"Our dream is to uncover the essence of what makes us human, " Mr. Allen said.

WSJ: Paul Allen Gives $300 Million to Brain Research

When something like that happens it has an effect on everyone because it threatens our safety and our freedom to gather as a group, and that's part of what makes us human.

NPR: Celtics Back On Court, Offer Tribute To Victims

In terms of what makes us human, the most promising areas for exploration are six regions that show very little variation among humans but more variation in chimps suggesting they were important in the human line of evolution.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Reading the chimp book of life

The capacity for uplift is part of what makes us essentially, euphorically human.

CNN: What really makes people happy

To researchers, the pursuit of happiness--the decision to buy a Jeep Cherokee over a Chevy station wagon, a Cape Cod house versus a ranch, to chain ourselves to our desks and grind ourselves into wafers--emanates from the most important question human beings can ask themselves: What really makes us happy?

FORBES: Money, Happiness And The Pursuit Of Both

That possibility is what energizes us, and makes the continued effort to probe new corners of nature such an exciting part of the human adventure.

CNN: Higgs and the holy grail of physics