Insurer Sees Games as Boost for Old Brains

Residents wreck once every 14.6 years; DC worst at 5.4 years

(NEWSER) - Sioux Falls, SD, is the safest US city to drive in for the third year in a row, according to an insurance study. Allstate found that Sioux Falls drivers average an accident only once every 14.6 years, compared to a national average of once every 10, the AP reports. The worst drivers were in Washington, DC, averaging a wreck every 5.4 years. More»

Buckle up if you live in Baltimore-DC area

(USER SUBMITTED) - Maybe they should call it the Seatbeltway: Drivers in the Washington, DC-Baltimore area are the country's worst, according to Allstate Insurance's annual report ranking cities with best and worst drivers. Washington was the worst, just edging out Baltimore. One pundit speaking to US News explained DC's last place ranking by saying, “It’s the way the city’s laid out, the way the traffic’s set up…it’s pretty harrowing.” The best? Fort Collins, Colo. Allstate's ranking system is based on frequency of crashes. Read the full article . More»

Mental puzzles can help you shed a few pounds, says brain trainer

(NEWSER) - Hunkering down with a Sudoku puzzle could help you shed some pounds. Tim Forrester, the man behind brain training website cannyminds.com, says mental exercise doubles as real exercise, with the body burning 90 calories for every hour spent working on crossword puzzles or brain teasers. A passive brain requires 0.1 calories a minute to survive, Forrester tells the Daily Telegraph , while an active brain burns 1.5 a minute. See, that gym membership was a waste of time. More»

Study says 30% can't help being lousy on the roads

(NEWSER) - Certain people—perhaps up to 30% of the population—may be fated by their genetic makeup to be bad drivers, a new study suggests. Researchers tested a small group of people on a driving simulator and found that subjects with a particular gene variant weren't so hot at keeping up with the course’s twists and turns. More»

(NEWSER) - Gyms offering to exercise the brain instead of the body are attracting thousands of aging Americans seeking to tone their gray matter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The gyms are generally based around brain-fitness software, but some offer courses in brain nutrition as well as mental-fitness assessments with personal trainers and "neurobics." More»