PBS: Secret Life of the Brain and Neuroplasticity

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Thanks to our 3‑month-old daugh­ter, my wife and I have been learn­ing much about baby brains. Most­ly learn­ing on the job, as you can imagine.

We just watched a very nice PBS series titled Secret Life of the Brain that cov­ers brain devel­op­ment across the lifes­pan: babies, kids, teenagers, adults, seniors. A bit dat­ed (2002) but excel­lent watch­ing even today.

Secret Life of the Brain DVD Series (5 pro­grams, $59.98)

Descrip­tion: A star­tling new map of the human brain has emerged dur­ing the past decade of neu­ro­science research, con­tra­dict­ing much of what was pre­vi­ous­ly believed. Nar­rat­ed by Blair Brown and direct­ed by David Gru­bin, this series tells sto­ries through a mix of per­son­al his­to­ries, expert com­men­tary, and cut­ting-edge ani­ma­tion. View­ers learn star­tling new truths about the brain as they jour­ney inside about this organ.
To learn more and pur­chase, you can click Here.
PBS offers a very high-qual­i­ty web­site to accom­pa­ny the series, includ­ing a 3D tour of the brain, mind illu­sions and more: vis­it The Secret Life of the Brain website.
If you would like to watch some­thing more recent, focused on brain plas­tic­i­ty and brain fit­ness, you may enjoy this pro­gram too:

The Brain Fit­ness Pro­gram DVD ($24.95)

Descrip­tion: “This pro­gram presents a work­out to help view­ers get their brains in bet­ter shape. The Brain Fit­ness Pro­gram is based on neu­ro-plas­tic­i­ty, the abil­i­ty of the brain to change and adapt  even rewire itself. In the past two Peter Coyote Brain Fitness Programyears, a team of sci­en­tists has devel­oped com­put­er-based stim­u­lus sets that dri­ve ben­e­fi­cial chem­i­cal, phys­i­cal and func­tion­al changes in the brain. Dr. Michael Merzenich of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia San Fran­cis­co and his col­leagues around the world have been lead­ing this effort; he brings the research find­ings, along with a sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly based set of brain exer­cis­es, to PBS view­ers in this inno­v­a­tive and life-alter­ing pro­gram. Peter Coy­ote (pic­tured) narrates. ”

To learn more and pur­chase, you can click Here.

Enjoy!