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Building a better brain: Strengthening your mental muscle

Building a better brain: Strengthening your mental muscle
According to the newest theory of aging and memory , you can build your brain power through a process called "scaffolding." As we get older, some of our neural circuits don't work as well they used to. You probably know that painful little brain blip when you're trying to remember the name that goes with a person you haven't seen for a while or when you walk into a room and forgot why you went there. It turns out that successful brain agers do have these experiences but they find clever ways to overcome them by switching on new circuits when old ones fail. For many years, proponents of the "plasticity" model of brain aging have been at war with the "neural fallout" advocates. We also know that aging spares the vital function known as "procedural memory," which is your ability to remember how to perform many of the actions that make up your daily activities. Even in cognitively intense areas such as bridge playing, chess, reading, and typing, experience often wins out over youth.

Here Are The Four Charts That Explain What The Protesters Are Angry About... Last week, we published a chart-essay that illustrates the extreme inequality that has developed in the US economy over the past 30 years. The charts explain what the Wall Street protesters are angry about. They also explain why the protesters' message is resonating with the country at large. Here are the four key points: 1. 2. 3. 4. Three charts illustrate this: The top earners are capturing a higher share of the national income than they have anytime since the 1920s: CEO pay and corporate profits have skyrocketed in the past 20 years, "production worker" pay has risen 4%. After adjusting for inflation, average earnings haven't increased in 50 years. It's worth noting that the US has been in a similar situation before: At the end of the "Roaring '20s," just before the start of the Great Depression. It took the country 15-20 years to pull out of that slump and fix the imbalances. SEE ALSO: CHARTS: Here's What The Protesters Are So Angry About...

Flashcards: The world's largest online library of printable flash cards Going Direct: Researchers Change Skin Into Blood With No Stops in Between | 80beats It may not be as miraculous as turning water into wine, or as wealth-generating as turning dirt into gold, but we still think this is a very cool trick: Researchers have transformed mature skin cells directly into mature blood cells. Crucially, this was done without reverting the cells to a flexible, “pluripotent” stage in which the cells can grow into any form. The technique, described in Nature, could lead to lab-grown blood cells for transfusions and transplants for people with bone marrow diseases. Researchers think this new process may be safer than previous methods. By skipping the pluripotent step, the researchers believe they have skirted the risk that the replacement cells might form dangerous tumors. The research team, lead by Mickie Bhatia, coaxed the skin cells into becoming blood cells via a harmless virus that carried a gene called OCT4 into the cells–this reprogrammed the cells, turning their developmental clock back part of the way. Image: iStockphoto

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How old is English? 29 Semi-Productive Things I Do Online When I?m Trying to Avoid Real Work You don’t always have to work hard to be productive. Productivity can simply be the side effect of doing the right things. So here’s a list of 29 semi-productive things I do online when my mind is set on avoiding ‘real work.’ Check delicious popular tags like ‘useful,’ ‘tutorials,’ ‘tips,’ ‘howto,’ ‘advice,’ ‘entrepreneurship,’ etc. for interesting, educational articles to read.Watch one of the thousands of educational videos streaming at TED.com, Academic Earth and Teacher Tube.Read an online book list and find a new book to grab next time I’m at the library. Oh, and ever since I bought my new (super sexy) Apple iPad , I’ve been enjoying all of these sites on the go and catching looks from almost everyone who passes me while I browse. So what kind of semi-productive things do you do online in your off-time? Photo by: Colorblind Picaso Party Casino Related 30 Life-Enhancing Things You Can Do in 30 Minutes or Less April 19, 2012 In "Happiness" 30 Ways to Save 30 Minutes a Day October 4, 2010

New Bandages Latest in Healthcare Technology - High Tech Bandages and Band-Aids ChitoGauze (Photograph courtesy of HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.) HemCon Medical Technologies manufactures bandages and wound dressings that harness the power of the sea. The company's products use chitosan, a biopolymer made from a component in the exoskeletons of crab, shrimp and other crustacean exoskeletons. The positively charged chitosan attracts the negatively charged outer membranes of red blood cells; when the two come into contact, localized clotting occurs. HemCon's chitosan-coated bandages are already in use in Iraq; its latest product is ChitoGauze. Gecko Bandage (Photograph by Bob Langer and Jeff Karp, MIT) The ability of geckos to scale vertical surfaces comes from the special topography of their feet: nano-size hairs gives their feet an adhesive property. QuikClot (Photograph courtesy of Z-Medica Corporation) The family of QuikClot products make use of kaolin clay, a natural blood-clotter. Ultrasound Device (Photograph courtesy of George K. Scaffold Bandage Electric Bandage

Ads Worth Spreading Ads honored through Ads Worth Spreading can be as long as it takes to communicate the idea powerfully, up to five minutes, whether that’s through state-of-the-art animation, lush imagery or an individual talking directly to the camera. What matters is the “a-ha” moment -- the central idea. The thing that makes consumers connect to the idea in the same way that TED speakers connect with their audience. Ads Worth Spreading began as a clarion call to the global advertising community in 2011, asking for ads that inspired and engaged audiences. In 2013, six nomination teams of two – made up of one renowned TED speaker and one rising star from the advertising industry – nominated compelling ads from diverse areas of interest: Talk, Social Good, Cultural Compass, Creative Wonder, Brand Bravery and Education. Over the last two years, the search for compelling campaigns with strong ideas provided the opportunity to think about advertising differently. This is not an award show.

How To Increase Immune System 101 Excellent Resources And Tools For Students Of Any Age | Brain Training 101 Whether you’re a student just starting the school year or you’re a lifelong learner like me, you’ll find resources, tools and a ton of fun stuff to stash in your virtual backpack. If you find these resources helpful, please share this post with your friends. I would greatly appreciate it. Before you begin, make sure you Grab Your Free Brain Training Power Pack. Increase Your IQ Score Day by day account of our experiment to increase IQ. Brain Pages Find help and support on just about any topic relating to brain fitness. Perfect Lecture Notes Step by Step Comprehensive instructions on how to take the perfect set of lecture notes. 8 Concentration Tips for Studying Effectively Eight drug-free ways to stay alert while studying for an exam. Test Your Sense of Pitch Curious about the accuracy of your sense of musical pitch? The Cerebrals Society Test your intelligence, using three different subtests: Verbal Analogies, Mathematical Problems and General Knowledge. Mr. Be Sociable, Share!

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The Little Book of Procrastination Remedies | zen habits Post written by Leo Babauta. Procrastination is one of those topics that, it seems, I can’t write enough about. There isn’t a person among us who doesn’t procrastinate, and that’s a fact of life. It’s deep within us. We think we’re going to do something later, or read that classic novel later, or learn French later. If our current self can’t beat procrastination, why will our future self do it? I thought I should cover some of the best procrastination-beating strategies, in light of my recent book, focus. Here’s a quick guide. Why We Procrastinate Let’s take a quick look at what makes us procrastinate. 1. 2. 3. 4. Four Powerful Solutions Now that we know the problems, the solutions aren’t that hard to figure out. 1. 2. 3. 4. A Different Mindset Three other things that must be said about procrastination: 1. 2. 3. —Read more about focus and getting great things done in Leo’s book, focus.

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