Echo Point, Blue Mountains.

During the past week we’ve discussed a number of great links; on Google+, Twitter, the Forums and so on. Here are a few of my favourites.

• Exercise improves memory : A study presented at the Canadian Stroke Congress confirmed what many of us have already noted : that just six months of exercise can improve memory, language, judgement and thinking. Good stuff.
• Whether we like someone affects how our brain processes movement : An interesting one for trainers, coaches and all kinds of sports fans : new research from the Brain and Creativity Institute suggests that this may in fact be the case. Liking someone makes them seem to move more fluidly, or slightly faster than they actually are.
• Analysing your sleep : Sleep monitoring devices are certainly getting a lot more powerful, and the Sleep Profiler looks like a great one.
• Access to doctors’ notes : This makes a lot of sense. In the highly anticipated OpenNotes study, patients were given access to their own medical records. The result : perhaps unsurprisingly, another set of eyes often helped. Understanding and compliance both increased.
• Turning one kind of brain cell into another : Rather than attempting to save dying neurons, why not simply create new ones? At Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich they’re looking to do exactly that.

NB : to see all of these as they appear (and to share your own thoughts on things), the simplest way is to follow me on Google+. You’ll see these, and a whole lot more.