[Brain science in the 21st century]

Neuroscience has advanced markedly through the 20th century; material processes of brains have been analyzed in detail, and information processes approached as well. Clarification of the material processes has brought about three major strategies to cure and prevent neurological and psychiatric diseases: creation of new drugs, regeneration and transplantation therapy, and gene therapy. An epoch-making progress in medicine is expected to arise from the combination of these three strategies. A trend expected in the 21st century is developmental neuroscience on the growth and differentiation of brains. Cognitive and computational neuroscience will also aim at the clarification of information processes of brains. Neuroscience will exert great influence on pediatrics, in particular on the studies of mental development in childhood.