"Memory loss is not an inherent part of brain ageing"

The main challenge is to develop techniques to prevent neurological and psychiatric disorders. In general medicine and family medicine this change - a shift of focus towards prevention - has already occurred, but in neurology and psychology it has yet to take place. It is crucial that we understand what a healthy brain is in order to design intervention strategies that can help to keep it healthy across the life span and minimize the risk of disease.

Another challenge is to find a way to minimize the symptoms for those already suffering from a disease. It's another entire area we need to learn about. Yes. We have made a lot of progress, there are treatments that weren't available to us before. A good example is cerebral infarction; we can now use a treatment to re-open the blood vessels to the brain in stroke victims. In epilepsy, there are a number of new drugs for controlling the disease. For depression, we have a growing number of intervention strategies for minimizing symptoms, which include drug treatments and other techniques. Progress has also been made in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. There are many neurological and psychiatric disorders for which treatments are now available. We can't cure them, but we can make life easier for sufferers.

These efforts must be maintained, of course, but I think that the time has come to turn our attention to prevention.

"As we age, we lose some capacities but gain others"

No. There are changes associated with ageing, just as there are changes associated with puberty, for example. They are not inherently good or bad, they simply form part of the brain's development.

People have the mistaken idea that as we get older we begin to lose certain capacities. It's better to think that the brain develops along a continuous line but that there is no upwards or downwards curve. As we age, we lose some capacities but gain others. I'll give you an example. The way adults think and learn is different to children because the connections in the brain are different. Put simply, children's connections are more closely linked - "that's a bottle, that's a tie..." - whereas adults have a larger number of more distant connections, giving them a more global view on life. They might not remember a person's name, but they know that this person is related to that person. Essentially, the difference is akin to the distinction between seeing the leaves on a tree and seeing the forest in its entirety. We need people who can see the forest, we need that wisdom. The loss of these faculties is really down to the fact that we don't do enough to keep our brains healthy. It isn't an intrinsic decline with age, there are a number of factors: not getting enough exercise, leading a sedentary life, eating too much, not sleeping enough ...

"We suffer memory loss because we don't look after our brains"

I don't think so, no. Studies show that people between the ages of 80 and 90 have less working memory (immediate memory) than someone aged between 20 and 30. But I think this is somewhat skewed by the fact that the brain of an 80 or 90 year old is not in an optimal state of health: we could have far greater memory power if our brains were healthier.

So how do we improve the health of our brains? This is the great challenge. The problem isn't that we lose memory as we get older but that we aren't using our brains in the best way to keep them healthy. We know that memory loss can be reversed. First of all, we need a better understanding of the underlying causes of memory loss, but we must also re-train our brains to make them more plastic. There are some very straightforward things that we know can be effective: getting enough hours of sleep, avoiding certain medicines such as Valium (it helps us to sleep but reduces the brain's plasticity), eating the least amount of calories possible - without getting to the point of losing weight - and regular, vigorous exercise (going out for a stroll isn't enough, you need to get your heart rate up to 150). These are all relatively easy tasks, just like mental gymnastics, which we don't often do.

"Children are always learning new things, whereas adults no longer have this challenge"

Learning new things. I'll give you an example... You retire and devote your time to something you've always enjoyed: that's wonderful and something worth doing, but you aren't going to train your brain, you'll only keep it at the same level. What you need to do it set it challenges: learn to do things you've never done before. For example, someone involved in intellectual and scientific work, like me, should try dancing, learning steps and how to dance a tango. If I spend my time reading and doing crosswords, which is basically what I've done my whole life, I won't be activating my brain.

This is the main difference where children are concerned: they are constantly learning new things, whereas adults no longer have this challenge and gradually lose capacities. It isn't an intrinsic process, it's the result of not doing things the right way.

"It's a shame that the public health system doesn't cover non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, because patients with depression really benefit"

We know that meditation - and introspection in general - activates brain circuits that are central to ordering overall cerebral activity. It provides benefits that go beyond general relaxation, helping us to acquire skills. In the United States these techniques are approved for the treatment of depression and are covered by medical insurers. In Spain they're not covered by the public health system, which is a shame, because the patients really benefit, whereas electroconvulsive therapy is covered, which is more costly and has more side effects.

Looking at other applications, such as the treatment of cerebral infarction, epilepsy, etc., where these techniques have proved effective, medical insurance doesn't cover them, but there are around 500 clinics in the USA where treatment is offered privately.

"The problem affecting science in Spain isn't a lack of resources, it's a structural problem: the system lacks flexibility"

Absolutely terrible. The problem stretches back a long way. It isn't about a lack of resources, it's a structural problem: the system lacks flexibility. It's true that there's a lack of investment in science and technology (modern science is expensive: it requires courses, collaboration...), but I don't think the main problem is the volume of resources available, even if this is the view of the majority.

I would say that the problem is more a structural one: the Spanish system lacks flexibility and dynamism, researchers have no scope to take risks and can't change the size of their research groups. Basically, researchers do not have full control over their work, unlike a company director might have.

The desire - an admirable one - to offer researchers security and stability is unfortunately linked to a loss of real stimulus to improve. The system must be changed: greater focus should be placed on dynamism, and a system of rewards should be put in place for those willing to take risks, the most creative thinkers, the researchers who produce the best results. To achieve this, researchers need to be handed greater control over their work.

In the United States the opposite is true, and while things should perhaps not be taken to this extreme, in Europe, and particularly in Spain, the authorities are nowhere near where they should be in terms of encouraging competition and dynamism. It's a very important study, comparable to the work on the human genome. We now know that it's not a specific area of the brain or a particular cell that makes us perform a given action but in fact the ensemble of different nerve connections that determine our behaviour.

Brain mapping is an enormous undertaking, the work of several lifetimes. The sums being invested, which seem so large, are in fact quite small, and almost certainly not enough to make a real breakthrough. But the approach is the right one.