Image via Wikipedia You might, or might not, be an old dog – but we all want to be able keep on learning and ‘growing’. Yesterday, I wrote about a couple papers that demonstrated how learning to juggle increased gray matter density in a particular region of the brain (middle temporal area of the visual…
Category: brain hack
brain hack, brain health, enriched environment, exercise
Learn juggling to increase your gray matter – but don’t stop
by Ward • • 4 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Maybe being a court jester is not all bad – you get to play music, which increases your brain’s gray matter and improves your general cognitive ability, and you get to entertain the court with your juggling skills, which you will find out, if you read the rest of this post, is…
brain fitness, brain hack, brain health
Is surfing the net better for your brain than reading?
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Is web surfing good for your brain health? Many of you reading this might be happy to hear the results of this new study as reported at esciencenews. The researchers at UCLA (in press at American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry) compared reading and surfing the internet in 25 subjects between 55 and 76 years old.…
bioinformatics, brain hack, information
Designing the human brain: the big blue singularity
by Ward • • 8 Comments
For any of you fans of the singularity you will have to check out this short 15 minute video; “Designing the human brain” (hosted at seedmagazine). One component of the singularity is when man humans are able to build computers as powerful as the human brain. Some also think of this point as when we…
brain hack, information, neuroeconomics
How to improve the efficiency of your brain
by Ward • • 1 Comment
One great brain hack would be to improve your brain efficiency. Our brains have evolved to use more and more of the total energy that we intake in effort to have higher functioning brains (see previous post). Additionally, as we age our brain becomes less efficient – it not only feels this way but scientific…
brain hack, Uncategorized
Is smiling good for you and the observer?
by Ward • • 3 Comments
Image via Wikipedia The title of this piece is not meant to convey some quantum physics observation phenomena – rather just the simple giving and receiving of smiles. Is smiling one of the easiest brain hacks possible – that not only brings happiness to you but also anybody viewing the smile? Is smiling good for…
brain hack, Uncategorized
Playing and watching sports are good for your brain
by Ward • • 3 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Now of course most of you know that playing sports is good for you because it is exercise, but most of you probably wouldn’t have guessed watching sports can also be good for your brain. Is watching sports a brain hack – to improve language ability? Two of my friends, Jaimie Borisoff…
brain hack, Uncategorized
audiobooks to increase your productivity and pleasure
by Ward • • 3 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Most of us live a busy life. Never enough time in a day to do all what you want. What we need are brain/life hacks to increase our time, productivity, and pleasure. One simple solution I have found is the use of audiobooks. I have a last generation nano ipod, while not…
brain fitness, brain hack, neuroeconomics
Rise of obesity and rise of consumer debt – a link?
by Ward • • 6 Comments
Through my various scattered readings I thought I had found a link between obesity and going into debt due to neuro-chemical changes in the brain. Two new reports prompted me to re-ponder the link at the population level between the rise of obesity and the rise of consumer debt. CDC (center of disease control and…
brain hack, brain health, exercise
What heart rate measurements can tell you about your brain
by Ward • • 7 Comments
The ancient Greeks (Aristotle) considered the heart the center of our thinking. While over the last 2,000 years we have altered our view, and now know the brain is our control center (for most of us), we can still get a window into our brain from listening to our heart. I previously covered some simple…