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Salud Mental 2011;34:388 Pellicer The 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research Francisco Pellicer Events and awards The jury for this prestigious award recently announced in Oviedo, Spain that this year the prize for Technical and Scientific Research would be awarded to three distinguished researchers in the field of neuroscience: Giacomo Rizzolati of Italy, Joseph Altman of the U.S., and Arturo Alvarez-Buylla Roces of Mexico. This was primarily for their significant neurobiological research into so-called «mirror neurons,» nerve cells found in the ventral premotor cortex of the brain which are activated not only when an individual performs a particular action, such as a hand movement, but also when the individual observes the same action being performed by others. These neurons would appear to play a key role in learning through imitation and in the construction of the phenomenon of self-awareness. The second reason for the award was for their studies of neurogenesis in adult brains for which they used dividing nerve cells, marked with tritiated thymidine and revealed through autoradiography. This proved the existence of neurogenesis in specific areas of the brain in postnatal and adult rats, such as the dentate gyrus and the olfactory bulb, which suggests that the newly formed neurons are related to the processes of memory and learning. The award-winning trio also work in the area of neurogenesis in the adult nervous system, in particular the role that the glial cells play as progenitor cells of neurons associated with the olfactory system and which replicate in the adult, constituting what is known as the rostral migratory stream. These concepts challenge, in part, the old dogma that nerve cells do not substitute or replace themselves in the adult individual. Until now this is no different from what has previously been published by the media, but I want to point out a few things about Arturo, the award and the context of doing scientific research in Mexico. 388 First of all, the education and home environment of the Alvarez-Buylla Roces family involves the migration of his paternal and maternal ancestors as a result of the Spanish Civil War which, unlucky for some but lucky for us, introduced to this country a wealth of talent, including Arturo’s parents and grandparents. But what happens when this country is unable to offer the infrastructure necessary for excellence to flourish and spread? It would seem that this great talent overflows beyond the scope of our environment and he must exile himself once again; it appears that history repeats itself, and this time, unlucky for us but lucky for the University of California, his talents, his research and his scientific work move there. How can we generate a Mexican academic environment that doesn’t exile its academics, and worse still one which exiles in the form of postdoctoral stints outside the country, which no doubt cost us both personally and financially. Academics are turned into true exiles when they are not offered decent work upon their return, or there simply aren’t enough jobs in our academic and medical institutions to incorporate these scientists in our national affairs. We need to rethink our future in terms of internal, educational, technological and of course scientific development, placing more importance on ourselves with those who drive political policy. These prizes are a good measure of the productivity and development of an individual or group, but they also reflect the support of these individuals’ own countries and institutions. In this case we have won neither accolade; the award is for Arturo in his exile, for his family and for the institutions that supported him in his work. Congratulations Arturo Alvarez-Buylla Roces. And Mexico, let us think on what it is we want and where it is we are headed. Vol. 34, No. 4, July-August 2011