BSI 3rd Anniversary International Symposium a Success Lecture held at a public symposium On November 30 and December 1, 2000, an international symposium was held to commemorate the third anniversary of BSI. On the first day, a symposium was held for the general public at Yakult Hall, in Shinbashi. Speeches of congratulation were given at the commencement by Tadamori Oshima, Director General of the Science and Technology Agency and Dr. Akito Arima, a member of the House of Councilors. In addition, congratulatory messages were sent from Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation at the Department of Trade and Industry in the UK as well as from Charles M. Vest, President of MIT. Lectures were then given by the BSI Director, Dr. Masao Ito, and four eminent brain science researchers invited from overseas. These lectures were simultaneously interpreted in Japanese, so that the general audience could appreciate the latest information on brain science. The public symposium was attended by a total of about 400 people. On the second day, a scientific symposium was held at the RIKEN Ohkouchi Hall, where lectures were given in English by three overseas scientists and three researchers from BSI. The scientific symposium was attended by about 200 people. Both symposiums were attended by large audiences from various fields who were enthusiastic about brain science. Audiences then had an opportunity to visit the "Brain Box" in the BSI Central Building, which was opened to the public for the first time since being completed in October, as well as to visit some of the research laboratories. Overall, the commemorative events were a great success. ･ Invited Lecturers from Overseas (in order of lectures, honorific omitted) 1st day U.S. Zach W. Hall, Vice Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco U.S. Fred H. Gage, Professor at the Salk Institute Italy Giacomo Rizzolatti, Professor at the University of Parma U.S. James L. McClelland, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University 2nd day Germany Yves A.Barde, Professor at the Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology Switzerland Martin E. Schwab, Professor at the University of Zurich U.K. Charles Weissmann, Professor at the Imperial College School of Medicine Exhibition Room "Brain Box" Opened Inside the "Brain Box" On December 1,2000, the exhibition room "Brain Box" was opened on the first floor of the BSI Central Building. The Brain Box was established as an experience-based exhibition room to promote an understanding of brain science among the general public. Some exhibits at the Brain Box were developed at the laboratories of BSI. One of them, a program called "Brain Slices", was developed by the Cognitive Brain Mapping laboratory. This program is designed to visually reconstruct a cross section of the brain using fMRI technology which can then be viewed on a 70-inch display screen. Other exhibits were purchased from the Exploratorium, a famous hands-on science museum in San Francisco, including "Hoop Nightmares", a game in which the player is requested to sink a shot in a hoop wearing prism glasses that displace everything by 30 degrees. The Brain Box is scheduled to open its doors to the general public in the near future. We look forward to seeing you there. The 3rd RIKEN BSI RETREAT Held Poster session at the 3rd RIKEN BSI RETREAT The 3rd RIKEN BSI RETREAT was held at the Oiso Convention Center for three days from September 18 to 20. About 300 BSI members attended the event, including participants from the RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center. The "retreat" aims to offer researchers an opportunity to leave behind the daily routine of laboratory experiments and take part in intellectually frank discussions and constructive criticism that transcend the disciplinary boundaries of various research areas. Such private symposia are commonplace in the United States and Europe. The BSI Retreat celebrated its 3rd anniversary this year offering a program of greater variety and depth. As in previous retreats, the event focused on an introduction of new laboratories and their research objectives and a poster session that consisted of about 250 presentations. It also offered an educational lecture in order to promote interaction among different research areas and many researchers held active cross-disciplinary discussions late into the night. In addition, three special lectures were given, including one by Professor M. Merzenich who was invited from UCSF (University of California, San Francisco). Dr. Keiji Tanaka, Group Director, was invited to the retreat that was held at UCSF. There are many discoveries that still lie ahead and BSI, through events like the BSI Retreat, aims to further promote interaction and understanding among researchers in the key areas of "Understanding the Brain", "Protecting the Brain", "Creating the Brain", and the development of advanced technologies. By means of these activities, BSI remains committed to raising itself to world class levels and yielding more diverse research results.