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Former Alphabet exec is working on an idea to detect mental health disorders by how you type on your phone (CNBC):

“Can a smartphone detect whether a user is suicidal or depressed?

That’s the promise of an exploding number of mental health entrepreneurs, who are exploring opportunities to monitor users’ smartphone behavior to detect a variety of symptoms — all with their consent. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hundreds of companies around the globe–now including Elon Musk’s Neuralink and even Facebook–are researching and developing new ways to help brain owners be smarter, sharper, and healthier.

What explains this flurry of activity? Where may it be headed?

To help you understand what’s going on, let me highlight five key facts that emerged from the recent SharpBrains Virtual Summit:

Fact 1. There are 7.5 billion human brains out there, and everyone needs help
Fact 2. Lifelong neuroplasticity means all those brains can “sculpt” themselves
Fact 3. Mobile, sensing, wearable technologies, coupled with AI, provide a new platform to harness that neuroplasticity for good
Fact 4. Entrepreneurship and investments are fueling accelerated growth
Fact 5. Professionals are stepping up to help educate consumers and patients

“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed” — essayist William Gibson.

Well, then why don’t we take on that distribution challenge and appropriately spread the knowledge and the tools 🙂

Please read the article 5 Facts You Need To Know To Understand, Navigate And Enjoy The Digital Brain Health Revolution in your favorite community, and please share the article with your friends and colleagues!

• Read and share over at LinkedIn
• Read and share over at The Huffington Post
• Read and share over at Medium
• Read and share here at SharpBrains

Also, if you want to go much deeper into these facts and what they mean for the future of brain health and brain enhancement, please Register soon to Access 40+ Hours of Session Recordings from 100+ Brain Experts (offer expires on May 1st; 10%-off discount code: sharp2017)

Kind regards,

The SharpBrains Team

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Time for a new edition of SharpBrains’ e-newsletter exploring the latest in brain health.

New research:

• Study debunks 4 common myths about brain training and lifelong cognitive enhancement
• Don’t overlook sleep difficulties in children with ADHD; they may impair functioning as much as ADHD itself
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), not medication, drives long-term rewiring of the brain to help reduce psychosis symptoms

New thinking:

• Four reasons the future of brain health is digital, pervasive and bright
• Readers around the globe are enjoying The SharpBrains Guide book in multiple languages: the English edition has received 100+ excellent customer reviews in the US alone (plus great comments in Canada, the UK and Australia); the Spanish edition has earned spectacular comments in the US, Spain and Mexico; and the Japanese and Polish editions are doing very well. Thank you, Gracias, Arigato, Dziekuje Ci, Obrigados. Please help us spread the word 🙂
• 10 Finalists announced for the $1M Global Teacher Prize

New tools:

• Past and Future Pervasive Neurotechnologies, as seen through 50 Key Patents. As part of our new series, here are a few selected foundational patents, especially relevant for those interested in technology and innovation:
• Courtesy of Microsoft, Managing information flow based on user’s mental state and cognitive load and Anticipating wearables, machine learning and cognitive enhancement
• Improving driving safety with alarms triggered by impending sleep state, detected via brain signals
• Remote computer-implemented methods for cognitive testing (Scientific Learning; Lumos Labs)
• Testing and training cognitive ability (CogniFit)
• Computer modeling meets Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) (Brainlab)

Finally, if you’re looking for some extra mental stimulation, don’t forget to check out our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions.

Have a great month of March!

The SharpBrains Team

What role should community and caregivers play in brain health and mental health, and how can technology aid their efforts–for example in sharing relevant data with/ from doctors? How are we going to educate and empower everyone with essential knowledge and best practices?

• Chair: Dr. Peter Whitehouse, Professor of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University
• Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski, Director of the Center for Digital Aging at the Davis School of Gerontology
• Michael Meagher, President of Cogniciti
• Dr. Neal Cohen, clinical psychologist at The Synapse System

These presentations took place at the 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit: Reinventing Brain Health in the Digital Age (December 6-8th, 2016).

Improve education, productivity and health via brain enhancement from SharpBrains

Experts at the leading edge of brain science and technology shared best practices to link brain health and mental health with wider priorities such as educational outcomes, workplace performance and resilience, lifelong learning, general happiness and well-being.

• Chair: Alexan­dra More­house, Chief Marketing Officer of Banner Health
• Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, Founder and Chief Director of the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas
• Scott Pawson, Sr. Product Manager, New Product Lead at Pearson Clinical Assessment
• Dr. Kenneth Kosik, Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at UC-Santa Barbara

This presentation took place at the 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit: Reinventing Brain Health in the Digital Age (December 6-8th, 2016).