■ Do you love doing crossword puzzles or playing sudoku because you think it keeps your mind sharp? Well, think again. “Most of those things... »
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Fighting Epilepsy
■ Two million people have it. Eleven million will have it. It’s slightly more common in males than females, and although 70% of children will outgrow it, it can affect people of any age, starting in infancy or in middle age. It can be hereditary — even if no family members have it — or it can come from a... »
Altered States
■ What is our true potential? How powerful are we? Are we destined to live out our lives based on patterns that we were born into? Or can we rise above our alleged “genetically determined” fates and environment to become who we want to be? Kelly Howell thinks we can. She credits meditation with helping her heal from a devastating car... »
Personalities: Memory Man
An Interview with Eric Kandel ■ Eric Kandel was attracted to the science of the human brain due to his interest in psychotherapy. Where, he wondered, are the Freudian id, ego, and superego located? He soon discovered that even the simplest mental processes were mysteries at the time. So he scaled back his ambitions and began studying the Aplysia, a species... »
Three Brain Rules You Need to Know
■ John Medina is a molecular biologist, private consultant, professor, Director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research, and, most recently, best-selling author, thanks to the runaway success of his book, Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Medina, who calls himself a “grumpy scientist,” wrote the book out of a desire to... »
Personalities: Daniel Levitin
■ Daniel Levitin’s life has been a strange one. Perhaps that’s one reason why it’s so entertaining to read his books, which are mixtures of cutting-edge neuroscience and good-natured storytelling. A studio musician and engineer, Levitin played with musicians from the Grateful Dead to Chris Isaak before earning a PhD and writing two best sellers: This is your Brain on... »
Personalities: Howard Gardner
■ Throughout the 20th century, the American educational system was gripped by what one might call an IQ mania. If you studied in a public school, you probably remember the tests, and possibly your scores (in my school, scores were hidden, but we broke into the teacher’s desk during recess to find them). Before the age of neuroplasticity, mental capabilities... »
On the Threshold
■ Elkhonon Goldberg is one of those rare scientists who are able to distill complex ideas into accessible, entertaining, and even literary prose. His books The Wisdom Paradox and The Executive Brain are as compulsively readable as they are insightful and instructive. Dr. Goldberg also runs a clinical practice, is an active researcher, a professor at NYU, and the Director... »
Stroke of Genius
■ It’s an understatement to say that for nearly all stroke survivors, a stroke is a negative experience. A blood vessel bursts inside your brain and blood fills the surrounding area, choking off millions of delicate neurons. Strokes can damage language centers, motor skills and memory, depending on the area of the brain where they occur. So what kind... »