smartphone

Mixed reactions on the development of digital biomarkers and growth of Mindstrong Health

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(More on the pos­i­tive side, at MIT Tech­nol­o­gy Review) The smart­phone app that can tell you’re depressed before you know it your­self:

“There are about 45 mil­lion peo­ple in the US alone with a men­tal ill­ness, and those ill­ness­es and their cours­es of treat­ment can vary tremen­dous­ly. But there is some­thing most of those peo­ple have in com­mon: a smart­phone [Read more…] about Mixed reac­tions on the devel­op­ment of dig­i­tal bio­mark­ers and growth of Mind­strong Health

Study: One-week brain training can increase cognitive flexibility and reduce OCD symptoms

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OCD symp­toms could be reduced with ‘brain-train­ing’ app, study says (UPI):

“Peo­ple with obses­sive com­pul­sive dis­or­der could man­age their symp­toms, includ­ing exces­sive hand­wash­ing and con­t­a­m­i­na­tion fears, by using a “brain train­ing” app, accord­ing to its developers.

Researchers from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cam­bridge in Britain, who test­ed [Read more…] about Study: One-week brain train­ing can increase cog­ni­tive flex­i­bil­i­ty and reduce OCD symptoms

Brain Training vs Facebook/ Social Media: 1 — 0

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Does Reg­u­lar Brain Train­ing Keep Sele­na Gomez at the Peak of Her Career? (YCB):

“Sele­na Gomez hit the head­lines this week when she revealed to ELLE Mag­a­zine that, despite being one of the world’s most influ­en­tial celebri­ties online with 142 mil­lion fol­low­ers on Insta­gram alone, she actu­al­ly has no social media or pho­to edit­ing apps on her smartphone.

In fact, the only app she does have is Peak, a pop­u­lar brain-train­ing app.

The Peak app has already reached 40 mil­lion down­loads world­wide, and Sele­na Gomez is just part of a grow­ing trend of 20-some­things who are now using apps and games like this for fun, self-improve­ment and relax­ation, rather than just pas­sive­ly brows­ing online content.”

News in Context:

Sanofi Ventures leads $17M investment in Click Therapeutics, finalist @ 2017 Brainnovations Pitch Contest

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Sanofi Backs Click Ther­a­peu­tics as Dig­i­tal Med­i­cines Gain Momen­tum (Xcon­o­my):

“Drug mak­ers are mak­ing more bets on the nascent field of dig­i­tal med­i­cine. The lat­est exam­ple: Click Ther­a­peu­tics announced Mon­day that it grabbed a $17 mil­lion invest­ment led by Sanofi Ven­tures, the Cam­bridge, MA-based ven­ture cap­i­tal arm of the French phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal giant. [Read more…] about Sanofi Ven­tures leads $17M invest­ment in Click Ther­a­peu­tics, final­ist @ 2017 Brain­no­va­tions Pitch Contest

Want to feel more Calm, get some Headspace, and practice Mindfulness Daily?

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Let me ask again…want to feel more Calm, get some Head­space, and prac­tice Mind­ful­ness Daily?

There are apps for that—hundreds of them, besides the three I just mentioned.

These apps make a promise: Rather than invest­ing count­less hours and dol­lars in mind­ful­ness class­es or mind­ful­ness-based ther­a­py, we can choose to med­i­tate from the com­fort of our smart­phones. Users are flock­ing to mind­ful­ness apps in hopes of cul­ti­vat­ing kind atten­tion to their own thoughts and feel­ings, and of reap­ing the men­tal and phys­i­cal ben­e­fits that go along with mindfulness.

But do they work? What does sci­ence say about mind­ful­ness apps? [Read more…] about Want to feel more Calm, get some Head­space, and prac­tice Mind­ful­ness Daily?

Update: Study finds continued birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) well into our 70s

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Time for Sharp­Brains eNewslet­ter, bring­ing you the lat­est in in brain health and men­tal health research, tools and thinking.

Also, a quick heads-up for those based in the UK: the Impe­r­i­al Col­lege Cen­tre for Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy will host a keynote by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez in Lon­don on Wednes­day, May 30th, titled Why the Future of Brain Enhance­ment & Men­tal Health is Dig­i­tal & Per­va­sive (free; requires reg­is­tra­tion). Oth­er upcom­ing events here.

New research:

New tools:

New thinking:

 

Final­ly, please Save the Date for the sec­ond edi­tion of the Brain­no­va­tions Pitch Con­test on Decem­ber 5th, 2018. Giv­en the suc­cess of the inau­gur­al event last year (details here), the 2018 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit will host a sec­ond con­test for 12 star­tups to pitch their inno­v­a­tive solu­tions to all Sum­mit par­tic­i­pants and to dis­tin­guished Judges –our very own “Sharp Tank.”

Have a great month of May,

The Sharp­Brains Team

–- Mem­bers of the Brain­no­va­tions Judg­ing Panel