Over 60% of volunteers in a rigorous trial funded by the American government said that one magic mushroom session gave them a full mystical experience and several months of happiness. Magic mushrooms are also known as psychedelic mushrooms. The researchers, from John Hopkins University, Baltimore, wanted to find out what the neurological mechanisms and effects of psilocybin were. They were exploring psilocybin as a possible therapeutic compound. Psilocybin is the hallucinogenic agent found in magic mushrooms.

The research was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Council on Spiritual Practices.

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“Older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function.”

Research out of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), presented at the Neuroscience 2009 meeting in Chicago, IL, demonstrated signs of enhanced neural stimulation in parts of the brain that control decision-making and reasoning in the brains of middle aged and older first time Internet users after only seven days of internet use – specifically, doing searches.

They contend that learning to use the Internet stimulates neural activation patterns and could enhance brain function and cognition in older adults.

As a long time habitual web surfer, and aging Baby Boomer, I’m absolutely delighted to read this! On the other hand, I’m left with one less excuse for forgetting where I left my keys – again!!

Senior research associate at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and study author Teena D Moody told the press, “The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults.”

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Web search activity may help stimulate and possibly improve brain function.

UCLA scientists have found that for computer-savvy middle-aged and older adults (known as “old geeks”), searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings demonstrate that Web search activity may help stimulate and possibly improve brain function.

Hot dog! This is REALLY good news for me and many older “geeks” just like me…

“The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults,” said principal investigator Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA who holds UCLA’s Parlow-Solomon Chair on Aging. “Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”

I sure do hope so! My aging brain needs all the help it can get.

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The eye is telling the brain when to become plastic, rather than the brain developing on its own clock.

Researchers have long sought a factor that can trigger the brain’s ability to learn – and perhaps recapture the “sponge-like” quality of childhood. In the August 8 issue of the journal Cell, neuroscientists at Children’s Hospital Boston report that they’ve identified such a factor, a protein called Otx 2. Otx2 helps a key type of cell in the cortex to mature, initiating a critical period–a window of heightened brain plasticity, when the brain can readily make new connections.

And where does this protein come from? Interestingly enough, it is developed in the cornea. Basically, when the eye opens and is functional, it tells the brain to start receiving data and learning.

“The eye is telling the brain when to become plastic, rather than the brain developing on its own clock,” says Hensch, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School and at Harvard University’s Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology. In essence, the eye is telling the brain, “The eyes are ready and seeing properly — you can rewire now.”

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My thanks to John Phillips for this little jewel.

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d dare to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax. I’d limber up. I’d be sillier than I’ve been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would, perhaps, have more actual troubles but fewer imaginary ones. You see, I’m one of those people who was sensible and sane, hour after hour, day after day.

Oh, I’ve had my moments. If I had it to do over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else- just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I could do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances, I would ride more merry-go-rounds, I would pick daisies.” –Nadine Stair at age 89