Throughout the 19th and 20th century, much progress was made by breaking the brain down into various components, with individual neurons viewed as the fundamental unit for human brain activity. The number of these neurons is roughly a hundred billion; the number of contacts between neurons is a hundred trillion. The average neuron receives thousands of distinct inputs, with each neuron connecting to many other neurons; however the exact physical "circuitry" of these individual components is unknown. Taxpayer funded research in neuroscience has been crucial to advancing our understanding into...

Reports of cyber criminals, "hacktivists" and nation-states accessing sensitive information and disrupting services in both the public and private domains have risen steadily, heightening concerns over the adequacy of cybersecurity measures. Cybersecurity related concerns range from spearfishing attempts and spam, to malware, to illegal or illicit activity on the dark net. More and more cases of successful cyber-attacks are being reported. Financial information, medical records, any and all personal data maintained on computer systems by individuals or by organizations large and small are...

Cyber-based intrusions and attacks on federal systems and systems supporting our nation's critical infrastructure, such as communications and financial services, are evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Until fiscal year 2016, the number of information security incidents reported by federal agencies to the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team had steadily increased each year. From fiscal year 2006 through fiscal year 2015, reported security incidents increased from 5,503 to 77,183, an increase of 1,303 percent. The Government Accountability Office has...