This week something really neat is happening in Long Beach, California. It’s the annual TED Conference- a meeting of some of the world’s great minds of science, technology, design, and entertainment. While not all of us are able to attend the very exclusive TED Conference, we can all benefit from the wonderful videos they post of the TED talks. They very accurately bill these videos as “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.”

All this week, to parallel the conference activities, I’ll post a favorite brain-related TED talk on this blog each morning so you can share in the learning and enjoy a riveting talk by a remarkable person. First up, our own Michael Merzenich on Re-wiring the Brain, from TED 2004. Enjoy, and if you like what you see, be sure to check back each day this week for another video.

My son Jackson was awarded his wristband for juggling a soccer ball 10 times in row in front of his coach. (I discussed his practice strategy in a previous post.) He practiced for a long time before being able to reach this milestone. I talked with a number of other parents and they noticed something interesting: once their children reach 10 juggles, they quickly got to 25, then 50 then into the hundreds, and then they could do as many as they wanted until they lost interest.

Jackson’s coach said something interesting as well. He said that as soon as he saw Jackson juggling on Friday he knew that he was going to get 10 juggles. How? Because he saw that Jackson had mastered a consistent touch of the ball, meaning it went about the same height each time.

Continue reading "Soccer Juggling, Brain Training and A Challenge" »

Recently Dr. Jerri Edwards of the University of South Florida published a paper showing that older adults who cease driving have higher mortality rates.¹ You might think this can be easily explained by the fact that unhealthy people are more likely to cease driving. However, Dr. Edwards used an analytical method to take into account health status at the start of the study. She also took into account other possible contributory factors including age, gender, visual acuity, depression, and cognitive performance. Even after adjusting for all these factors, older adults who ceased driving were five times more likely to die in the following three years.

How can this increased mortality risk be explained? Dr. Edwards suggests that the results can be accounted for by the direct consequences of driving cessation. These consequences include increased social isolation, increased depression, a reduced feeling of control, decreased activity, and reduced access to health care.

Continue reading "Want to Live Longer? Keep Driving!" »

A recent study in the Journal of Neuroscience has provided a new possibility for detecting Alzheimer’s disease (AD) early: loss of the ability to smell. The research used mice that were genetically engineered to develop the signature amyloid plaques that occur in AD. In the course of the research, the scientists noticed that the plaques developed in a region of the brain associated with smelling, and that the mice with plaques had more trouble learning or distinguishing odors.

Why should we care?  Oftentimes certain behavioral symptoms of AD are seen well before onset, early in life. In fact, this study showed that the mice who were only 3 months old–in human years, equivalent to a young adult–exhibited this difficulty with smelling. Thus it may well be possible to detect a person’s predilection for AD years or decades before the brain substantially degenerates, allowing for significantly earlier detection of the disease with the benefit of being able to make proactive lifestyle and treatment decisions. The researchers also point out that it could potentially be a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive, and simple way to diagnose AD, compared with current diagnostic methods.

You can read a press release with more information about the study at Science Daily.

Over a recent long weekend I participated in a 4-day camp that teaches children with disabilities how to ride a bike. One of the participants in this camp was my son Daniel, who is six and has autism. The bi-annual camp was put together through a partnership between the Sonoma State Kinesiology department and United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay. The camp contracts with the agency Lose the Training Wheels and uses specialized bikes to help kids of all ages and disabilities gain the confidence to riding a two-wheeler.

The specialized bikes have a roller as the back wheel which helps with gaining the feel of balance (click here for a photo gallery of the bike from different angles). There are several levels of bikes as the children progress towards a two-wheeler. The adapted bikes were designed by Dr. Richard Klein, a retired math professor and mechanical engineer. He and his wife travel across the country running camps like this, and they have taught over 3000 children with developmental disabilities.

