A new study published this month highlights how dirty air damages cognitive function in people.  Learn more…

The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance:

The significance of the Study

“Most of the population in developing countries live in places with unsafe air. Utilizing variations in transitory and cumulative air pollution exposures for the same individuals over time in China, we provide evidence that polluted air may impede cognitive ability as people become older, especially for less educated men. Cutting annual mean concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) in China to the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard (50 μg/m³) would move people from the median to the 63rd percentile (verbal test scores) and the 58th percentile (math test scores), respectively. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions.”

Schools in France have continued to enforce a total data ban in class for students younger than 15 years of age.  Older students have the option of using data, at the discretion of the instructor.  Learn more…

Question Journal:  Prompt #1

Texting under the table should be a thing of the past after French children returned to class Monday following a nationwide ban on mobile phones in schools.  

Is it a good idea to ban data use in class, why or why not?

How one person kicked their Cell phone use:

Question Journal:  Prompt #2

“There is something more terrible than a hell of suffering,” the French novelist Victor Hugo wrote in his book Les Misérables in 1862. “A hell of boredom.”

New research continues to point out that an important side effect of being bored is enhanced creativity.  Learn more…

How creative are you?  

What is creativity?

Who is the most creative scientist that you know about?

Who is the most creative person you know?

When you’re bored, you’re tapping into your unconscious brain, picking up long-lost memories and connecting ideas.

It is this ability to fully access our knowledge, memories, experiences, and imagination that helps lead us to those precious “lightbulb” moments when we least expect them, according to Amy Fries, author of Daydreams at Work: Wake Up Your Creative Powers.