Fat, food and behaviour [Mind Hacks 5/6/2005] The Guardian discusses the growing evidence for a link between fatty acids, brain function and behaviour in a story that focuses on the potential effects on visual problems, dyslexia and difficulties with attention. Some 40% of the children given Omega-3 essential fat supplements made dramatic improvements in reading and spelling, averaging progress of more than nine months in just three months. The control group made just the normal progress of three months. After three months, the control group switched from placebos to active supplements, and showed similar leaps in progress. In another randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, Bernard Gesch gave a course of supplements containing essential fatty acids and key vitamins and minerals to prisoners in one of Britain's maximum security prisons. The inmates were responsible for some of the highest levels of prison violence in the UK. The number of serious offences, including violence, by the prisoners, fell by nearly 40% in those taking the supplements but not at all in those not taking them. To Gesch, the case is just "bleeding obvious". 5/7/2005 6:53:39 PM    

---

Introducing Agile to a legacy project [Steve Eichert 4/7/2005] Brian Marick recently posted his “talking points” for how to introduce Agile to a legacy project.  I think this is something that is often overlooked in the agile community.  There is oodles and oodles of documentation about how to run an agile project when you’re starting fresh, but I haven’t seen very much on how to introduce agile into an existing “legacy” project.  Usually the team is deciding to give agile a try because of disappointments on previous projects, which are usually still around.  This poses some difficult problems since the legacy code usually doesn’t have very many (if any) tests, is likely highly coupled, and possibly a complete mess.  Brian’s post provides some good guidance on how to get started when you’re in such an environment.  The most important thing to note is that it should be gradual process, you can’t make a project agile in a day or week, but you can begin to see immediate benefits from moving in an agile direction. 5/7/2005 6:40:04 PM    

---

Top 10 Light Therapy Products [About.com 5/6/2005] These products, ranging from $10 to hundreds of dollars, can help you add broad- or full-spectrum or natural lighting to your home or office. Recent studies show strong evidence that exposure to artificial broad-spectrum light is an effective treatment for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in which people become more depressed in the darker days of winter. They're good for your general health, too. 5/7/2005 5:49:37 PM    

---