More Brains are Better than One: The Call to Socialize Neuroscience in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Since Southeast Asia is one of the richest regions in the world, consisting of 11 countries reaching from eastern India to China; it is generally divided into "mainland" and "island" zones. The mainland—comprising Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam—is an extension of the Asian continent, while Island Southeast Asia includes Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, and the new nation of East Timor. These countries' diversity lies at the heart of the region's rapid economic growth. Southeast Asia's 11 countries have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.9 trillion; a population of almost 600 million people. Over the past decade, the countries have averaged a growth rate of more than five percent per year. If Southeast Asia were one country, it would be the world's ninth-largest economy. [10] It would also be the most trade-dependent, with a trade-to-GDP ratio in excess of 150 percent due to its resources and having the top population in the world, and as such, we should develop the center of excellent Human Brain Research based on above reasons; it is primarily "an integration project" to investigate everything that belongs to the human brain from molecular to whole brain and nervous system, and from neuron to the world.