eNewsletter on Neuroplasticity, Brain Health and Innovation

The month­ly Sharp­Brains Newslet­ter, writ­ten by our staff and dozens of expert con­trib­u­tors, pro­vides an informed and engag­ing per­spec­tive on impor­tant news around neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, brain health and innovation.

Archived issues:

Feb­ru­ary 20th, 2023: Brain­Health Week starts today! Plus: danc­ing, per­son­al­ized men­tal health, brain stim­u­la­tion and more

Decem­ber 27th, 2022: On cog­ni­tive-phys­i­cal train­ing, brain bio­mark­ers, demen­tia, ket­a­mine, brain teasers, rid­dles and more

Octo­ber 31st, 2022: On cog­ni­tive train­ing, mus­cle mass, neu­rostim­u­la­tion, brain teasers, apps, and more

August 30th, 2022: Build­ing cog­ni­tive reserve helps delay mem­o­ry and think­ing decline regard­less of genet­ic or child­hood markers

June 30th, 2022: Play­ing videogames may be more cog­ni­tive­ly ben­e­fi­cial than oth­er forms of screen­time like social media, watch­ing videos/ TV

May 31st, 2022: On men­tal fit­ness beliefs, lifestyles and new tools like apps, dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics, vir­tu­al real­i­ty, “brain age gaps” and more

April 28th, 2022: News on how the brain changes over time, how to clear fog­gy brains, how to mul­ti­task (or not), and more

March 31st, 2022: From “Emi­nence-based” to Evi­dence-based cog­ni­tive & men­tal health­care: Time for qual­i­ty and accountability

Feb­ru­ary 28th, 2022. The Do’s and Don’ts of Har­ness­ing Tech­nol­o­gy (and Anx­i­ety) for Good

Jan­u­ary 31st, 2022: A few slow-paced breaths are enough to sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce phys­i­o­log­i­cal stress

Decem­ber 30th, 2021: Why MDMA-assist­ed psy­chother­a­py may become an FDA-approved treat­ment for PTSD with­in 2 years

Novem­ber 30th, 2021: Could I be wrong? Explor­ing cog­ni­tive bias, curios­i­ty, intel­lec­tu­al humil­i­ty, and life­long learning

Octo­ber 29th, 2021: On phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, depres­sion, screen time, neu­ro­mod­u­la­tion and more

Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2021: Wel­come to the Ulti­mate Neu­ro­science Lab: Your Smartphone

August 31st, 2021: On cog­ni­tive refram­ing and bias­es, stress, men­tal health tech, Aduhelm back­lash, Brit­ney Spears, and more

July 30th, 2021: Pro­mote brain plas­tic­i­ty by tak­ing your dai­ly exer­cise pill — phys­i­cal and cognitive

June 30th, 2021: Update on the adu­canum­ab (Aduhelm) saga, retire­ment, finan­cial advice, cog­ni­tive health, exces­sive wor­ry­ing, neu­rotech, and more

May 28th, 2021: On build­ing bet­ter brains at any age, Depres­sion vs. Demen­tia, emerg­ing neu­rotech­nolo­gies, psy­che­delics, and more

April 30th, 2021: On cen­te­nar­i­ans, mem­o­ry, Mars, tDCS, ADHD, dig­i­tal health, beau­ti­ful brains, and more

March 31st, 2021: On Awe, Won­der, Biofeed­back, CBSM, Vir­tu­al Real­i­ty, Pri­va­cy, Being Wrong, and more

Feb­ru­ary 26th, 2021: On Brain Aware­ness Week, men­tal health inno­va­tion, tDCS, biofeed­back, psy­che­delics, and more

Jan­u­ary 29th, 2021: The lat­est on brain health, neu­rotech­nol­o­gy, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and “nev­er stop wondering”

Decem­ber 29th, 2020: Under­stand­ing Brain Health via Cos­mo­log­i­cal Health, and vice versa

Novem­ber 30th, 2020: The lat­est on Brain Health and Resilience, plus a few fun Brain Teasers

Octo­ber 30th, 2020: On neu­rons, life­long learn­ing, med­i­ta­tion, humil­i­ty, “emp­ty brain calo­ries” and more

Sep­tem­ber 25th, 2020: A life of cog­ni­tive and phys­i­cal exer­cise helps you stay sharp in your 70s and beyond

August 27th, 2020: The place­bo effect works even when peo­ple know they are tak­ing a placebo

July 24th, 2020: Should can­di­dates to high office should pass a cognitive/ men­tal fit­ness test?