Continue reading "How Do You Teach A 6-Year-Old with Autism to Ride a Bike?" »

Recently, scientists at MIT tested a specially-designed nutritional drink to see whether it could improve cognitive function in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. (Here’s an article in CNN on the subject.) The drink includes three key nutrients: uridine, choline (part of the vitamin B family) and DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid). These are nutrients that we already take in through food:

• Uridine is found in tomatoes, beer, and broccoli, among other foods
• Choline is found in egg yolks, soy, wheat germ, and meat (especially liver)
• DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is especially found in fatty fish, such as salmon, anchovies, and sardines. Our bodies can also transform a more common omega-3 fatty acid, called ALA, into DHA.

The nutritional drink  used in this study was, in some respects, medical in nature–its nutritional content is not something we are likely to replicate in everyday meals. Still, I think this research represents a step toward an exciting new approach to treating cognitive dysfunction. It moves  the conversation one small step away from pharmaceuticals and toward a less invasive, more natural approach to preventing and treating cognitive problems.

Continue reading "Move Aside, Drugs: Non-invasive Brain Therapies" »

‘If you want to keep safe out there, you must use your peripheral vision.’ So said the mentor in the orange vest. I was in a crowd of about 100 cyclists who were about to embark on their first criterium bicycle race. Criteriums are circuit races that are held on short road circuits.  In this case we were about to ride multiple times around a 1.25 mile circuit in an industrial park in Fremont. Criterium racing is fast and cyclists ride very close together in a pack. Crashes usually happen when a rider does not adequately keep track of the other riders around him. So to keep safe it is important to spread your attention across the visual field. I felt confident that my InSight training would come in handy.

The race was exhilarating. I kept up towards the front of the pack to keep out of trouble. Although I had been very nervous before the start I felt surprisingly confident once we started. I was able to look ahead to keep track of where we were going and yet also keep track of all the other riders around me. The pace picked up dramatically in the last few laps but I was able to hold on to the pack until the end. I was very happy with my first race.

One of the reasons I like working at Posit Science is that they are committed to being a corporation that gives back to the community and the world at large. In November, the company donated $1 million worth of software to over 500 public libraries in Massachusetts. During the month of December, for every purchase of brain fitness software, the company donated the cost of recycling and delivering a pair of eyeglasses to someone in need.

When I heard about the eyeglass donation program, I started looking into it more closely and was saddened to learn that an estimated 250 million people around the world are in need of eyecare. We reported on this blog that a recent study showed that correctly prescribed glasses can improve quality of life in nursing home residents. I myself have terrible vision (legally blind without correction, in fact) and am utterly dependent on glasses and contact lenses to function normally. I can’t imagine what life would be like for someone with impaired vision without access to regular eye care and corrective lenses.

Continue reading "Posit Science Giving Back – Eyeglass Donation Drive" »

A few months ago, my 6-year-old daughter was in the hospital. Her hospital roommate was a two-year-old girl with brain cancer.

I talked to this girl’s mother, and as it turned out, she had done everything she knew how to do to raise her daughter in an especially healthy environment. She and her husband had moved to an organic farm in northern California when their first child was born to avoid the smoggy air of urban living. They ate exclusively organic, locally raised food. They were careful in their choice of products–from children’s clothes to household cleaners–to prevent their children’s contact with chemicals as much as possible. And yet, when her daughter was just under 2, she suddenly stopped walking. A trip to the doctor revealed that an aggressive, cancerous tumor the size of a softball–and still growing–was the cause.

Continue reading "Doing What We Can" »

11:05 am: This session has now concluded. That is the end of my blogging from the Sharp Brains summit. All the best, Peter.

11:04 am: Dr. Stern believes that improving executive functioning performance with training can increase cognitive reserve. Improving cognitive reserve may delay or reverse the effects of aging.

10:56 am: Now speaking is Dr. Yaakov Stern from Columbia University. He is talking about cognitive reserve which is greater in brains that are more efficient, have greater capacity and can adapt better. People with more cognitive reserve are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. Cognitive reserve is associated with IQ, education, and occupation. But are we born with higher function brains with increased cognitive reserve? Can we do anything to increase our cognitive reserve? Dr. Stern says that cognitive reserve is flexible and can be improved by challenging the brain.

Continue reading "Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 2" »