Box 1. What is neuroinformatics?

Although it requires strong computing skills, neuroinformatics is primarily about developing the tools and databases to aid neuroscientists manipulate, store and share their data. It is more closely related to engineering than to basic science. The newly launched journal Neuroinformatics advertises itself as the "first journal devoted to the information-science infrastructure of neuroscience". And next year, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is launching a two-week neuroinformatics summer course. With its own journal, workshops and funding initiatives, neuroinformatics is a field of its own.