Dana Foundation Blog

Dana Foundation on Storify

During last Saturday's Staying Sharp session, we covered the event live using Storify, a program that allows users to pull information from all over the internet—Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.—and assemble it in one place. You can find Dana's Storify post from Staying Sharp here: http://storify.com/dana_fdn/staying-sharp-mount-vernon.

As you can see, the Storify post includes many tweets and photos, listed chronologically, and allows readers to follow the event as if they were there. Towards the end, you can find the panelists' "one important nugget" they shared with the audience.

We will be using Storify again at the next Staying Sharp event in Las Vegas in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

--Andrew Kahn

Free Staying Sharp Program Saturday in Mount Vernon

If you'll be in Westchester County, NY, this weekend, please join us on Saturday, May 4 for a free Staying Sharp forum. The program includes a panel discussion from 9 am to 11 am with DABI member Patrick A. Griffth, M.D., FAAN, from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, and three other neuroscientists: Desiree Byrd, Ph.D, from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Christopher Edwards, Ph.D., from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and last but not least, André A. Fenton, Ph.D., from New York University Center for Neural Science. They will be discussing the latest information on the aging brain, memory, Alzheimer’s disease, brain health and more, with a particular focus on issues that affect the African American and black communities. For the last 30 minutes the experts will take questions from the audience.

This will all be happening at the Grace Baptist Church at 52 South Sixth Avenue in Mount Vernon. Reservations are highly recommended as space is limited and these forums fill up fast. To reserve your spot register now by calling 1-8777-926-8300. For more information go to www.dana.org/stayingsharp or email stayingsharp@dana.org. We hope to see you on Saturday!

--Simon Fischweicher

Neuroscience and the Law

Much of what we “know” from neuroscience research is not ready—yet—for use in the courtroom, argued panelists during a forum on Thursday in Washington, DC.

“We're not at the stage where we can accuse or convict—or determine a sentence” using only brain data, said Steven Hyman, director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and a Dana Foundation board member, during a Neuroscience and Society session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Live Webcast on Memory: April 11

Tomorrow (April 11) from 11:30am-noon, the Kavli Foundation is hosting a live Google Hangout on memory and they are taking questions now. On hand to respond to these questions will be Bradford Dickerson, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Dickerson Neuroimaging Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Mayank Mehta, professor of neurophysics at the Brain Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Science writer Bruce Lieberman will moderate.

You can submit your questions before or during the webcast by sending an e-mail to info@kavlifoundation.org or by tweeting them with the hashtag #KavliNeuro.

To access the Hangout, click here.

--Ann L. Whitman

braiNY: Staying Sharp in NYC

Wednesday was the third day of Brain Awareness Week (BAW), a global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. As part of the week-long celebration, the Dana Foundation joined forces with New York University and AARP to host a free Staying Sharp session and brain fair on March 13^th at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. The event featured an expert panel discussion and Q&A on the aging brain, memory, and brain health issues. This particular panel consisted of three NYU clinicians from the Pearl I. Barlow Center for Memory Evaluation and Treatment who work with elderly patients on health issues including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

The event started off with an eight minute workout from a certified personal fitness trainer, which helped the audience loosen up and interact. We all gave each other knowing smiles as familiar songs, such as the theme to “Rocky,” prompted us to punch the air in rhythm.

After our warm up, we settled into our seats to hear what the experts had to say about the aging brain. In a brief description of brain function, we learned that by the time you are 65, you’ve already started to experience slight brain changes. The changes, the panelist explained, could lead to mood changes, depression, and other forms of cognitive change. Below are some highlights from the session, including information about the aging brain: