I couldn’t resist sharing with you a piece from NPR’s health blog called “Why Bacon Is a Gateway Meat for Vegetarians.” And it involves the brain… so read on! According to Johan Lundstrom from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, bacon has a very fundamental appeal for humans. First, Lundstrom explains that the high fat and [...]

Today I got an email from the Alzheimer’s Association, with an offer for a downloadable paper titled “Generation Alzheimer’s: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers.” It’s a sobering look at how the aging of the baby boomers (the first of whom turned 65 earlier this month) will come with an extraordinarily high price in [...]

Sometimes I wonder how anyone living hundreds of years ago survived into adulthood. My daughter wouldn’t have–she has had a couple of terrible illnesses that in an earlier era would have been untreatable. It wouldn’t take much: things as simple as an ear infection, a deep cut, or even being very near-sighted would have been [...]

We talk often on this blog about the connection between foods and brain health. One of the brain healthy ingredients we recommend working into your diet is turmeric, a bright orange spice that’s a component of many yellow curry powders. In rats, turmeric has been found to reduce amyloid plaques, one of the physical symptoms [...]

Insurance companies have the capability to offer brain performance improvement software, DriveSharp, that increases safety and reduces costs. What’s in the way of offering it to everyone?

I’m always looking for another justification for going on vacation and leaving work behind. Fortunately, Jonah Lehrer, a fabulous science writer, has just given me another one: while away from the office in body and mind I’m more likely to solve difficult work-related problems. As Lehrer explains: “[P]erceptions of distance (and the distance can be [...]

I returned from the first of two holiday trips to see relatives last week after Southwest Airlines made a heroic effort to get my family home.  Because of the multiple stops to get from Chicago to San Jose, I had time to think about the year we’ve had and offer a small thank you gift to you for your interest in [...]

This past weekend the New York Times continued its coverage of the Boomers reaching retirement age. Interestingly, they tracked down and profiled the first boomer (at least one of the early ones) to reach retirement age; click the link to read more about this generation and one of its first born, Aloysius Nachreiner. Oliver Sacks [...]

This year, I have a lot of New Year’s resolutions. And that could be a problem, because I don’t have a great track record of sticking to my resolutions–especially if they involve stopping a bad habit (like drinking three diet Cokes a day or procrastinating all kinds of things). I always think my resolution sounds [...]