June 25th, 2020: Repet­i­tive neg­a­tive think­ing may increase (or per­haps be caused by) Alzheimer’s pathology

May 29th, 2020: The lat­est research and non­in­va­sive neu­rotech­nolo­gies for brain health and men­tal fitness

April 24th, 2020: Mod­er­ate life­time drink­ing may lead to low­er Alzheimer-relat­ed beta amy­loid deposits in the brain

March 25th, 2020: Four tips to prac­tice good men­tal hygiene dur­ing the coro­n­avirus outbreak

Feb­ru­ary 26th, 2020: Lat­est brain research, tools and teasers to think out­side the men­tal health sta­tus quo box

Jan­u­ary 27th, 2020: Humankind’s evolv­ing quest to enhance the brain and the mind

Decem­ber 18th, 2019: Wish­ing you a Hap­py New Decade (and shar­ing eight brain well­ness tips to make it possible)

Novem­ber 26th, 2019: A brain-friend­ly lifestyle is the best approach to delay cog­ni­tive decline and dementia

Octo­ber 29th, 2019: On Awe, Healthy Eat­ing, Men­tal Health, Eth­i­cal Neu­rotech, and more

Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2019: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Applied Neu­ro­science and Neurotechnology

August 29th, 2019: Trained old­er brains can out­per­form untrained younger ones at demand­ing cog­ni­tive tasks

June 27th, 2019: Com­mon anti­cholin­er­gic meds seen to increase demen­tia risk

May 16th, 2019: 10 High­lights from the 2019 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit to shape the Future of Brain & Men­tal Health

March 5th, 219: Next week is Brain Aware­ness Week!

Feb­ru­ary 4th, 2019: New book in Span­ish — El Cere­bro que Cura

Novem­ber 30th, 2018: Large study high­lights the lim­it­ed role of genet­ics in men­tal health and the impor­tance of effec­tive ear­ly interventions

Octo­ber 31st, 2018: Only 5% of US chil­dren ages 8–11 fol­low guide­lines rec­om­mend­ed for brain development

Sep­tem­ber 28th, 2018: Think twice before tak­ing Adder­all as cog­ni­tive enhancer — it may wors­en your work­ing memory

August 27th, 2018: On neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, psy­che­delics, for­est bathing, drink­ing, sleep and more

July 31st, 2018: Med­i­ta­tion-based men­tal train­ing can lead to clear –yet sur­pris­ing­ly var­ied– cog­ni­tive and emo­tion­al benefits

June 28th, 2018: 200 com­mon pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions increase depres­sion risk

May 31st, 2018: Lifestyle and neu­rotech­nol­o­gy over genetics

April 25th, 2018: Study finds con­tin­ued birth of new neu­rons (neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis) well into our 70s

March 28th, 2018: Large study finds that con­sis­tent use of ADHD med­ica­tion may stun growth by 2 inch­es (5 centimeters)

Feb­ru­ary 27th, 2018: News you can use: To improve mem­o­ry, exer­cise brain and body at the same time

Jan­u­ary 25th, 2018: Why mon­i­tor­ing Typ­ing Cadence may help detect ear­ly Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease

Decem­ber 19th, 2017: Top 10 moments from the 2017 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Summit

Novem­ber 30th, 2017: Do you actu­al­ly like that song or do you mere­ly think you do?

Octo­ber 30th, 2017: Are you famil­iar with these research find­ings and tech­nolo­gies rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing Brain & Men­tal Health?

Sep­tem­ber 28th, 2017: New book by Daniel Gole­man & Richard David­son describes how long-term med­i­ta­tion can improve our minds, brains, and bodies

August 31st, 2017: The Neu­rotech Rev­o­lu­tion Could Lead To ‘Franken­stein’ Brains. Here’s How We Avoid It

July 27th, 2017: 35% of world­wide demen­tia cas­es could be pre­vent­ed by mod­i­fy­ing these 9 mod­i­fi­able risk factors

June 27th, 2017: Neu­roimag­ing + machine learn­ing can pre­dict, with 96% accu­ra­cy, whether high-risk 6‑month-old babies will devel­op autism spec­trum dis­or­der (ASD) by age 2

May 25th, 2017: MIT Solve launch­es Brain Health Chal­lenge, ask­ing “How can every per­son improve their brain health and men­tal resilience?”

