Retire Later, Delay Alzheimer's: Study

Monkeys keep their gray matter throughout their lives

(NEWSER) - Next time you start to feel mentally superior to a chimp, think again. It turns out that while human brains shrink as they age, chimpanzee brains do not, a new George Washington University study has discovered. The findings upend the conventional wisdom that all primates saw their brains shrink over time, the Wall Street Journal explains—in fact, the researchers now suspect that only humans decline in this way. More»

Identification of key brain proteins could aid treatment of conditions

(NEWSER) - Scientists are hailing a potential breakthrough in the treatment of 130 conditions following the identification of more than 1,400 crucial brain proteins. When faulty, these proteins have been found to contribute to conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, autism, and learning disabilities, and their identification could accelerate the development of new drugs and better diagnostic tools. “There is a potential gold rush, a whole new frontier for drug discovery,” says one scientist. More»

(USER SUBMITTED) - Sudoku, crosswords, and even listening to the radio may not be all they're cracked up to be when it comes to staving off mental decline. A study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago indicates that once diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's, increased brain activity may actually accelerate the rate of decline. For those without dementia, the rate was reduced, in line with previous studies. Read the full article . More»

Studies link obesity with declining mental faculties

(NEWSER) - Being fat could make you lose your mind, recent research suggests. One recent long-term study found that overweight people experienced a much more pronounced and rapid decline in brain functions, writes Olivia Judson at the New York Times Opinionator blog. Another found that middle-aged obese people have smaller, more atrophied brains than the thin—and that atrophy is a leading feature of dementia. Still another study noticed that even among the young and healthy, fatter people had lower brain-matter density. More»

iPod therapy stimulates cognitive functions lost to disease

(NEWSER) - Therapists and doctors who treat Alzheimer's are now using music not only to soothe and entertain their patients but to restore some cognitive function. For decades it's been recognized that Alzheimer's patients can still remember and sing songs long after they've stopped recognizing names and faces. Now it's thought that those tunes can provide a pathway back to memories otherwise lost. One claims intensive music therapy can lead to an increase of 50% on cognitive-function tests. More»