Daily French Roast

Anne is reading …

Brain science is a favorite topic at AOC, leaving us hunkered down in the latest New York Times Magazine “All in Our Minds”.

A feature article “Can You Make Yourself Smarter?” reviews the state of scientific debate as the ability of brain-building exercises that ultimately increase IQ by improving fluid intelligence at almost age.

Not up for debate is the impact of exercise on our brains. The newest research, outlined in “How Exercise Could Lead to a Better Brain” confirms that exercise appears to build a brain that not only resists physical shrinkage but one with enhanced cognitive flexibility.

Just as exercise slows or reverses physical decline in our muscles, it appears to slow the brain’s decay by producing new neurons. In tests on mice and rats, those that ran had about twice the rate of new neurons as the couch potatoes.

Even this test result is not the whole story. To be relevant to the brain’s functioning, the cells improve intellect only then they join the existing neural network. This is not a given, leaving many neurons rattling around untethered.

New research confirms the benefits of exercise in generating increased transferable, multi-tasking skills in our brains.

Just how exercise remakes minds on a molecular level is not yet fully understood, but research suggests that exercise prompts increases in something called brain-derived neurotropic factor, or B.D.N.F., a substance that strengthens cells and axons, fortifies the connections among neurons and sparks neurogenesis. Scientists can’t directly study similar effects in human brains, but they have found that after workouts, most people display higher B.D.N.F. levels in their bloodstreams.

More DFR

Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST - Sister Mary Alice Chineworth, 94, and other nuns at the Oblate Sisters of Providence motherhouse all have their favorite spots to sit during evening prayers in the chapel Aug.24, 2011, in Catonsville, Md.Pundits are weighing in on the aftermath of this week’s major report that cracks down on American nuns through their primary organization the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for what it called “serious doctrinal problems.”

PBS’ Bob Abernethy interviewed David Gibson, national reporter for Religion News Service, who said abut the Leadership Conference on Women Religious:

They’re (the nuns) thinking of simply disbanding and reorganizing on their own, out from under the church’s purview. But the church will have, they have—the archbishop of Seattle has a five-year mandate to oversee this overhaul, and they (the bishops) can rewrite their (the nuns) statutes and vet their (the nuns,) speakers for their (the nuns) conferences and pretty much do as they (the bishops) like.

Sisters of mercy, devotion — and dismay LA Times

In Philadelphia last week, a child sex-abuse trial involving Catholic clergy led to a bombshell — a bishop from West Virginia was accused of abuse.

In Kansas City, a Catholic bishop goes on trial in September, accused of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Last year church officials paid $144 million to settle abuse allegations and cover legal bills, and although many of the cases went back decades, church auditors have warned of “growing complacency” about protecting children today.

So who’s in trouble with the Vatican?

Nuns.

American nuns stunned by Vatican accusation of ‘radical feminism,’ crackdown The Washington Post