April 27th, 2017: Why Untrained Brains Are A Bit Like Pup­pies (And How Dance Offers Great Brain Training)

March 23rd, 2017: To hon­or Brain Aware­ness Week 2017, let’s high­light 10 Key Facts To Har­ness Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty And Improve Brain Fitness

Feb­ru­ary 24th, 2017: Study Debunks Four Com­mon Myths About Brain Train­ing and Life­long Cog­ni­tive Enhancement

Jan­u­ary 25th, 2017: Sur­vey of sci­en­tif­ic, tech­no­log­i­cal & mar­ket trends rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing Brain Health in our Dig­i­tal Age

Decem­ber 21st, 2016: Ten Impor­tant Sig­nals to help rein­vent Brain Health in the Dig­i­tal Age & serve the needs of an Aging Population

Novem­ber 22nd, 2016: New tools, research and insights to rein­vent Brain Health and Men­tal Health in the Dig­i­tal Age

Octo­ber 25th, 2016: To thrive in the Knowl­edge Age, pri­or­i­tize Deep work, avoid the Shal­lows, and Self-Quantify

Sep­tem­ber 23rd, 2016: New tools, research and think­ing to rein­vent Brain Health

Sep­tem­ber 8th, 2016: 10 Must-Do Pri­or­i­ties to Rein­vent Brain Health in the Dig­i­tal Age

July 31st, 2016: Well-tar­get­ed brain train­ing might sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce demen­tia risk

June 30th, 2016: 20 Must-Know Facts to Har­ness Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty and Improve Brain Health

May 26th, 2016: To improve sleep, com­bine gen­er­al sleep hygiene with mind­ful and cog­ni­tive techniques

April 27th, 2016: Demen­tia rates in the UK sig­nif­i­cant­ly low­er than fore­cast­ed, high­light­ing the pro­tec­tive role of lifestyle and education

March 29th, 2016: Ten Com­mon Myths About Brain Health, Debunked

Feb­ru­ary 25th, 2016: Aer­o­bic and men­tal train­ing, com­bined, can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve brain health

Jan­u­ary 27th, 2016: News about Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, Learn­ing, Dance, ADHD, Brain Train­ing, Smell, and more

Decem­ber 29th, 2015: Brain teasers and brain fit­ness tips to improve atten­tion and mem­o­ry in 2016

Novem­ber 30th, 2015: 25 Key Ref­er­ences to Nav­i­gate the Brain Health and Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy Revolution

Octo­ber 27th, 2015: How to civ­i­lize the brain train­ing Wild West

Sep­tem­ber 28th, 2015: Rev­o­lu­tions in neu­rotech­nol­o­gy will soon influ­ence every aspect of human life

August 27th, 2015: Inside Out, Cof­fee, Stress, Pover­ty, Exer­cise, Brain Train­ing, and more Sharp­Brains News

July 29th, 2015: Neu­ro­science 2.0 — Tak­ing the brain lab to the people

June 28th, 2015: Lat­est think­ing and neu­ro-tools to pro­mote life­long brain health

May 29th, 2015: To improve mem­o­ry and think­ing, try the Mediter­ranean diet with added olive oil and nuts

April 30th, 2015: Lat­est neu­ro­science stud­ies, neu­rotech­nol­ogy news and brain fit­ness insights

March 31st, 2015: To suc­ceed at school, chil­dren with ADHD need both med­ica­tion and non-med­ica­tion treatments

Feb­ru­ary 26th, 2015: What do schiz­o­phre­nia, anx­i­ety, depres­sion, bipo­lar dis­or­der, addic­tion, and obses­sive-com­pul­sive dis­or­der, have in common?

Jan­u­ary 29th, 2015: The Fed­er­al Trade Com­mis­sion orders Focus Edu­ca­tion to stop mak­ing unsub­stan­ti­at­ed brain train­ing claims

Decem­ber 29th, 2014: 40% of ADHD diag­noses, 70% of treat­ment plans, fall short of AAP guidelines

Novem­ber 24th, 2014: Should Cog­ni­tive Behav­iour­al Ther­a­py (not anti­de­pres­sant drugs) be the first-line treat­ment for depression?

