Derrick sent me a link to a great site, Lumosity.com, which helps improve your brain by playing specially designed games. These aren't the typical brain exercises you usually find on the net; they make you brain do several things at the same time, so you can improve overall brain health... and they were designed by a team of crack neuroscientists from Stanford and UCSF.

It took me a while to get the hang of the first bird watching game... because its a fusion of memorizing letters, remembering spacial positions, duck hunt, and wheel of fortune. Also, the instructions were pretty poorly worded. So don't freak if you are bad the first time you play.

I agree with their main message, the pop science theory that you irrevocably lose brain cells after 18 is total crap. You can learn new skills, new languages, new anything at any age. Neuroplasticity is one of the most amazing things about humans... sure, children create neuronal connections faster, but they also destroy them faster!

If you are getting older, and find yourself upset about forgetting something, remember this: your brain is a survival engine, not a Xerox! It will trim away useless details, like what you had for breakfast this morning, as soon as its no longer important for survival. Otherwise, storing too much information will slow down your ability to process new information. Simple as that...