Mar 18, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
A couple of great blog carnival editions (collections of blog posts around specific topics):
- Encephalon: neuroscience and psychology.
- Grand Rounds: health and medicine.Â
And a good Radar Roundup of brain-related news. Note: our estimate for the whole market in 2007 is $225m, not $110m; and the Consumer Segment (mostly Nintendo Brain Age/ Academy, but not all) accounts for $80m.
Â
Mar 17, 2008 Comments Off
By: Caroline Latham
Posit Science Corporation announced today, at the annual International Long Term Care Insurance Conference, the launch of a new program called  InSight(TM) for visual processing training.
We have not yet had the chance to analyze the program, but several pertinent open questions posed by Alvaro last month to Posit Science representatives (see Posit Science Brain Fitness Program 2.0: Open Questions)Â haven’t yet been addressed. Specifically:
Mar 16, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Here you are have the bi-monthly Digest of our 10 most Popular blog posts. (Also, remember that you can subscribe to receive our blog RSS feed, or to our newsletter at the top of this page if you want to receive this digest by email).
 
After many months of work we have just released our inaugural report The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008 for corporate executives, health care professionals, and investors. This report defines the emerging brain fitness software market and analyzes the size and trends of its four customer segments. For top 10 highlights and to purchase the report at a 10% discount (before March 20th) click here: Report: The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008
Brain Fitness News and Events
NEWS FEATURE-Brain fitness seen as hot industry of the future (Reuters 03/12): The most comprehensive article we have seen so far covering this emerging field, based on our market report and with original reporting. Highly recommended read.
Mar 15, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
A few very interesting New York Times articles over the last couple of days, plus a great opportunity for clinicians and researchers in Latin America.
- Well: When a Brain Scientist Suffers a Stroke
“Dr. Taylor recounts the details of her stroke and the amazing insights she gained from it in a riveting 18-minute video of her speech at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference in Monterey, Calif., last month.”
Mar 14, 2008 3
By: Alvaro Fernandez
We read today how Panel Urges Schools to Emphasize Core Math Skills (Washington Post). Now, there is a more fundamental question to consider: what should the schools of
the XXI century look like and do?.
To create a much needed dialogue, I asked one the most thoughtful education bloggers around to share her (I guess it’s “her”) impressions with us. Enjoy!
—————
What do we want our schools to do, and for whom?Â
–By eduwonkette
“Schools,” Stanford historian David Labaree
Schools, like most organizations, have many goals. These goals often compete with and displace each other. Relying heavily on the work of David Labaree, I will discuss three central goals of American schools – social efficiency, democratic equality, and social mobility. Throughout the history of American education, these goals have been running against each other in a metaphorical horserace. While they are not mutually exclusive, the three goals introduce very different metrics of educational success. More often than not, they sit uncomfortably with each other.
Mar 12, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Quick links to excellent resources:
1) FEATURE-Brain fitness seen as hot industry of the future (Reuters)
2) Learning & the Brain Conference for Educators and Clinicians. April 26-29, 2008. Cambridge, MA
3) Brain Health Across the Lifespan Seminar for Health & Aging Professionals. May 15th, 2008. San Francisco, CA
For more info, Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 12, 2008 7
By: Alvaro Fernandez
universities including the University of California, San Diego. He co-founded the Learning Brain Expo, a conference for educators, and has written 21 books on the brain and learning. Jensen is currently completing his PhD coursework. His most recent book, Enriching the Brain: How to Maximize Every Learner’s Potential (Jossey-Bass, 2006), is highly recommended for educators and parents alike. He wrote this recent article in Phi Delta Kappan in February 2008, sparking a healthy debate on the value of neuroscience applied to education.Eric, thank you for your time. Can you explain the role that you and your organization play?
We act as translators between the neuroscience and education fields, helping to build a Brain-Based Education movement. We launched the first conference that attempted to bridge these two worlds in 1998. The goal of the conference, called Learning Expo, was for teachers to speak to scientists, and, equally important, for scientists to speak to educators.
Critics say that neuroscience research can add little to educational practices. What we say is that, whereas it is true that much needs to be clarified, there are already clear implications from brain research that educators should be aware of. For example, four important elements that are often neglected by educators, given the obsessive focus on academic scores, are nutrition, physical exercise, stress management, and overall mental enrichment.
Mar 11, 2008 13
By: Alvaro Fernandez
After many months of work (and we hope many new neurons and stronger synapses in our brains), we have just released our inaugural report on the emerging Brain Fitness Software Market, the first to define the brain fitness and training software market and analyze the size and trends of its four customer segments. We estimate the size of the US brain fitness software market at $225M in2007, up from $100m in 2005 (50% CAGR). The two segments that fueled the market growth: consumers (grew from $5m to $80m, 300% CAGR) and healthcare & insurance providers (grew from $36m to $65m, 35% CAGR).
Highlights from The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008 report include:
1) 2007 was a seminal year for the US Brain Fitness software market, which reached $225 million in revenues – up from an estimated $100 million in 2005.
2) Over 20 companies are offering tools to assess and train cognitive skills to four customer segments: consumers; healthcare and insurance providers; K12 school systems; and Fortune 1000 companies, the military, and sports teams.
3) The Nintendo Brain Age/ Brain Training phenomenon has driven much of the growth. The consumer segment grew from a few million in 2005 to an estimated $80 million in 2007.
4) There is major confusion in the market, so education will be key. Users and buyers need help to navigate the maze of products and claims.
Mar 10, 2008 33
By: Dr. Adrian Preda
Dr. Adrian Preda, our newest Expert Contributor, writes today the first in a series of thought-provoking articles,
challenging us to think about physical exercise as the best and most unappreciated form of “brain exercise”. A superb article.
And one thing is clear, he points out: “the brain really likes it when it’s asked to be “active”. Passive audiences, which are spoon fed information, score less well when tested on retention and understanding of the presented material than audiences that were kept engaged through the process.”
So, will you write a comment below and contribute to an engaging conversation? Thoughts? reactions? questions?
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Don’t ignore plain old common sense.
Brain Lessons Part 1
– By Adrian Preda, M.D.
Let me start with a list of common biases: expensive is better than cheap, free is of dubious value (why would then be free?), rare is likely to be valuable, and while new is better than old, ancient is always best. Which explains a common scenario that is reenacted about twice a week in my office. It starts like this: a patient shows me a fancy looking bottle of the brain supplement of the week: ancient roots with obscure names mixed together in another novel combination which you can exclusively find in that one and only store (rarity oblige!). And not to forget: it ain’t cheap either! Of course, there it is, the perfect the recipe for success: ancient yet new, rare and expensive. It got to be good! But is it, really?
Mar 9, 2008 Comments Off
By: Alvaro Fernandez
If you are interested in education reform, social entrepreneurship and venture philantropy, grab a nice cap of tea or coffee and enjoy today’s spectacular edition of the New York Times Magazine.
Must read: insightful expert discussion on How Many Billionaires Does It Take to Fix a School System?
Also: excellent pieces titled Self-Made Philanthropists, on how ProPublica was conveived and launched, and For Good, Measure, on the importance and challenges of measuring the return on social investments.
Bonus: the newspaper’s Week in Review section brings a throught-provoking article on Brain Enhancement Is Wrong, Right?, on the use of drugs for boosting brain performance. Am happy to report that no one in the Education articles suggested giving these drugs to millions of kids…
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