improve our Technorati rank? we are very close to having 300 blogs linking to our site/ blog, and a ranking better than 12,000!
Technorati Rank: 12,047 (3,376 links from 297 blogs)
UPDATE: we have already 302 blogs linking to us. Thanks!! (of course, now we want to reach 400, so no need to stop...).
We would love your help in crossing that number! No matter how big or small your blog is, every link counts.
What can you link to?
Well, we are very proud of our new Hot Topics, based on user feedback demanding a better organization of content. Other good Continue Reading »
Professor, trader and author Brett Steenbarger, one of the main experts on Trading psychology and Trader Performance (see our interview with him here), just announced he will speak at a Free Interactive Webinar on Trader Performance
- "During the Webinar, I will summarize and elaborate basic ideas from my book and also introduce new ideas developed and applied since the book's publication. A unique feature of the session will be a participant Q&A moderated by Steve." (Steven Buss, a member of the NeoTicker forum)
He recently wrote a great post on My Favorite Techniques for Overcoming Performance Anxiety in Trading, including a wonderful technique (see article to read the full description)
Good NYT article today on how Chemotherapy Fog Is No Longer Ignored as Illusion. Quotes:
- "Virtually all cancer survivors who have had toxic treatments like chemotherapy experience short-term memory loss and difficulty concentrating during and shortly afterward, experts say. But a vast majority improve. About 15 percent, or roughly 360,000 of the nation’s 2.4 million female breast cancer survivors, the group that has dominated research on cognitive side effects, remain distracted years later, according to some experts. And nobody knows what distinguishes this 15 percent."
- "The central puzzle of chemo brain is Continue Reading »
In honor of Mathematics Awareness Month 2007: Mathematics and the Brain, here is another mathematical brain bender from puzzle master Wes Carroll ...
The Unkindest Cut of All, Part 1 of 2
Difficulty: HARD
Type: MATH (Spatial)
Question:
The area of a square is equal to the square of the length of one side. So, for example, a square with side length 3 has area (32), or 9. What is the area of a square whose diagonal is length 5?
In this puzzle you are working out your spatial visualization (occipital lobes), memory (temporal lobes), and hypothesis generation (frontal lobes).
Click to read the Solution and Explanation.
Go on to Concentric Shapes: The Unkindest Cut of All, Part 2 of 2
We are very happy to see how the science-based brain fitness field is emerging, and we have prepared a Hot Topics section to keep you well informed. Our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, has been writing about brain fitness for many years. Here you have a selection of the most popular posts: Hot Topics on Memory, Brain Fitness, Brain Teasers, Mental Exercise, Stress Management, Physical Exercise, Nutrition, News, Products, Events, Students, Science, Resources, and more.
We are also opening up our moderated Message Boards to everyone interested in learning and sharing. You can self-register to create a new forum account and join the conversation. Jump in and start asking questions and give us feedback!
This is a new field, and we are happy to contribute, and to listen. Looking forward a stimulating dialogue!
The New Yorker April 30th issue includes a superb article on The Way We Age Now: Can medicine serve an aging population?. Atul Gawande provides a great (and a bit depressing) survey on the geriatrics field: more and more need for practitioners, with less and less supply.
now, a couple of quotes and data points that are very relevant to our efforts around healthy brain aging.
- "for most of our hundred-thousand-year existence—all but the past couple of hundred years—the average life span of human beings has been thirty years or less. (Research suggests that subjects of the Roman Empire had an average life expectancy of twenty-eight years.)"
- "Inheritance has surprisingly little influence on longevity. James Vaupel, of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, in Rostock, Germany, notes that only six per cent of how long you’ll live, compared with the average, is explained by your parents’ longevity; by contrast, up to ninety per cent of how tall you are, compared with the average, is explained by your parents’ height. Even genetically identical twins vary widely in life span: the typical gap is more than fifteen years."
Fascinating. First, let's appreciate our incredible life expectancy today; we are literally pushing the envelop of how to maintain healthy brains and bodies. By historical standards, many of us are living on "borrowed" time. Second, there you have some evidence for the importance of our experience and our lifestyle on how long we live. In terms of healthy aging, on average, nurture seems to be at least as important as nature, and the one more in our control to take action today.
