Tuesday, December 26, 2006

A gene variation that helps people live into their 90s and beyond also protects their memories and ability to think and learn new information, according to a study published in the December 26, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The gene variant alters the cholesterol particles in the blood, making them bigger than normal. Researchers believe that smaller particles can more easily lodge themselves in blood vessel linings, leading to the fatty buildup that can cause heart attacks and strokes. 7:56:23 PM      Google It!.

Short Mental Workouts May Slow Decline of Aging Minds, Study Finds By Shankar Vedantam Wednesday, December 20, 2006; Page A01 Ten sessions of exercises to boost reasoning skills, memory and mental processing speed staved off mental decline in middle-aged and elderly people in the first definitive study to show that honing intellectual skills can bolster the mind in the same way that physical exercise protects and strengthens the body. 7:45:35 PM      Google It!.

Gaming engineering and armadillos. Armadillo Run is a fun, educational, and insidiously alluring game. A free download, Armadillo teaches basic engineering principles by posing design problems to solve. You assemble ropes, metal sheets, cloth, and other pieces between preset positions, in order to let the Armadillo escape into the next dimension (and puzzle). Armadillo reminds me of the fabulous Soda Constructor, that classic Java game teaching physics of tensile strength and gravity. (thanks to Richard Liston) Infocult: Information, Culture, Policy, Education, December 26, 2006. [Conversation] [Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Edu_RSS Most Recent - RSS old] 7:35:25 PM      Google It!.

Beating Procrastination with Self-Imposed Deadlines. castironwok writes "Procrastination attracts us because of hyperbolic time discounting: the immediate (guilty) rewards are disproportionally more compelling than the greater delayed cost. Procrastination is the reward itself. An MIT professor found that when he allowed his students to give themselves their own homework deadlines, they would artificially restrict themselves to counter procrastination. However, they did not set deadlines for optimal effectiveness. I am personally a huge procrastinator and it's always a pull between rational logic (giving yourself the most time by choosing end dates as the deadline), and your past experience saying you will put it off so force yourself to start early."[Slashdot] 7:32:55 PM      Google It!.

George Orwell Was Right [~] Security Cameras Get an Upgrade. Jamie stopped to mention that Bloomberg is reporting on a recent addition of speakers to public security cameras in Middlesbrough, England. From the article: "`People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,' said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight outside bars." [Slashdot] 2:09:14 PM      Google It!.