Dear Voornaam,

Dr. Eve Lewandowski led a team at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School that published a breakthrough study last week on brain training in people with bipolar disorder. They found that people with bipolar disorder who used a set of exercises in BrainHQ made large improvements in overall cognitive ability, whereas those who trained using other computerized exercises did not. Even better: six months later, the overall gain persisted—and even improved slightly more!

This is an important finding because challenges with processing speed, memory and decision-making are common in bipolar disorder…and that makes it harder for individuals to thrive in their daily life. While medications exist to address other symptoms of bipolar disorder, this is the first time an intervention has been shown effective in improving overall cognition.

For more information, you can visit this webpage or read this blog post from our CEO, Dr. Henry Mahncke.

Jeff Zimman, Co-founder
Posit Science

Running for Brain Cells
Scientists already knew that running could increase the number of new neurons the brain produces, at least in mice. Now, they’ve shown that these neurons are actually different than the new neurons produced by sedentary mice: they are not just more plentiful, but also more mature and better integrated into the brain. This might have implications for the onset of dementia. Learn more

What Role Does Compulsion Play in OCD?
People have long believed that compulsive behaviors among people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) arise to mitigate the anxiety that stems from their obsessions. But a new study suggests that the compulsions might themselves be a core feature of OCD, caused by a dissociation between belief and action. Learn more

Brains vs. Brawn
It’s easier to do something physical challenging or mentally challenging separately. If you have to do them both at the same time, your performance suffers. But according to a new study, it suffers more in physical performance, suggesting that more energy is going to the brain than the body. Researchers say this finding supports the “selfish brain” theory of evolution. Learn more

Boys, Girls, and Concussions
Recent research suggests that female high school and college athletes are not only more likely to get concussions than their male counterparts, they also take more than twice as long to recover. Why might that be the case? Find out

Why Minty Things Can Feel Cold
In specialized nerve cells, there’s a protein called TRPM8 that, when activated by cold temperatures, signals the brain that the temperature has dropped. As it turns out, menthol (found in mint) also activates TRPM8, which then sends a false message of coldness to the brain. Learn how it works

Book of the Month
Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion (2017)
By E. Fuller Torrey

The concepts of gods and religion have been with humans for many millennia. But why did they arise when they did? In Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods, research psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey synthesizes research in neuroscience, archaeology, and more to make his foundational argument: that the concept of gods emerged as a direct—and inevitable—result of the evolution of the human brain. Buy on Amazon