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Google Tech Talks
June 16, 2008

ABSTRACT

Explore the brain's amazing ability to change throughout a person's life. This phenomenon—called neuroplasticty—is the science behind brain fitness, and it has been called one of the most extraordinary scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

PBS had recently aired this special, The Brain Fitness Program, which explains the brain's complexities in a way that both scientists and people with no scientific background can appreciate.

This is opportunity to learn more about how our minds work—and to find out more about the latest in cutting-edge brain research, from the founder of Posit Science and creator of the Brain Fitness Program software, Dr. Michael Merzenich.

Speaker: Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D.
Michael M. Merzenich, PhD: Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Merzenich leads the company's scientific team. For more than three decades, Dr. Merzenich has been a leading pioneer in brain plasticity research. He is the Francis A. Sooy Professor at the Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences at UCSF. Dr. Merzenich is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Ipsen Prize, Zulch Prize of the Max Planck Institute, Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award and Purkinje Medal. Dr. Merzenich has published more than 200 articles, including many in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as Science and Nature. His work is also often covered in the popular press, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek. He has appeared on Sixty Minutes II, CBS Evening News and Good Morning America. In the late 1980s, Dr. Merzenich was on the team that invented the cochlear implant, now distributed by market leader Advanced Bionics. In 1996, Dr. Merzenich was the founding CEO of Scientific Learning Corporation (Nasdaq: SCIL), which markets and distributes software that applies principles of brain plasticity to assist children with language learning and reading. He is an inventor on more than 50 patents. Dr. Merzenich earned his BS degree at the University of Portland and his PhD at Johns Hopkins.

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  People & Blogs

[Zander Douglas]

And your comment shows that there are a lot of people who could do with a sense of humour.

[Videooscopy]

To a paraphrase Betrand Russell on Aquinas, The finding of arguments for a conclusion given in advance is not philosophy.

[Daniel Gontar]

Eh, the baby is not a person? sounds like this guy is getting into pro-abortion talk. I think he needs to reevaluate his moral philosophy and perhaps his science as well.

[TejasM14]

wow go to the website positscience(dot)com as he suggested. It is amazing. There is a lot of free stuff, and I think I will sign up for the annual membership. Eight bucks a month is peanuts if it promises me a better brain. I single cheap lunch out costs that much. Apart from that do these 3 things. Solve puzzle, play games (like sudoku), learn an instrument, and a new language, write a daily journal, workout regularly, play brain workshop. Enough on my plate I suppose.

[TejasM14]

I am disappointed that his lecture ended up with too much talk about possibility and too little talk about actual 'brain fitness' which he harped on being so beneficial. It seemed like a huge plug for his websites. I will provide a superb tip for you fellows. It is called the brain workshop. It is a free downloadable software. Look up youtube for an intro to what it is. It is basically a game that pushes the boundaries of your sensory cognition and memory. Check it out, you won't regret it.

[mrzl13]

an hour of that just to be told i should try really hard to learn stuff all the time.

[WildlifeTshirts]

Sleep apnea = lack of oxygen to the brain.

[WildlifeTshirts]

Very interesting.

[WildlifeTshirts]

Very interesting.

[Paul Feakins]

"Improve you brain by learning an instrument or learning a foreign language" Not exactly ground breaking.