Octo­ber 31st, 2014: “You’re not a pris­on­er of your DNA”

Sep­tem­ber 26th, 2014: Trans­form­ing brain health from “suf­fer-in-silence” to “let-me-take-con­trol”

August 29th, 2014: Why brain train­ing needs to be bet­ter tar­get­ed, and more wide­ly available

July 31st, 2014: Test your stress lev­el with this fun brain teaser

June 27th, 2014: How to hold off Alzheimer’s Dis­ease 8+ Years (even APOE4 carriers)

May 30th, 2014: For brain train­ing to work, it must induce neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty in regions that matter

April 30th, 2014: To train your brain, work as a physi­cian, air traf­fic con­troller, finan­cial ana­lyst, or similar

March 30th, 2014: Mind­ful Brain Train­ing and “The End of the Prozac Generation”

Feb­ru­ary 28th, 2014: ¿Habla Español? Know some­one who’d enjoy a great brain book in Spanish?

Jan­u­ary 23rd, 2014: Brain Train­ing and Cog­ni­tive Assess­ment Mar­ket Sur­passed $1.3 Bil­lion In 2013

Decem­ber 20th, 2013: Four Essen­tial Yet Over­looked Facts About Your Brain

Novem­ber 15th, 2013: Top 15 Arti­cles on Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, Cog­ni­tion and Brain Health

Octo­ber 31st, 2013: On Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, Yoga Med­i­ta­tion, Cog­ni­tive Train­ing, and Total Health

Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2013: Top 30 High­lights from the 2013 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Summit

August 30, 2013: 5 ways to pro­tect your brain, and boost your career

July 30th, 2013: The Sharp­Brains Guide, adopt­ed as core read­er in neu­ro­science and coach­ing course

June 27th, 2013: 8 tips to keep your mind sharp

May 30th, 2013: A Fresh Look at Enhanc­ing Brain & Men­tal Health Across the Lifespan

April 30th, 2013: New book on How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age

March 29th, 2013: From drugs and hel­mets to dig­i­tal brain health toolkits

Feb­ru­ary 27th, 2013: Alzheimer’s Dis­ease pop­u­la­tion to triple — unless we pre­vent or delay it

Jan­u­ary 31st, 2013: From smart homes to smart peo­ple — where dig­i­tal health meets brain fitness

Decem­ber 28th, 2012: Got Brain? Invest­ing in Our Most Pre­cious Asset in 2013

Novem­ber 29th, 2012: Let’s debunk 32 neuromyths…do we only use 10% of our brain?

Octo­ber 31st, 2012: New brain sci­ence leads to new tools and new thinking

Sep­tem­ber 28th, 2012: Con­nect­ing tech­nol­o­gy, healthy liv­ing, health­care, con­cus­sions, and the Brain

August 31st, 2012: Is Hav­ing a Brain a Med­ical Condition?

July 31st, 2012: Invest in Brain Health to Dri­ve Health, Inno­va­tion and Prosperity

June 29th, 2012: From “Does Brain Train­ing Work?” To How, When, for Whom It Can Work

May 31st, 2012: From Anti-Alzheimer’s “Mag­ic Bul­lets” to True Brain Health

April 30th, 2012: Can We Shape Our Brains? Does It Matter?

March 30th, 2012: How will Health incor­po­rate Brain?

Feb­ru­ary 28th, 2012: Har­ness Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty with Enthu­si­asm, Exer­cise & Per­son­al­ized Medicine

Jan­u­ary 27th, 2012: The Future of Pre­ven­tive Brain Medicine

Decem­ber 29th, 2011: Can Brain Sci­ence Enhance Living?

Novem­ber 30th, 2011: Time to Invest in our Brains?

