I'm just back from Seoul, South Korea, for the World Science Forum: Brain Power after spending a few days in Hawaii recovering from the high energy event. My bet is, the Forum is an event you probably heard zilch about ­ I sat at one of two press tables and was the only US journalist as far as I know. The US press wasn't interested, apparently. But the government-sponsored meeting was clearly a Big Deal for S. Korea and it revealed developments which can be called "mind-blowing" in more ways than one. Like what? Robots that learn and beat programmed humanoid mechanical creatures at games because the able-to-learn robots are thinking, trying, learning on the spot ­ their "brains" are based on how the human brain works ( a sort of back-engineering). Brain/computer interfacing techniques that may sound like sci fi but are already being tested on animals and , in some cases, humans. A new effort to map ­ literally and exactly ­ every neuronal twist and turn of the human brain, much like the human genome has been mapped ( and that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "mind reading"). The ways neuroscience can be used for "neuroeconomics " and " neuro-marketing" ­ terms used by Yale neurobiologist Daeyeol Lee to describe how neurobiological studies of the brain's reward system can elucidate " the biological basis of our values and preferences" ( i.e., how knowing how the brain works can help those who want to zero on in marketing directly to your mind's biology). In addition to these and other specific revelations, the forum also clearly put S. Korea's passion for science in the spotlight. There is an open agenda , a resolve to seize these developments and apply them to medicine and technology in this technologically savvy Asian country. An invited gathering of many of the world's top neuroscientists, the event was held at the uber futuristic W hotel convention center and open to the public. And they came, by the thousands ­ families with kids, high schoolers, professionals, other scientists. S. Korea is a place where scientists are treated with the enthusiasm most Americans only give to some talentless celebutard or rap star. Newly-elected S. Korea President Lee Myung-bak spoke at the opening ceremony and reminded the audience his country now has the tenth strongest economy in the world. Ninety percent of all Korean kids go on to college. In 60 years, per capita income went from $100 per year, to $20,000. He also recalled that he comes from the world of business and entrepreneurialism -- and he's determined that his country will be a leader in neuroscience and related technologies. There's clearly a lot of money in Seoul, by the way. I visited a state-of-the-art imaging center built with the single-handed support of one woman, Dr. Lee, who forked over the equivalent of $ 40 million dollars for the project. The hotel I stayed in, the 5 star W at Walkinghill, is a curious combination of idealized, caricatured l960ish decor a la Austin Powers and futuristic high tech details.A huge red bathtub with a TV screen suspended over it, walls half glass with automatic curtains that open at the touch of a button to reveal the Han River and , through the misty morning haze, the outline of seemingly endless super modern high rises on the other side, rising up like some fantasy futuristic city. In fact, you have to look hard to find a trace of ancient or even not-so-ancient Korean culture. This is a city with one foot in tomorrow and the other foot almost totally there, too. Which is one reason why the public seemed so smitten with talks from cutting-edge neuroscientists whom most Americans, I suspect, would avoid in droves. There were also some non-scientist speakers. Ron Reagan Jr. did nothing to conceal his absolute contempt for the disastrous rule of George W. Bush, the illegal invasion of Iraq and the stupefying waste of billions of dollars under the neocon regime while so much medical research into degenerative brain diseases is in need of funding. French sci fi writer Bernard Weber, whom I'd never heard of before, was greeted by adoration -- turns out he has a fan club of over 700,000 in S. Korea ­ as he spoke of using the brain's power of imagination to touch nature, "see" the future and prepare for true human evolution that is coming. More highlights from the scientists: One theme that came up from several researchers ­ what is consciousness and how do we find, measure and, perhaps, shape it? Famed University of California at Santa Barbara psychologist Michael S. Gazzaniga ( who discovered much of what we now know about the differences between the left and right sides of the human brain) and Nobel Laureate Gerald M. Edelman, director of the Neuroscience Institute, were among the Big Brains discussing what is being learned and mapped about our own brains and the perceptions, ideas, sensations that comprise what we call " consciousness". Zang-Hee Cho, Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the Gachon University of Medicine in Seoul, showed examples of 21st century brain mapping that were so precise, so clear, it was simply startling. These techniques make the MRI and PET scan images available today in most U.S. medical centers look like hazy , blurry and downright creakily old technology. Japanese neuroscientist Shun-ichi Amari, George Washington University Hospital neurologist Richard Restak , Medical College of Georgia neuroscientist Joe Z. Tsien and MIT professor of computational neuroscience Sebastian Seung talked about making brains smarter (engineered evolution, anyone?) In fact, Tsien, via genetic engineering, has already created Super Mice ­ brainiac rodents. Seung, by the way , is a native New Yorker born to Korean parents . He dresses like a rock star ­ silver high top shoes, silver studded blazer, long hair ­ and is young and handsome, as well as being brilliant. He had the crowd mesmerized as he spoke in Korean ( his first speech in the language). German neuroscientist Klaus-Robert Muller from the Technical University of Berlin, Miguel Nicolelis, professor of neuroscience at Duke, Korean brain researcher Soo-Young Lee and neuroscientist Philip Kennedy, chief scientist of Neural Signals in Atlanta, Georgia, outlined their accomplishments linking brains to computers ( Nicolelis has implanted monkeys with electric terminals in their brains that allow them to use robotic arms by "thinking " of them, Kennedy has invented an implanted brain chip that is helping a "locked in" paralyzed young man speak via thinking words that are instantaneously sounded by a computer, and Muller has come up with a way to non-invasively make it possible to type without a keyboard by connecting brain signals to a compute cursor). Yes, cyborgs are here. Curiously, back in the U.S. of A. at the same time the World Science Forum was taking place in Seoul, a succession of American scientists were speaking at a symposium held by the U.S. National Academies designed to assess how the government has responded to a 2005 report to the U.S. Congress that attempted to rally the nation to improve scientific research . And a whole lot of the speakers weren't happy. "Not much has happened here, but a lot has happened elsewhere," said G. Wayne Clough, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who takes over the top position at the Smithsonian Institution this summer. Former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, who chaired the academies' panel that wrote the initial report, listed progress being made in other countries and criticized U.S. policymakers for their lack of action in supporting science. But it was Craig Barrett, former CEO of Intel, who came up with the best and probably most telling zingers: "There will be winners and losers, and the losers are the ones who insist on looking backwards," he said. "We continue to subsidize 19th century technology--like in the $290 billion farm bill--rather than the 21st century technologies that will allow us to remain competitive. We're fat, dumb, and happy." I can tell you the Koreans ­ scientists and public alike ­ are not dumb, or fat but they seem awfully happy about learning and working . And they are clearly happy about inviting in , and soaking in, brains and research from around the world. What they do with the knowledge they are gaining, when coupled with their clear industriousness and steadily growing economy, should be nothing short of astounding.

