[rael-science] [with Rael's comment] Brains of “Super Agers” Look Decades Younger‏

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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org   
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RAEL'S COMMENT: This is why meditation is vital!  Training our ability to focus is essential, especially in a “zapping culture” in which people are  constantly distracted by mental junk food like multiple radio and TV programs that are stupid and dumb newspapers. In addition, they're bombarded by ads and always being fed with new music, the only merit of which is to be “new” without meeting any criteria of quality. (The best music may be 100 years old, but it's still the best.) Etc.

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Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brains-of-andldquosuper-agersandrdq&WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20130118

Brains of “Super Agers” Look Decades Younger

A key attention region may underlie some octogenarians' unusual abilities

As people age, their brain tends to shrink and their memory gets worse. But what if this deterioration weren't inevitable? New research suggests not only that some elderly individuals retain sharp memory skills but also that their brain remains unscathed. Although scientists do not yet know what is responsible for this special resiliency—or how to help people acquire it—a brain region involved in attention may offer an important clue.

Researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine identified 12 individuals older than 80 years—whom they called “Super Agers”—who performed as well on memory tests as a group of 14 volunteers between the ages of 50 and 65. The scientists performed structural MRI scans on both groups as well as a third group of normal subjects over the age of 80. Although the researchers expected the Super Agers' brains to show some evidence of age-related decline, their average brain thickness matched that of the younger group, and both groups' brains were significantly thicker than those of normal octogenarians.

One brain region important for attention, called the anterior cingulate, was actually thicker in the Super Agers than in their younger counterparts. This finding suggests that “Super Agers may have a particularly keen sense of attention that helps to support their memory,” explains lead author Emily Rogalski, a neuroscientist at Northwestern's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, who published the work in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. In particular, compared with normal octogenarians, Super Agers have four times as many von Economo neurons, which are large cingulate brain cells implicated in higher-order thinking. In ongoing research, Rogalski hopes to tease out the genetic and lifestyle factors significant for preventing age-related decline, noting that according to her preliminary analyses, “there may be more than one way to becoming a Super Ager.”

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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic, anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews, antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
 
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history, 
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
 
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
 
Rael
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