There was an intriguing article in Scientific American last week called “Think Twice: How the Gut’s ‘Second Brain’ Influences Mood and Well-Being.” Although I work at a neuroscience company, I was unfamiliar with the “second brain.” It turns out it’s a mass of tissue in our intestines that shares many qualities with our brains–millions of [...]

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 [...]

If you’ve ever dabbled in neuroscience (or work at a neuroscience-based company, like I do) you may have come across the story of “H.M.” H.M. was a man who had brain surgery in the 1950s to stop severe seizures. The surgeon ended up removing large pieces of H.M.’s brain. The result: far fewer seizures, and [...]

I attended a talk by Dr. Frank Longo last night at Stanford. Frank is Chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford and he walked the audience of a few hundred people through emerging treatments for cognitive health. One of the topics he touched on was the importance of physical exercise in [...]