Just a quick post this morning as I get ready to take my last official (and officially paid) trip for the company to oversee a conference we organized prior to my retirement.
But I didn't want to miss the chance to share two reports that were in the news yesterday. Scientific American had a podcast that reported on a paper that will appear in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (and I thought our computer titles were niche!). It seems scientists have proved that surfing the web actually improves brain function in older adults.
Scientists at UCLA have found that surfing the web "sent blood rushing" into key areas of older people's brains. The more they surfed, the more blood went rushing. There was no mention of where else the blood rushed if the seniors cruised the adult sites.
THIS is where you can read the text of the podcast. Going there is strongly recommended for all of you over the age of 60.
This web surfing bit is good news because Jennifer Huget of the Washington Post reported some less encouraging news here. The headline reads "Drinking and the Shrinking Brain" and you can pretty well imagine where that report goes.
Looking at research done by a scientist at Wellesley College, Huget cheered me up by pointing out that the brains of all older people shrink, but the brains of older people who drink shrink even faster.
The only good news I could gleam from the report is that scientists don't really know what effects we see from a shrinking brain. But let's be realistic - hands up all of you who think having your brain shrink is a good thing! Yeah, I am sure the only ones who would vote for that one are drinkers.
So what science gives with one hand, it takes away with the other. It's pretty clear to me that the safest course from now on is to cruise the web while I'm drinking. Oh wait, that's what I do already. Lucky me.
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PS We are flying to Lisbon this afternoon, so posts will be irregular for the next couple of weeks. Of course, with all that time in the plane, I may just write a lot. But past history leads me to believe that I am much more likely to watch the remake of "Get Smart" a couple of times rather than actually do something resembling work. Especially when I've had a few brain shrinkers with lunch.
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