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PermalinkThursday, March 15, 2012
Above: Nick Spitzer, co-director at UC San Diego Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, talks to Dwane Brown about his work studying the brain.
We look at brain myths and a new website will provide everything you want to know about the brain.
Aired 3/15/12
GUEST
Professor Nick Spitzer, co-director, UC San Diego Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind
The myth that classical music makes you smarter is not true, according to Nick Spitzer, co-director of UC San Diego's Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind.
Also false: drinking alcohol kills brain cells, he said.
While chronic drinking does damage the brain, a glass of wine with dinner actually has “salutary effects,” Spitzer said.
Spitzer is editor in chief of a new website launching in May, brainfacts.org. The site will debunk myths like these and provide layers of information for anyone interested in the brain.
The site is intended to be an "authoritative, inviting source of information," Spitzer said. It is meant for laypeople, patients and patient advocates, educators and other brain researchers.
Information will be organized under topics, and links will allow readers to delve deeper and deeper into information, he said. The site will also supply sources of original brain research.
As for the myth of classical music's intelligence boosting?
"I wish it were true," Spitzer said. "I play classical music for my children all the time, and they’re smart, but I’m not sure there’s a connection there.”
Comments
sfiggins | March 16, 2012 at 2:58 p.m. ― 1 year, 3 months ago
My favorite false brain fact is that "Most people only use 10% of their brain."
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