Update: Humankind’s evolving quest to enhance the brain and the mind

___ Time for the first Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter in the new decade, fea­tur­ing a range of inspir­ing and (most­ly) promis­ing news about humankind’s evolv­ing quest to enhance the brain and the mind, and a few fun brain teasers :-) New think­ing: The Neu­ro­Gen­er­a­tion and Humankind’s Quest to Enhance the Brain UCSF to open inno­v­a­tive neu­rol­o­gy clin­ic to address…

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Epigenetics research opens potential door to prevent neurodevelopmental disorders

___ Epi­ge­net­ic Changes Guide Devel­op­ment of Dif­fer­ent Brain Regions (Dana Foun­da­tion): “It’s one of the great­est stand­ing mys­ter­ies in neu­ro­science: Giv­en that each cell in the human body con­tains the same DNA, how, exact­ly, does the brain devel­op into dis­tinct func­tion­al regions, sup­port­ed by dif­fer­ent cell types? And how might that devel­op­men­tal pro­gram go awry,…

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Study: Psychedelics can promote neural plasticity in the prefrontal cortex and expand pathways for mental health

Psy­che­delics in Neu­rol­o­gy: Poten­tial for Improv­ing Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty (Neu­rol­o­gy­Times): “Back in the 1950s, research was prov­ing that psy­che­del­ic agents could be effec­tive in the treat­ment of var­i­ous neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, just as sci­ence was explor­ing their ben­e­fi­cial effects, the coun­ter­cul­ture was explor­ing and embrac­ing their effects. Slow­ly but sure­ly, psy­che­delics were asso­ci­at­ed with rebel­lious youth and…

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With pharma exiting Alzheimer’s research, new hope (and urgency) seen in the combination of brain training and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

___ What does the future hold for the war on Alzheimer’s? (The Globe and Mail): “After spend­ing huge sums on clin­i­cal trails in recent years, the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try has failed to find a drug that can halt the mind-rob­bing dis­ease. And this month, Pfiz­er announced it is end­ing its Alzheimer’s research, although oth­er com­pa­nies haven’t thrown…

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Studies suggest we better train the mind as we train the body: with cross-training and in good company

______________________________________________ Dif­fer­ent med­i­ta­tion types train dis­tinct parts of your brain (New Sci­en­tist): “We are used to hear­ing that med­i­ta­tion is good for the brain, but now it seems that not just any kind of med­i­ta­tion will do. Just like phys­i­cal exer­cise, the kind of improve­ments you get depends on exact­ly how you train – and…

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