Octo­ber 28th, 2011: How Stress and Emo­tions Impact Brain Performance

Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2011: On Brain Train­ing, Pos­i­tive Psy­chol­o­gy and the FDA

July 31st, 2011: Videogames or Med­i­ta­tion?; Intern­ship Pro­gram @ SharpBrains

June 30th, 2011: High-Qual­i­ty Sum­mer Brain Reading

May 31st, 2011: Brain Train­ing in Men­tal Health Toolk­its for Pre­ven­tion and Rehabilitation

April 29th, 2011: Brain Health Sta­tus Quo No Longer An Option

Feb­ru­ary 28th, 2011: Retool­ing Brain Health for the 21st Century

Jan­u­ary 31st, 2011: Let’s Talk Brain Fit­ness, Neu­ro­plas­tic­ity and Cog­ni­tive Reserve

Decem­ber 29th, 2010: Wish­ing You and Yours a Very Brain-Fit Decade

Novem­ber 29th, 2010:  New Research, Resources, and Teasers for All

Octo­ber 28th, 2010: Let’s move, slow down, inno­vate, think and play

August 30th, 2010: Know Thy­self, Know How Your Brain Works

July 28th, 2010: Inno­va­tion to Upgrade Brain Care

June 28th, 2010: New Report Finds A Brain Health Rev­o­lu­tion in the Making

May 24th, 2010: USA Hock­ey takes gold at Brain Fit­ness Inno­va­tion Awards

April 30th, 2010: Meet 10 Inno­va­tion Awards Final­ists, and New Resource

March 31st, 2010: Rein­vent­ing Brain Care in Light of Life­long Neuroplasticity

Feb­ru­ary 19th, 2010: Man is a Tool-Mak­ing Animal

Jan­u­ary 16th, 2010: Top 15 Arti­cles of 2009

Decem­ber 27th, 2009: Michael Merzenich, NYPL, and Free eBook

Novem­ber 30th, 2009: Live Well to 100 By Using Your Brain

Octo­ber 18th, 2009: 15 FAQs on Brain Fit­ness and Neuroplasticity

Sep­tem­ber 8th, 2009: Retool­ing Use It or Lose It at New York Pub­lic Library

August 13th, 2009: Prepar­ing Soci­ety for the Cog­ni­tive Age

July 7th, 2009: Pub­lic Libraries as Health Clubs for the Brain

June 1st, 2009: Is Grey the New Gold?

April 30th, 2009: New Mar­ket Report Finds Growth, Promise and Confusion

March 31st, 2009: Life­long Learn­ing for Cog­ni­tive Health

Feb­ru­ary 27th, 2009:  Does Cog­ni­tive Train­ing Work?

Jan­u­ary 30th, 2009: Learn­ing about Learning

Decem­ber 30th, 2008: Best of 2008

Novem­ber 25th, 2008: Towards a Healthy Liv­ing Agenda

Octo­ber 30th, 2008: Glob­al Con­sor­tium for Neu­rocog­ni­tive Innovation

Octo­ber 16th, 2008: Pre­mi­um Research Sponsors

Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2008: Nav­i­gat­ing Games for Health and Education

Sep­tem­ber 16th, 2008: Work as a Brain Fit­ness Program

August 29th, 2008: Major Impli­ca­tions from Brain Research

August 14th, 2008: The Chal­lenges of Gerontology

July 31st, 2008: Brain Health Event and Predictions

July 15th, 2008: The Future of Brain Assessments

June 30th, 2008: Why We Need Walk­ing Book Clubs

June 16th, 2008: Emerg­ing Tools, Not Mag­ic Pills

May 30th, 2008: The State and Future of Brain Fitness

May 15th, 2008: Brain Fit­ness Webi­nar Series

April 30th, 2008: Use It and Improve It

April 15th, 2008: Pre­vent­ing Mem­o­ry Loss and Pub­lic Policy

April 1st, 2008: Sci­en­tif­ic Amer­i­can Part­ner Network

March 16th, 2008: Brain Fit­ness Soft­ware Mar­ket Report

March 1st, 2008: Brain Aware­ness Week is March 10–16th

Feb­ru­ary 16th, 2008: Open Ques­tions for Posit Science

Jan­u­ary 31st, 2008: Intro­duc­ing Ten Expert Contributors

Decem­ber 30th, 2007: Intro­duc­ing the Author Speaks Series

Novem­ber 31th, 2007: Neu­rotech and Neu­rosoft­ware Mar­ket Trends

Octo­ber 30st, 2007: 10 Debunked Cog­ni­tive Fit­ness Myths

Sep­tem­ber 31th, 2007: Train Your Brain To Think Like a Thin Person

August 30st, 2007: Ten Habits of High­ly Effec­tive Brains

July 31st, 2007: Yaakov Stern on the Cog­ni­tive Reserve