Memories of past Society for Neuroscience meetings reveal how the field has progressed during the "Decade of the Brain."

As we approach the end of the "Decade of the Brain," we can see the evolution of its study reflected in past meetings of the Society for Neuroscience. The meetings are all memorable, and not always for the science: the tail end of a hurricane in Miami, mild food poisoning in St. Louis, and a visit to Disney World in Anaheim are prominent memories. The science has been variable as well. To be honest, not all years have been as successful as others. Some are what I would describe as consolidation years, with no major news breaks, but lots of good work that builds on what has gone before.

Others are much more exciting. Nitric oxide burst onto the neuroscience scene in a big way a few years ago, and research into Alzheimer's disease is always a good bet for interesting results, not least because of the sheer number of presentations.

Of particular interest are the advances that have been made in noninvasive imaging of human brain function. Originally developed as a technical tour de force, it is now combined with cutting-edge psychological know-how in a few centers, and it will probably result in exciting interpretations of the data in the future. As more people work on this new subdiscipline of neuroscience, contentious viewpoints develop, which is a good indication of the maturing field.

In the same time frame, the Society for Neuroscience itself has grown dynamically - a reflection of the recognition that the subject is important, not least in terms of funding. With a growing aging population, neurological issues are altering government priorities, and an understanding of the basic science underlying these neurological disorders is especially relevant now.

At the other end of the life cycle, the increasing relevance of developmental biology shows little sign of slowing down. This is allied to the advances made in molecular genetics and the Human (and other organisms) Genome Project. Future meetings promise exciting results from multilevel studies that look at interactions of genes, proteins, and other members of the complex signaling networks involved in the development of a fertilized egg to the adult and beyond.

A major change in this past decade is the advent of electronic publishing. Especially in the past two or three years, almost every publisher has developed or is developing electronic initiatives for disseminating their pool of information. I think that this is an exciting time for science in general, particularly as the possibility of offering readers additional data sets in support of the key conclusions of papers is now a (relatively) easy option.

I predict that future Society for Neuroscience meetings will include many more electronic presentations, including interactive posters. The use of video addenda to posters is already increasing noticeably. In my own area of publishing, review articles have definitely come of age.

New journals have not appeared to a great extent, but there are certainly more reviews appearing in primary titles. This is a significant change and reflects, I feel, the growing requirement for meaningful discussion and synthesis of important fields for nonspecialists. Individuals' research subjects are becoming more and more specialized, yet at the same time everyone is required to be aware of significant developments within the whole of neuroscience (and beyond). Cross-disciplinary collaborations make it difficult, if not impossible, to predict from where the next breakthrough might come for one's own work. Reviews are therefore going to be needed more and more in the coming years.

I see the next ten years as an exciting time for neuroscience. The annual meeting, even if it becomes almost totally unwieldy for a specialist, will become more and more relevant for individual researchers. The sheer breadth of material and number of attendees is almost a guarantee of the success of the "osmotic" mechanism for accumulating valuable information. Personal contact and interaction is also an imperative for success, and the meeting offers that in abundance.

And finally, the whole enterprise remains fun. Long may it continue to do so.