Regular exercise can improve memory and learning: Scientists

Exercising for up to an hour a day can improve memory and learning in children and the elderly, scientists have found.

Walking or cycling regularly for between six months to a year can improve memory and problem solving skills in the elderly by between 15 and 20 per cent, according to researchers.

Professor Art Kramer, director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, who led the research, said their findings could have major implications for improving children’s performance at school, and it could also be used to help the elderly combat memory loss in old age.

http://www.todayonline.com/Health/EDC120220-0000109/Regular-exercise-can-improve-memory-and-learning—Scientists

Neuroscience Meets Education and Technology

Technological Trends will include computer technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology and cognition and the convergence of these technologies. The U.S. military and the UK government are studying psychopharmacology for increased attention and cognition, and personalized genetic mapping and enhancement. The Human Cognome Project is seeking to map the brain like the Human Genome Project has done for the geneAdditionally, Nanotechnology is producing new drugs that treat cancer, engineer materials to replace diseased organs, repair nerve damage, and improve prosthetic limbs, among many other medical breakthroughs. The National Nanotechnology Initiative has identified other areas of focus in enhancing group creativity and cognitive engineering.. A “Virtual You” is being constructed at Sandia Laboratory to model human consciousness and cognitive abilities. Dr. Candace Pert has identified an information network within the human body where peptide messages triggered by emotions regulate body chemical processes.
New Technologies provide the following opportunities: the backbone for the communications necessary for globalization, the ability to “leapfrog” current technology where there are no old infrastructure or mentalities to be uprooted, the creation of new online societies and training environments and the simulation of current social problems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrSR-55xXD8&feature=related

Swiss scientists have shown that breaking your arm can affect your brain. It appears that immobilising the broken limb reduces the thickness of part of the cerebral cortex.

The study highlights how rapidly the brain can adapt in response to environmental changes, a phenomenon known as brain ‘plasticity’.

Professor Lutz Jäncke and colleagues at the University of Zurich in Switzerland report their findings in the journal Neurology this week.

Searching the Brain for the Roots of Fear - an interesting NYT OPED piece about Human anxiety.

Fear and anxiety are in the brain because they helped our ancestors and theirs cope with life’s challenges. But when these states interfere with our ability to survive and thrive, one has an anxiety disorder. These include phobias, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome, generalized anxiety disorder, among other conditions. While fear plays a key role in some anxiety disorders (phobia, post-traumatic stress), it takes a back seat in others (generalized anxiety).

Addicted! Scientists show how internet dependency alters the human brain

Internet addiction has for the first time been linked with changes in the brain similar to those seen in people addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cannabis. In a groundbreaking study, researchers used MRI scanners to reveal abnormalities in the brains of adolescents who spent many hours on the internet, to the detriment of their social and personal lives. The finding could throw light on other behavioural problems and lead to the development of new approaches to treatment, researchers said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/addicted-scientists-show-how-internet-dependency-alters-the-human-brain-6288344.html

Henrietta Bowden Jones, consultant psychiatrist at Imperial College, London, who runs Britain’s only NHS clinic for internet addicts and problem gamblers, said: “The majority of people we see with serious internet addiction are gamer…”

Ten Brain Science Studies from 2011 Worth Talking About

1. Brain Implant Enables Memories to be Recorded and Played Back
2. Controlling microRNA Could Eventually Make Brain Cells ‘Death Resistant’
3. Maximizing the Brain’s Natural Marijuana-like Chemical Could Lead to Better Meds
4. Using Magnetism to Alter Moral Judgments Isn’t So Far Fetched
5. New Blood Test May Predict Whether Antidepressants Will Help You
6. Abused Children’s Brains and Soldiers’ Brains are Similarly Wired
7. Alzheimer’s Damage Can in Some Cases be Reversed by Deep Brain Stimulation
8. ‘Brain Reading‘ Makes a Big Leap Forward
9. A Little Practice Goes a Long Way in the Brain
10. Boosting Thought Control with Real-time Brain Feedback –There’ll be an App for That

Tourette’s sufferer ‘cured’ by ‘brain pacemaker’
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Surgeons at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London planted two electrodes in her brain, which were linked to a pacemaker battery in her chest. Mrs Bargent is now able to live a normal life, as her tics have almost completely disappeared.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/8395128/tourettes-sufferer-cured-by-brain-pacemaker

Brain structure snapshots reveal science behind why only half of London taxi trainees pass the Knowledge test:

The scientists followed a group of 79 trainee drivers and a “control group” of 31 non-taxi drivers. Magnetic Imaging Resonance (MRI) scans were used to take brain structure “snapshots” of the volunteers, who were also given certain memory tasks.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/08/brain-structure-snapshots-reveal-science-behind-why-only-half-of-london-taxi-trainees-pass-the-knowledge-test-115875-23620070/

The 39 trainees who qualified had greater volumes of grey matter in their posterior hippocampus than the 40 who failed.

Teen Sex May Affect Brain Development: New research shows sex during the adolescent years could affect mood and brain development into adulthood, say researchers from Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Exercise helps people eat healthier: physical activity in itself can help someone make better eating choices, according to a study from a Harvard University expert. A review of past research by neurology professor Miguel Alonso Alonso shows that physical activity can help in diet control in a few different ways.

Exercise creates more connections in the prefrontal part of the brain. This improves cognitive functions, including the ability to suppress impulsive eating urges.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Exercise+helps+people+healthier+study/5762617/story.html