You can learn more on the Successful Aging of the Healthy Brain: a beautiful essay by Marian Diamond on how to keep our brains and minds active and fit throughout our lives.
Related blog posts
A couple of quick links
- DISCOVER Magazine, May 2007 issue, brings a great article titled "The Elastic Brain: Michael Merzenich believes you can tone your mind and stave off memory loss. All it takes is time in his mental gym". The article (which is not available online) provides a great overview of the amazing work of Prof. Merzenich (a UCSF neuroscientist) with Scientific Learning and Posit Science, pioneers in the field. The writer's tone is positive overall but adds a note of skepticism, saying that "Yet despite the enthusiastic testimony I heard from senior citizens who have tried the program, there are no formal studies published in peer-reviewed journals that demonstrate the program's effects" and gathering criticisms outlined by other researchers. Having said so, in our opinion, Posit Science offers the best program we have seen focused on improving auditory processing, and we expect to see more clear studies soon-the field is relatively new.
- Slate Magazine presents a special issue on the brain. We will review and comment on it soon, including a neurobic club/ brain gym.
You can see here an interview with interview with Dr. Michael Merzenich
My wife and I were fortunate to conduct recently a mind training experiment, in the form of a breathing & meditation retreat, with some neuroscientists and Adam Engle, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Mind & Life Institute (nice name, isn't it?)
The Mind and Life Dialogues "started in 1987 as an experiment to determine whether a scientific exchange could occur between modern science and Buddhism. MLI has now sponsored 14 dialogues (between the Dalai Lama and neuroscientists) over the last 20 years. In that time MLI has become a recognized world leader in the emerging scientific investigation of the effects of contemplative practices on the brain, behavior, and the translation of this data into effective tools to benefit all people everywhere."
A few notes from our conversation with Adam
- - He helped launch the Mind & Life Institute to build a science-based field of interdisciplinary study to investigate the applications of the "database of practices" that Buddhism and some Christian traditions have accumulated over milennia
- - From early on it became clear that they needed to engage Western neuroscientists in order to be credible and become a real East-West bridge with potential to reach mainstream society. You can see below a partial list of participants in their most recent meeting, 2 weeks ago
- - They are very happy that Sharon Begley's book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain has become a non-fiction Bestseller, since it is based on one of the Mind & Life Dialogues (more on Books on neuroplasticity)
- - He is glad to see the inroads that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is making in the medical world thanks to solid research. He believes the Corporate Training and Leadership market is also going to become very interested in this technique for stress management. The main bottleneck for growth? the existing number of qualified instructors does not meet the increasing demand.
The Institute sponsors research in a number of ways, and they just announced that the 3rd annual Scientists Retreat will take place Continue Reading »
We are very excited to announce a workshop hosted jointly by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI) at University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University and SharpBrains (us!). We are offering a three-day workshop for educators and brain fitness practitioners seeking instructional certification in the SharpBrains course, Exercising Our Brains.
"SharpBrains has introduced the first science-based brain fitness center with information and programs to help people of all ages exercise their brains. They have offered the popular Exercising Our Brains course at SF State's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) since October 2005."
Are you seeing all the articles about Brain Fitness in the popular press and wondering, “What is this all about?”, “Can someone help me navigate through all the programs out there?”, “How is Brain Fitness relevant to me in my personal life or at work?”. As the leading source of information and education on Brain Fitness, we have delivered a series of customized training sessions to companies and organizations that combine modules -including scientific overview, the industry trends and key players, fun team-building exercises- that can be tailored to your organization's specific needs. Sessions last from 1 to 6 hours, depending on your group's composition and agenda and are delivered either in person or via web conference. If you want more information on SharpBrains workshops for your institution click on Workshops.
Who should attend:
Educators and practitioners who are seeking to teach the course Exercising Our Brains. Ideal candidates are: educators who are working in the area of psychology, health, and wellness, and who are ideally already affiliated with learning centers eager to offer a brain fitness class.
Continue Reading »
Cognitive Daily brings an intriguing article titled Is theater the ultimate brain fitness product?, based on research published in 2004 by Helga and Tony Noice.
Very interesting results on memory and problem-solving. Will investigate whether that experiment has been replicated since then and we can recommend such a fun (and demanding) brain fitness activity!
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may be interested in the Geezer Theater organized by one of our partners, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
