Learn About Your Brain—And Save 20%
In honor of Brain Awareness Week, we’re not just offering loads of educational content. We’re also offering 20% off and free shipping* all our products through March 31, 2010. Just use coupon code BRAIN20 during checkout. Feel free to pass this offer along to friends! Shop now.
Baseball Cards, Smiling Players, and Longevity
A recent study turned to an unusual source for insight into longevity: baseball cards. The researchers looked at 230 cards from the 1952 season—specifically at the smiles on the players. The finding: the players who flashed genuine smiles lived a lot longer than those who didn’t. Why does a happier outlook lead to a longer life? Find out more.
Adventure Vacations
What is it about adventure travel that is so attractive to some people? It’s all about how the brain responds in moments of fear. Learn more.
Find Your Purpose
A new report in the Archives of General Psychiatry reports that people who have a “purpose in life” may be less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than people who don’t. But how did they measure purpose in life? Find out.
Autism and the “Love Hormone”
A small study published last month suggested that oxytocin—sometimes called the “love hormone”—can help people with mild autism in social situations. Does that mean that we should start treating people with autism with oxytocin? Probably not yet, according to this NPR article. Read USA Today’s description of the study.
A Changing Body—or Changing Brain?
Every once in a while, I’m reminded that our brains are the genesis of more age-related problems than we might think. Here are two examples I happened upon this week:
- A new study suggests that glaucoma actually starts in the brain, not the eyes—a “paradigm shift” in how doctors think about the disease. Learn more.
- A Boston Globe Q&A sheds light on why the need to urinate in the night grows with age—and the answer lies as much in the brain as in the bladder.
Examples like these abound!
Neuroscience Wrap-Up: 10 Years After the Decade of the Brain
Congress established the “Decade of the Brain” in 1990—but what did the first decade of the 21st century add to neuroscientific research? What will be the greatest findings and challenges for this decade? The Dana Foundation collected thoughts on these questions from the directors of seven of National Institutes of Health. Read their comments, starting with Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Book of the Month
Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience (2010)
By Stephen S. Hall
What is “wisdom”? In Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience, Stephen S. Hall travels from ancient Confucianism to modern-day understandings of the biological brain to explore this very topic. Hall doesn’t stop at helping the reader understand wisdom—he also gives clues to how we might nurture wisdom in ourselves and our children. Buy now >>
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