The delight of asking questions in India – 01/22/2024 – Suzana Herculano-Houzel

I wrote here that data — facts that the post-internet world has learned to collect and compile a lot of — are information, but information only becomes knowledge when it serves something: when it solves a problem. The annoying people on duty came to correct me, claiming that “basic science is also important”. Yes, my loves, exactly because basic science is knowledge, and of the most fundamental kind: information that is used for something, which is, in this case, answering questions about the essence of the world. Why has the genetic code been the same for 3 billion years? What makes a protein fold like this, and not baked? This is knowledge. A database that catalogs all the proteins in a cell is just information.

Hence my excitement at having the opportunity to come to Chennai (formerly Madras), in southern India, to visit the Brain Centre, ringing again, at their Indian Institute of Technology. A few years ago, the then advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology received a proposal from IIT to concentrate resources to generate technology to map the human brain in high resolution, and decreed: “it’s stupidly bold and has everything to go wrong, but if it does Sure, it will be spectacular.” And he recommended the inaugural financing, soon to be added by a donation from a former IIT student, now a billionaire founder —of course— of a technology company. Within India, by the way, it seems that there is no better than IIT-Madras in terms of the subject.

My enthusiasm began to grow exponentially when I discovered that this center does not just want to generate information, in the form of complete atlases of adult and pregnant human brains. The second part, in itself, would already be a reason for joy in the scientific community, as opportunities to study the human brain in formation are -thankfully!- very rare, which depend on natural abortions for non-neurological reasons and in adequate conditions of specimen collection for research.

But no: the creators of the center want to go further and show the world that India not only has technological expertise but can also become a scientific power, generating not only information for rich countries —the raw material exported in modernity— but also knowledge.

Are there no experts in neuroanatomy? Outside collaborators are brought in, treated like breadcrumbs, to generate interest in using the data they collect to answer questions. This is done with classes, seminars, conversations and joint discussions driven by questions. At this age, is it true that all neurons have already been born? What makes parts of the brain different if they come from neighboring parts?

And the students… oh, the students. Eager for knowledge, eager for questions and opportunities to use their own brains and transform their capabilities into skills. Compared to empowered American students, what a delight it is to teach in India. Collaborating with them and helping with their training, even on the other side of the world, will be a pleasure.

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