time. But one day, Eugene went out without his wife and he returned safely later. When he was asked, he didn’t know whether he went out along and how he walked back home without losing his way.(….. It was clear to Squire (The scientist who made research on Eugene) that Eugene was absorbing new information. But where inside his brain was that information residing? How could someone find his way home when he had no idea which house was his? How were new patterns forming inside Eugene’s damaged brain?To test if Eugene was forming new habits, Squire devised an experiment. He took sixteen different objects—bits of plastic and brightly colored pieces of toys—and glued them to cardboard rectangles. He then divided them into eight pairs: choice A and choice B. In each pairing, one piece of cardboard, chosen at random, had a sticker placed on the bottom that read “correct.”Eugene was seated at a table, given a pair of objects, and asked to choose one. Next, he was told to turn over his choice to see if there was a “correct” sticker underneath. This is a common way to measure memory. Since there are only sixteen objects, and they are always presented in the same eight pairings, most people can memorize which item is “correct” after a few rounds.Eugene couldn’t remember any of the “correct” items, no matter how many times he did the test. He repeated the experiment twice a week for months, looking at forty pairings each day.But as the weeks passed, Eugene’s performance improved. After twenty-eight days of training, Eugene was choosing the “correct” object 85 percent of the time. At thirty-six days, he was right 95 percent of the time. After one test, Eugene looked at the researcher, bewildered by his success.“How am I doing this?” he asked her.The experiments demonstrated that Eugene had the ability to form new habits, even when they involved tasks or objects he couldn’t remember for more than a few seconds. This explained how Eugene managed to go for a walk every morning. ……….Excerpt from The power of habit by Charles Duhigg)--Suppose that Eugene is able to remember what he does for one day and forgets on the second day. Suppose he has never used bow and arrow in his whole life. Suppose we train him to shoot a target with bow and arrow everyday. He will wake up everyday and he will feel that he has never practiced shooting a target with bow and arrow previously, his arrow shooting skill will get better and better day by day. And finally one day, he will very surprised to find himself that although he feels that he has never shot and practiced arrow shooting in the past, he can shoot straight into target nearly every time he makes attempts. He will be surprised and satisfied about his in-born skill (so he thought) of arrow shooting.-Just like above example, suppose that we train Eugene to play piano likewise, ..................……………………………………………………….-And finally one day, he will very surprised to find that although he has never learned to play the piano in the past (so he thought), he finds out that he can play the piano very well. He will be surprised and satisfied about his in-born skill (so he thought) of piano playing.-Just like above example, suppose a human being is interested in music and learns to play the piano his/her whole life and he/she can play the piano very well finally. He/She grows old and dies one day. Suppose that philosophy of Theravada Buddhism is true and each and every so-called soul or spirit or mind or consciousness will come into cycles of life unless he/she becomes liberated (reach Nirvana). Suppose that particular he/she comes back to human life. Suppose that although he/she cannot remember previous life, he/she will find out he/she can play piano very well since very young. People will be surprised about his/her in-born skill in piano playing. …………………………-Just like above example, suppose a human being is interested in (one particular subject) and learns and study (one particular subject) his/her whole life and he/she knows, understand (one particular subject) very well finally. He/She grows old and dies one day. Suppose that philosophy of Theravada Buddhism is true and each and every so-called soul or spirit or mind or consciousness will come into cycles of life unless he/she becomes liberated (reach Nirvana). Suppose that particular he/she comes back to human life. Suppose that although he/she cannot remember previous life, he/she will find out he/she can learn, know, understand (one particular subject) very well since very young. People will be surprised about his/her in-born skill in (one particular subject). ……-All the livings cannot take their belongings, wealth, servants with them when dead. The only thing they can take is the good deeds (actions) or bad deeds (actions) done by themselves physically, mentally or verbally. Gotama Buddha---2. Henry Markram and Human Brain Project-The philosophy of present day western science is dominated by DNA (genes) and theory of evolution. Living organisms became alive, then evolved from unicellular organism into multi-cellular one by the manipulation of genes and for the main purpose of survival of those genes.-So the idea of Professor Henry Markram can be explained by that philosophy. Human life form is the most advanced living organism. Human beings also evolves from earlier generation to later generation. Therefore later generation must be more advanced than earlier generation. So children should be more evolved, more advanced than parents. Nowadays, the world becomes more advanced by human beings due to science, technology and a lot of knowledge, information. So genes prepare the next generation to receive those information overloads. During the pregnancy, some events (or insult) may make it extra-sensitive (to external stimuli).-So Professor Henry Markram wanted to build the model of whole human brain with each and every neuron connecting one another and details of neurotransmitters traveling among them. By building the brain model, we human beings will understand about consciousness, changes during learning, differences among different individuals, etc.