In the 1970s, researchers Paul Ekman, Wallace Friesen and Carroll Izard became interested in whether emotions differ across cultures, so they showed photographs of emotional expressions to people around the world to determine if a smile means the same thing in San Francisco as it does in Samoa. They found that everyone recognized an upturned mouth as the universal sign of happiness, and there was similar agreement about expressions of surprise, anger, disgust, sadness and fear.

G.A.S. Spells Stress
As with so many wondrous discoveries of science and medicine, it was by chance that Hungarian-born Hans Selye (1907-1982) stumbled upon the idea of the General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.), which he first wrote about in the British journal Nature in the summer of 1936. The G.A.S., alternately known as the stress syndrome, is what Selye came to call the process under which the body confronts "stress" (what he first called "noxious agents").

Scan the vitamin aisle in your local supermarket and you'll find plenty of products promising to improve brain function. With names like "Memory Complex," "Neuro Optimizer," "Brain Elevate," and "Sharp Thought," they tout the remarkable powers of compounds from phospholipids and omega-3 fatty acids to acetyl-L-carnitine, citicoline, and Gingko biloba.

How Concerned About Brain Injury Should We Be?
In high school stadiums across the country, a certain contagious frenzy is generated by the playing of a high school band and the shouting of cheerleaders as the home team takes the field. High school athletics, with their clashes between cross-town rivals, have long been a favorite American pastime—a pastime that is serious business for high school athletes who hope to receive college scholarships and then pursue professional careers.

I woke up in a cheerful mood this morning because yesterday the results of a scientific study were published and they once again demonstrated that very strong benefits can be achieved through only 10 hours of Posit Science brain training. The cognitive benefits were not just seen in the tasks themselves, but in measures of everyday activities. What’s more, the benefits lasted for at least a year after training. The study found that the more people trained, the better their level of cognitive protection.