Neurogenesis: Dean Ornish at TED

First of all, if you aren't subscribed already, subscribe to the TEDTalks video podcast. If you haven't heard of TED, it's the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference, for "ideas worth spreading." Particularly interesting is the section of presentations on the theme of "How We Learn". (A "big up" to my friend Mark Battley, who turned me on to this fantastic resource.) If you do click on the links just provided, you may as well go and get yourself a tall cool drink right now, because your going be glued to the site for quite a while. Maybe a few drinks, actually.

Dean Ornish, in a presentation of Feb. 2008, points out that four elements can increase our brain functioning: love, healthy eating, exercise, and managing stress. He also lists specific items that have been shown to increase brain brain cells (see above). And yes, rasta, "cannabinoids" are what you think they are! In short, "lifestyle" can affect learning.

Second, you may find SIr Ken Robinson's presentation "Do Schools Kill CreativityDo Schools Kill Creativity" a frighteningly astute argument for the idea that "if you're not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original", and that schools are presently employed the task of deliberately discouraging creativity, the one skill we have that may still save our species. But don't hold your breath that we'll ever change... especially by using a set Scandinavian cantilevered purple toboggans in a bowl of jello.