-When scientists first discovered the DNA structure, they thought all about living organisms could be explained by genes. So they tried to copy the whole sequences of living things including human being (human genome project). After they knew about the complete sequence of human genes, all about human beings (differences in physical structures, behaviors, etc.) could be explained by studying different DNA sequences or changes among individuals, they thought.-Then something unexpected occurred from different research group.-There were many identical twins born into the world. Many university affiliated research groups were collecting the data of those identical twins pairs, from birth to their whole lifetimes. Researchers thought identical twins were same in DNA sequence. So their physical structures and behaviors must be the same since birth and what differences could be found during their lifetimes in different or same environments (because some of identical twins were reared apart). When they saw the data, they found something was wrong.-When the large data were examined, they found some identical twins pairs had different behaviors since young. One was introvert, shy, wanted to be alone, the other one was extrovert, always making friend with other people (between the same identical twins). They also found extreme difference in personality, I.Q, E.Q, behaviors, habits since young. They even saw left handed and right handed one in same identical twins (some called it mirror image twins), one normal, the other gay (or lesbian, or trans-gender) in same identical twins (should we call complementary twins??), etc. So the researchers know those behavior differences could not be explained genes alone. Those differences could not be explained by environment either because most were appeared since young.-And then some researchers suggested epigenetics concept. (Epigenetics literally means "above" or "on top of" genetics. It refers to external modifications to DNA that turn genes "on" or "off." These modifications do not change the DNA sequence, but instead, they affect how cells "read" genes.) Some researchers accepted. Some did not. How did it happen those epigenetics only made behavior changes in twins? Why did not change physical appearance, like one male and one female in same identical twins?-And finally the researchers targeted those different behaviors in neurological structures. The reasoned that something (genes or environment) changes in neuronal connection and amount of different neurotransmitters in brain caused those different behaviors in identical twins. The reason made differences among people. So studying the brain became the very big project and governments and private institutes of developed countries funded those projects. e.g, The Human Brain Project, The White House BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), The Human Connectome Project (HCP), The Blue Brain Project, The Allen Mouse and Human Brain Atlases, BrainMaps, "Google Brain" project, Project Joshua Blue, etc.-3. Henry Markram and Human Brain Project-According to philosophy of Theravada Buddhism, so-called individual soul, or mind, or consciousness, or spirit will be coming and going back and forth in cycle of life until liberated (reached Nirvana). That individual one will reach higher life form or lower life form according to his past actions. When that individual one reaches the human life, he will bring along his previous repeated actions as behavior, habits or personality. So the same identical twins cannot have same habit, behavior and personality even if they have similar physical appearances and even similar brain structures.-So according to this kind of philosophy, the studying of individual neuron structure, neuronal network, different neurotransmitters will not tell about the difference between identical twins (and even about differences among individual human beings).-It will be like finding the difference between two computers of same model run by two different softwares by studying the complicated circuits of computer hardware. One will find out the same circuits with different outcomes at computer screens. And then one will conclude that the different electric currents occurred in the same type of computer make different images in the computer screens. It will have wrong conclusion.-Is it worthy to spend a lot of money and resources to study this kind of research??--The BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, also referred to as the Brain Activity Map Project) is a proposed collaborative research initiative announced by the Obama administration on April 2, 2013, with the goal of mapping the activity of every neuron in the human brain. Based upon the Human Genome Project, the initiative has been projected to cost more than $300 million per year for ten years.News reports said the research would map the dynamics of neuron activity in mice and other animals and eventually the tens of billions of neurons in the human brain.Scientists offered differing views of the plan.Neuroscientist Donald Stein expressed concern that it would be a mistake to begin by spending money on technological methods, before knowing exactly what would be measured.Neuroscientists estimated that the project would generate 300 exabytes of data every year, presenting a significant technical barrier. Most of the available high-resolution brain activity monitors are of limited use, as they must be invasively implanted surgically by opening the skull.From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRAIN_Initiative-A bedtime story (Computer Initiative)-The global warming is real and human beings are facing with total annihilation in the near future. People know they all cannot escape from the disaster. So they plan to leave their knowledge for future in case the intellect living beings reappear in future according to evolution process. So the scientists develop the two identical computers with latest technology and the most durable materials. Those computers get power from sunlight and self activated. One of the computers contains all the knowledge of mankind including science and technology the mankind discovered and invented. The other one contains all the arts and entertainments the mankind created. The people store all sorts of things they know into those two computers, except one thing. They forget to store the knowledge and technology of how they construct those two computers, both about hardware and software.