New article on the crisis of the Human Brain Project: Nature, 03 September 2014.

“The crisis results mainly from ambiguities concerning the place of neuroscience in the HBP. From the beginning, neuroscientists pointed out that large-scale simulations make little sense unless constrained by data, and used to test precise hypotheses. In fact, we lack, among other resources, a detailed ‘connectome’, a map of connections between neurons within and across brain areas that could guide simulations. There is no unified format for building functional databases or for annotating data sets that encompass data collected under varying conditions. Most importantly, there are no formulated biological hypotheses for these simulations to test.”

Update on September 16:
Independent EC evaluators have now recommended “the effective integration of the cognitive neuroscience community” into the Human Brain Project and the project has appointed a mediator to help them implement this and other recommendations, including those concerning its governance structure.