MIT Professor Nancy Kanwisher receives 2018 Heineken Prize
| Julie Pryor, McGovern Institute for Brain Research |
Nancy Kanwisher, the Walter A. Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT, has been named a recipient of the 2018 Heineken Prize — the Netherlands’ most prestigious scientific prize — for her work on the functional organization of the human brain.
Kanwisher, who is a professor of brain and cognitive sciences and a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research,...
Sleep Monitors Explained: Rest Longer and Feel Better
Everyone’s looking for a better night’s shut-eye. Each morning, many of us wake up groggy-eyed, promising ourselves, “Tonight, I’m actually going to sleep at an early time.” And sometimes we do, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we sleep terribly; sometimes we think we’ve slept well but still feel iffy the next day. And when it comes to actually tracking our sleep, it’s not always easy to interpret the data, let alone know how to improve.
...Tom Brady Launches TB12 Training Method
Tom Brady, the 5 time Superbowl winning quarterback for the New England patriots is arguably the best to ever play the game. At 40 years of age, he seems to have gotten better with time and now he is sharing his workout so that we might “up our game” as well. Called the TB12 Method (TB12Sports.com) the method incorporates specific advice and products supporting exercise, nutrition, hydration, cognitive brain training, and unique approaches for maximizing...
Atlanta Hawks Build State of the Art Training Facility
The Atlanta Hawks joined the growing list of professional sports teams that have or are in the process of building new high performance sports facilities. The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club and Emory Healthcare had a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to celebrate the opening of the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, located at 1968 Hawks Lane in Brookhaven. Construction teams broke ground on the facility on June 24, 2016. The 90,000-square-foot complex is the first of its kind, integrating...
Resilience in the Workplace
Infographic Credit: American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) CEO Roundtable continues their efforts to reduce workplace health and productivity with their summary report titled “Resilience in the Workplace” with practical guidance for employers looking to implement resilience training programs. With two-thirds of employees citing work as a significant source of stress, employers are seeking novel approaches like resilience training to improve employee’s overall health, productivity and organizational performance. see heart.org and AV_INFOGRAPHIC_RESILIENCY_oct_9...
New Answers for Tracking Brain Recovery from Injury
In a study published by researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital in the journal Scientific Reports advanced MRI measures compared the brains of athletes within the first week after a concussion and again after they were medically cleared to return to play. The study reported finding brain changes seen in the first MRI scan that were still present when athletes were cleared to return to play. Differences in brain activity, particularly in areas associated with vision...
No Thanks, I'll Stand
It has become increasingly clear that standing desks are much better for us than traditional ones for both health and productivity. Adding to the evidence, a recent study from Texas A&M showed that standing desks increased call center productivity by an average of 46 percent over six months. The more compelling finding, however, was that productivity increased during the study, from 23 percent in the first month to 53 percent in the sixth month.
The Electric Power of the Brain
At 42, Tony Cicoria suddenly had an insatiable desire to play the piano. It seemed to materialize out of nowhere, yet within a few years, he had become a concert pianist and composer.
Tony is one of many people who have been changed in some great way after being struck by lightning. On a smaller scale, electrical stimulation is used today as a tool for modifying and enhancing brain function.
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Bright Blue Light is Great in the Morning but Problematic in the Evening
Bright Blue Light is Great in the Morning but Problematic in the Evening One of the easiest ways to enhance your productivity and effectiveness is simply to modify the lighting in your home and office. Adding to our rapidly growing knowledge in this arena, a recent study from Northwestern University demonstrated, among other findings, that bright blue light in the morning increases alertness, but in the evening it can cause metabolic changes and make...
Illuminate Peak Performance
In 1998, astronomers in Australia discovered perytons, mysterious radio signals that had no discernible cause. Seventeen years later, they discovered the source of these signals was not something unknown in the atmosphere but instead was a microwave in their office. For those of us who’ve spent similar time investigating the elusive cause of fatigue, headaches, and visual discomfort at work, the answer may also be right in front of our eyes.
The problem could be...
Australian Kangaroos Win the Rugby League World Cup
Australia beats England 6-0 in a tense World Cup Championship match. The Kangaroos have long strived to be at the forefront in performance science and the Platypus Institute is very grateful to have been part of their training team last year. By the way, as you might imagine, I can now speak from experience in saying that world-class athlete’s brains really are different – sometimes spectacularly so, and yet, it’s also remarkable how easily they...
Seeing With Your Tongue
Erik Weihenmayer has climbed to the highest point on each of the world’s seven continents, including Mount Everest. That’s an impressive feat for anyone. In Erik’s case, it’s particularly impressive, because his eyes don’t work. Most people would say Erik is blind. But that’s not completely true. It’s more accurate to say Erik can’t see with his eyes.
But thanks to technology, Erik can and does see.
When Erik climbs, he wears something called the...
Red Meat Accelerates Aging
Just in case the evidence against excessive red meat has not been definitive enough, researchers from the University of Glasgow recently published a study linking it with accelerated biological aging and high blood phosphates.
How to Improve Your Sleep, Be More Alert, and Slow Aging
Scientific research continues to pour in demonstrating that minor changes to your work and home environment have a huge impact on your brain and body – and thus your productivity and happiness.
Bright Blue Light is Great in the Morning but Problematic in the Evening
One of the easiest ways to enhance your productivity and effectiveness is simply to modify the lighting in your home and office. Adding to our rapidly growing knowledge...
Hacking Stress
After wandering out of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the lost mountain lion strolled through numerous backyards, took a trip to Target, and watched leisurely as people passed by, mere feet from the bush hiding him from view.
Thankfully, the fierce predator didn’t attack anyone before wildlife workers captured him. But if someone had spotted the wild animal, their brain would have released adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream. These potent survival hormones...
The Neuroscience of PTSD
Specific cerebral circuitry bridges chemical changes deep in the brain and the more outward behavioral expressions associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which could lead to more objective biomarkers for the disorder, according to a comprehensive review of rapidly changing data published June 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In this latest, comprehensive review, the authors – from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center (CVC) in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU...
Vision & Motor Testing Can Predict Better Batters in Baseball
In a study of 252 baseball professionals published on January 8, 2018 in the journal Scientific Reports, Duke researchers found players with higher scores on a series of vision and motor tasks had better on-base percentages, more walks and fewer strikeouts compared to their peers. The research was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office (W911NF-15-1-0390). The authors cited no conflicts of interest related to this article. Please learn more from Duke Health at http://bit.ly/2jyvqx
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