Remember the movie Wag the Dog? The Bureau of Labor Statistics seems to have liked that movie: http://bigpicture.typepad.com
Back to music. Music sharpens mental acuity for aging boomers in today’s NYT:
“There is a gradual growing awareness that challenging your brain can have positive effects,” Dr. Cohen said. He said the plasticity of the brain is directly related to the production of new dendrites, the branched, tree-like neural projections that carry electrical signals through the brain “Every time you challenge your brain it will actually modify the brain,” he said. “We can indeed form new brain cells, despite a century of being told it’s impossible.”
In pursuit of his own dendritic growth, Dr. Cohen plans to take up the piano again after years of not playing. He is also sketching out a science-fiction novel he hopes to write.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/technology/03brain.html—–