Not so much wane in brain train gain

All the news that's fit


The unhappy reality of physical exercise is that you have to do it regularly. If you don’t, muscle turns to flab and pounds lost are likely to return.

Not so, it seems, with cognitive training, which a new study suggests can provide mental benefits as much as 10 years after the fact.

In a recently published paper, a team of researchers from multiple institutions compared the cerebral acuity of older adults who had participated in a cognitive training program with peers who had not. The researchers found that the trained group had less difficulty with everyday tasks than those who had not undergone any training. The benefits persisted even among people who had last received the cognitive training a decade earlier.

The original training focused on improving memory recall, reasoning and learning more quickly. Cognitive improvements were then measured over time, with reasoning and speed learning persisting longest.

Doc talk

Asystole – a condition in which the heart no longer beats and usually cannot be restarted.

Never say diet

The Major League Eating speed-eating record for meat pies (6 ounces each) is 16 in 10 minutes, held by Boyd Bulot. Warning: Most of these records are held by professional eaters; the rest by people who really should find something better to do.


Phobia of the week

Lutraphobia – fear of otters

Last words

“No comment.”

–American writer Edward Abbey (1927-1989) when asked if he had any last words. His “no comment” comment is engraved upon his tombstone.



–American humorist Mark Twain


Life in Big Macs

One hour of vigorous ballroom dancing burns 374 calories (based on a 150-pound person) or the equivalent of half a Big Mac.


Body of knowledge

Your brain requires 20 percent of the oxygen you inhale, but operates on the same amount of power as a 10-watt light bulb.

Medical history

This week in 1998, American researchers announced they had cloned calves from fetal cells in which human genes were spliced into cattle DNA. Creating two identical, genetically engineered calves was a step toward the idea of mass production of human drugs in animals. The cloned cows would become drug factories, creating milk containing human proteins important for treating human diseases. The idea has yet to reach real-world application.

Scott LaFee is a health science writer at UC San Diego.


