Longevity science

If you’re not willing to send electrical shocks through your brain – “mild” as they might be – to become smarter, here’s a much gentler option: play sounds while you sleep.

Researchers have found that “carefully timed” sounds, like the rise and fall of waves washing against the shore, can help people remember things that they learned the previous day.

Many forward-thinking scientists are looking into solutions that would strengthen the brain by reinforcing its neurons with non-biological neurons made from carbon nanotubes.

These new artificial neurons would not only act as electrical bypass circuitry, giving patients a ‘fail-safe’ system should their brain become damaged, but would also enhance performance of healthy cells, providing ‘superhuman’ brain functions. Thoughts could be processed millions of times faster.

New research in the FASEB Journal by NIH scientists suggests that a small molecule called TFP5 rescues plaques and tangles by blocking an overactive brain signal, thereby restoring memory in mice with Alzheimer’s — without obvious toxic side effects.

“We hope that clinical trial studies in AD patients yield an extended and a better quality of life, as observed in mice upon TFP5 treatment,” said Harish C. Pant, Ph.D., a senior researcher involved in the work from the Laboratory of Neurochemistry at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders at Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.

There is a large body of evidence to suggest that omega-3s are beneficial for brain health and heart health. A new study evaluated omega-3 supplements and their effect on cognitive performance. The findings supported established health benefits of these supplements.

The researchers concluded that supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) could postpone the onset of metabolic disorders and associated declines in cognitive functioning.

Neuroscientists today can preserve small volumes (<1mm⊃3;) of animal brain tissue immediately after death with incredible precision...

...chemical brain preservation may inexpensively preserve the organism’s memories and mental states after death. Chemically preserved brains can be stored at room temperature in cemeteries, contract storage, even private homes.

EGCG can easily pass through the blood-brain barrier and reach the functional parts of the brain. While EGCG is a known antioxidant, the team believes it could also have a beneficial effect against age-related degenerative diseases.

In a small study, researchers found that older adults who regularly used a brain fitness program played on a computer demonstrated significantly improved memory and language skills.

Rapamycin, a bacterial product first discovered in a soil sample from Easter Island – also known as Rapa Nui, hence the name – is an immunosuppressant drug used to prevent rejection in organ transplants that has now been found to enhance learning and memory in young and old mice alike.

Researchers at the School of Medicine at The University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center San Antonio made the discovery while looking for a way to prevent the decline in cognitive skills that comes with age.

A study at the University of Toronto on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific “memory” regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity.

Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression, may offer hope for at least some with AD, an intractable disease with no cure.

Those who were hearing-impaired were 24 percent more likely to have cognitive problems than were people with normal hearing. Also, cognitive abilities declined 32 to 41 percent more quickly in those with hearing impairment than in the others. People with hearing impairment developed problems with thinking and memory skills about three years sooner than the others did.

What if you could read my mind? What if I could beam what I’m seeing, hearing, and thinking, straight to you, and vice versa? What if an implant could store your memories, augment them, and make you smarter?

Long the stuff of science fiction, technology that can directly tap into, augment, and connect human brains is becoming science fact. And that means big changes for all of us.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the first such operation in the United States.

The device, which provides deep brain stimulation and has been used in thousands of people with Parkinson’s disease, is seen as a possible means of boosting memory and reversing cognitive decline.

As researchers look for better ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages, one promising detection methodology to emerge is a simple eye tracking procedure developed by scientists at Lancaster University in conjunction with Royal Preston Hospital.

The results of such tests can help flag initial signs of memory impairment that are associated with the onset of the disease.

A study at North Carolina's Duke University has revealed that Stroboscopic training, the performance of physical activity while using eyewear that simulates a strobe-like experience, improves visual short-term memory for up to 24 hours.

“Just as physical exercise is beneficial, so too is exercising the mind. This open access paper examines structured mental exercise as a basis for therapy that might do at least some good for neurodegenerative disease patients:”

If you're interested in a little cognitive calisthenics, here are some sites with brain training exercises

http://longevity.about.com/od/mentalfitness/tp/braintrain.htm

A new long term berry study found that just a couple of servings a week could delay memory decline...

The first study to specifically examine the effects of the Mediterranean diet found benefits to the brain.

Coming out in this month's issue of Archives of Neurology, a new study indicates that the eating pattern typically called the 'Mediterranean diet,' might help protect the small blood vessels in the brain. This could mean less stroke and less memory loss for people that eat within these guidelines, though the results are an association only and not considered hard proof. 

People who ate more monounsaturated fats (such as in olive oil) had the best brain scans.