Do you remember the part in The Princess Bride when Miracle Max pronounces Westley to be “only mostly dead,” instead of entirely dead? “Mostly dead,” he continues, “means slightly alive.” It’s a little unexpected , because we usually think of “dead” and “alive” as mutually exclusive. But just as Westley can be “slightly alive” even [...]

This past Super Bowl weekend, I wrote about some interesting connections between neuroscience and football, including a variety of statistics and opinions about brain injuries and football. Now that football season is over, I’ve noticed an increasing number of headlines about brain injuries in hockey players. Recent research in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) found [...]

A few days ago, we hosted a Q&A session on Facebook about brain plasticity and brain fitness with Posit Science founder Dr. Michael Merzenich. For those who missed the discussion and prefer to read it in transcript form, I’ve re-posted it here. Question: I would love to know what Dr. Merzenich thinks about brain plasticity [...]

I now have something else to thank my parents for–all those years of piano lessons they forced me to take. New research published in Neuropsychology shows that kids who take music lessons get a brain boost that lasts even into old age. Researchers looked at a group of older adults between ages 60 and 83, [...]

I have a dog named Easy. He’s quite handsome, as you can see in this picture. According to a new study, he might also be my “secret weapon” to healthier living–as long as I walk him on a regular basis. In the study, researchers from Michigan State University investigated whether walking a dog is a [...]

A few weeks ago, we hosted an excellent Q&A session on Facebook about movement, exercise, and the brain. Movement specialist M.A. Greenstein, PhD, aka Dr. G, answered people’s questions and I think we all learned a lot! For those who missed the discussion and prefer to read it in transcript form, I’ve re-posted it here. [...]

Virtual reality programs try to make you feel like you’re there (wherever there is) by imitating the sights and sounds of an experience as accurately as possible. But what about your other senses, like smell? Many people believe that smell holds a particularly vivid connection to memory and experience. You’ve probably felt it–you go into [...]

Ed. Note: this article is cross-posted on Dr. Merzenich’s blog On The Brain. I had the great pleasure of visiting a wonderful research team studying the neurological origins and treatment of tinnitus at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis last week.  About 30 million U.S. citizens have tinnitus (chronic, persistent ringing in the ears).  For [...]

Ed. Note: We are live blogging selected sessions of this year’s SharpBrains Virtual Summit: Retooling Brain Health for the 21st Century. 10:02 AM: The session is over. That’s it for our live blogging of the SharpBrains Summit. Thanks to everyone! 9:58 AM: Katie Sullivan continues in more depth.