-And then disaster strikes the earth and all the creatures on the land wipe out. Only those living beings in the deep sea area survive. After a long time, the land above the water becomes suitable for living creatures and the living beings evolve into animals that can live on land again. Those living animals gradually evolve into intelligent creatures and human beings appear again. Those human beings become more and more intelligent and one day they find out the two computers.-Those computers are still functioning and easy to use. So the human beings can watch and study the content in these computers. After a long time, some people want to find out how the computers work. They think that since these two computers have the exact physical appearance but two totally different contents in there, there must be some different mechanisms between the two computers. These two computers' outer covers are transparent and the people can see the circuits in the computers clearly. After thinking and searching for the solution for a long time the human beings reach a conclusion finally. They know the answer, they think. There are billions of circuits and connections in the computers. Since these circuits and connections are no different between those computers, the only way to store the two completely different contents in those computers is that the information are store in those billions of circuits and connections as different chemicals. So people start the ambitious, mega project (spending trillion dollars) called Computer Initiative to study the circuits and connection and the chemical messengers among them. It's too early to tell whether it will be successful or not, but the scientists have too much confidence in their method of research. …………….--Another bedtime story-In future, the scientists successfully discover the sequence of genetic arrangement causing intelligence. Actually, they find that half of people with that specific genetic arrangement have high IQ and another half of those people have average IQ. Further studies confirm that there are specific epigenetic changes (i.e, attachment of methyl groups into specific gene locations) making those people to have high IQ.-The good news is that science can make those specific epigenetic changes to these genes by inserting nanobots (very small robots) into human body and attach the methyl groups to those specific genes. So the first step is to find who has that sequence of genes. The good news is most of human beings have those gene sequence. The next step is to attach methyl groups to genes. It needs money. It is estimated that five millions dollars will be needed to attach methyl groups and maintain those changes for the whole life of a human being. It also needs to start from young age. So it has to commercialize the whole service. If one has the money, he will get that service. So a lot of rich people plan to give that service to their children because they can afford it.-After 50 years later, scientists look back the service and analyze the results. Among those people who get the service, only a small percentage of people can maintain those epigenetic changes and those people also choose the academic and science research as their career in their adult life. Large percentage of people who get service cannot maintain those epigenetic changes and they need a lot of repairing to attach back methyl groups all the time. Those people are enjoying their whole life with so-called upper class entertainments all the time because their families are rich and never intend to use their intelligence for further use. Their IQ are fluctuated all the times. Later the servicing company which is making attachment of methyl group to specific genes all the time goes bankrupt.-At the same time in the Asia, there is a country which is actually a capitalist society but pretends to be a communist one. The scientists in that country announce the result of 50 years research. As soon as the scientists found out the genetic sequences of intelligence, the scientists in that Asia country checked the newborns in their countries whether they had the desired genetic sequences. After selecting the children with desired genetic sequences, the scientists gave them special education classes in their student days. Actually, it is the ruthless, heartless teaching method supervised by cruel, abusive teachers and parents in the eyes of developed advanced society. Their rate of teaching is double that of ordinary students. If ordinary students need 12 years of schooling before university, those selected students only need 6 years. After 50 years, that country already have 5 millions of such people (resulting from experiment). (That country is very big and very populated.)-And majority of those people achieve their goals. Only a small percentage of those people drop out of the experiment or made suicide themselves. When the genetic structure of those people are examined at the end of research, the scientists find out that desired epigenetic changes (attachment of methyl groups in specific genetic sequences) are present in those people without using of nanobots.-When that news reach to the Western developed nations, the leaders and scientists there criticize the method. How can the civilized societies can follow such a cruel method? They rather improve the nanobot method for the sake of children - the future leaders of their world - than to abuse them with that cruel method!!!!--In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas—he's the controller—and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. So I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they're missing something essential, because the planes don't land.From Cargo cult science - Wikipedia