Memory Training, Does it Work?

     Do you sometimes find yourself not being able to remember something? Do you wish your memory was stronger, even borderline photographic memory? Many claim that the right food and rest improves brain function and memory. While this is true, a new study out of University of California Irvine shows that with the right methods, "Brain training turns recall rookies into memory masters." https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-training-turns-recall-rookies-memory-masters

Through a 6 week training program, people with average memory became so called "experts" at memorization.
Participants of the study with average memory went through a training method called "Loci". This is a memorization strategy used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. This technique involves a memorable mental picture or scene, then littering that image with memorable images or things that can be related in some way to the words needed to be memorized in the study.

After 6 weeks of studying and practicing this technique, the participant's memorization skills were compared to the world's best memories. These strong memory individuals placed extremely high at the World Memorization Championships.
For a list of 72 words and 20 minutes to look at the list, the memory experts recalled accurately on average 70.8 words, while at the start of the study those with average memory only remembered 39.9 words.
At the conclusion of 6 weeks, the participants were tested again and the results are very comparable to those with the expert memory average. (Exact numbers for the 2nd quiz not provided).

Brain scans were also done at the beginning and end of the study to the experts and non-experts to show what parts of the brain neuron activation was. Much more activity overall was detected in the experts compared to the non-experts. However at the conclusion, the brain activity of the experts and Loci participants were extremely comparable.

This goes to show with the right methods and proper guidance, the human brain is capable of learning new ways to process information and can consistently become stronger.

-Wainam

Interview of Dr.Alan Robock

     This week I found my interviewee and it was not who was mentioned in the blog titled "Interviewees/Ideas".

     This interview took place with Dr.Alan Robock. A Ph.D researcher and instructor at Rutgers University.

     We talked about his college experiences, his views about the world, and his Ph.D thesis and how his work there still impacts his work today.

     The threat of nuclear war is something that humans sometimes forget about. While we are not living in the Cold War anymore and Nuclear weapons are rarely in the news nowadays, there are still thousands of warheads scattered around the world and if a minuscule of those warheads get used it can have profound effects on the environment and humanity itself.

     Dr.Robock, a meteorologist, studies these theoretical situations through computer simulations. How they can potentially affect the stratosphere, blocking out light from the Sun and experiences a climate change caused by humans that has never been seen before. All potential repercussions from a nuclear winter.

     He also studies with graduate students about climate data analysis and geothermal engineering.

     As I continue to progress as a science writer, I thank Dr.Alan Robock for his time and the information he was glad to share with me.

http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/robock_bio.html

-Wainam

Astronomical discovery, black hole feast

     While a student at a large University, I pride myself and my school in having the ability to take a variety of science related classes. One of which is astronomy. I enjoy learning about all aspects of science and try to stay as up to date as possible, so when a news story hit ScienceNews this week, I was intrigued.

     A black hole in a galaxy 1.8 billion light years away destroyed by sheer force of gravity, and has been eating at the remains of a star for over 10 years, a huge time gap from the average of less than 1 year for black holes to devour stars.

     The long meal can be attributed to a combination of factors. How massive the star is, at about 10 times the mass of our Sun according to the ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft and NASA’s Chandra and Swift satellites, as well as how gradual the sequence was of the star slowly moving towards the black holes reach of gravity, just getting within the threshold of gravity to slowly be reeled in and be devoured.

     It is truly astonishing how with such a relatively small budget, organizations like NASA and other space programs around the world continue to learn and discover the amazing things about the Universe and how it works.

     At 1.8 billion light years away, it can be very humbling to the public and scientific minds alike to take a step back and ponder how minuscule and small our life is in such a vast, ever expanding universe. So many questions left to be answered, with nowhere to go but to answer them.

-Wainam