Neuromyths

New Science recently posted an article reporting on conclusions reached at "Decade of the Mind" symposium recently held in Germany. No surprise, they figure it's time to get some practical information into the classroom -- about how the brain learn best. They also included some "myths" that are being debunked. Check out the site and enjoy . . .


http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327265.800-brain-science-to-help-teachers-get-into-kids-heads.html

Hip-Replacement Surgery

Hip-Replacement Surgery: FYI After limping around the world for the better part of 5 years (the last two with an “elegant walking stick,”) I will undergo hip-replacement surgery July 13th. Dr. Bill Bowen at Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits, CA, is the surgeon and I’m very impressed with him and his ortho program. I plan to resume speaking appointments after the middle of September and resume blogs in November of 2009.

Calorie Restriction and Aging

Reports from researchers at the National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: a 30% caloric restriction begun in rhesus monkeys in adulthood reduces risk of the most common age-related conditions--diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and brain atrophy--by one third. (Calorie Restriction Slows Aging in Monkeys, by Katherine Bourzac)

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22977/

Living Cells as Chemical Computers

For years the computer metaphor has been used to try to better explain aspects of human-brain function. Now, potentially every cell in the body may be functioning somewhat like a computer. At least that seems to be the perception of Dennis Bray in his new book entitled: Wetware: A Computer in Every Living Cell. In a nutshell (as summarized by Graham Lawton in NewScientist Opinion), living cells are chemical computers. They take information from the environment and process it to produce behavioural "outputs". The processing units are proteins, which perform all the same operations as the logic gates of a computer. Inputs from the environment cause the proteins to flip shape, to aggregate, and to chemically modify other proteins in a cascade of information processing that sweeps through the cell until it reaches effector proteins that make the cell move or change shape . . . Bray's book is available on Amazon.com.

Emotions in the Brain

fMRI studies at the University of Geneva, Switzerland: researchers presented subjects with pseudowords spoken in five ways - with anger, sadness, relief, joy, or neutral with no emotion at all. They were able to classify each emotion against all other alternatives by analyzing the spatial pattern of activity in the auditory cortex. Not only does this indicate that emotions do have their own brain-activity patterns, but also may provide increased understanding of what happens in brains that have difficulty recognizing, comprehending, or processing emotions. The comprehension of emotional prosody is crucial for social functioning. This ability appears to be compromised in various psychiatric disorders, including deficits for anger and sadness in schizophrenia, fear and surprise in bipolar affective disorder, and surprise in depression.

http://www.physorg.com/news161528185.html

Michael Jackson's Death

I very much appreciated what Lisa Marie Presley wrote about Michael Jackson in her blog (http://blogs.myspace.com/lisamariepresley ) and sincerely hope she can get past feeling that she "failed" him. As a brain function specialist, my brain's opinion is that we can never "save" anyone but ourselves -- we can perhaps "influence" others but, even then, they need to be on board and willing to listen / make healthy choices. From watching Michael's career, my guess is that his brain was brilliant and introverted . . . the stress of being in the public "eye" from such a young age likely interfered with his emotional development (e.g., his seemingly child-like behavior at times and his less than stellar choices in some of the people with whom he surrounded himself). It's too bad there doesn't seem to be a way in this culture to live one's innate giftedness (at his level) without being sacrificed on the alter of public opinion . . . and/or without resorting to chemical solutions to try to manage the stressors . . . My wish for Lisa is that she is able to honor what she tried to do for Michael and let go of what she wished to have been able to accomplish . . .

Einstein's Brain and Simulation

People often ask if stimulating their brain on a regular basis makes any positive difference. Studies of Einstein's brain structure may shed some light on such questions. Some of Einstein's abilities were probably hereditary. But the type of research he did required intense study, and such concentrated effort can apparently alter the brain physically. Researchers at UCLA, Laboratory of Neuroimaging, reported in the journal Neuroimage that regular meditation, for example, can increase the size of brain areas that regulate emotion. Interestingly enough, a curious knob-like feature that was identified in pictures of Einstein's motor cortex might be a result of his early musical training. The feature resembled a structure detected in neural studies of experienced pianists and violinists, thought to be caused by hand exercises.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124293408731044311.html