Cognitive Labs

What's this? Sounds like a new kind of shopping mall business opportunity along with lasik and quick-botox. Actually, it is the title of a book by the enigmatic Philip K. Dick, once of Berkeley, and long deceased. Posthumously, he has been responsible for numerous popular works of media including Total Recall, the Arnold Schwarzenegger film that was made from We Can Remember it for You Wholesale. Another one was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which was tinsel-ized as Blade Runner the dystopic view of genetic engineering run afoul.

End of digression...what about memories...there's something about pictures that are so important to people. In Blade Runner the replicants' most prized possession were clutches of snap shots...not even real memories. What does this tell us...stay tuned.

Cognitive impairment and sharpness to be treated with similar preparations? then try brainspeed.

From the Guardian..A new entry may soon be added to school-pupils' jotter full of excuses: "Sorry sir, I forgot to take my mind pills." A new generation of "smart pills" known as nootropics which could make people think sharper and remember things better could be available in chemists within a decade, education specialists at a Bristol University meeting heard this week.

The drugs include prescription-only medications normally used to treat Alzheimer's disease and dementia in older people which some studies have suggested also improve memory and thinking processes in fit adults....

Do you think it's worth going into the deep freeze today...in order to be thawed and revived later, when human technology has advanced? What kind of world do you think it would be? I am of the optimistic persuasion.

here's the video at Yahoo. It's from ABC News in case they move the link.

Oh yeah, they also froze their dogs and cats. It's the same facility that houses .400 hitter Ted Williams of the Red Sox.

News from MyDNA.com...--don't forget to take your test.

Here is a tag page of exports from de lic ous

Top Five Game Central Games yesterday:

1. xxMAN
2. Letter Rip
3. Mars Mission
4. Sodoku
5. Cubitsu

(ranked by number of players)

Give it a try!

A new study following over 6,000 people shows a clear relationship between reaction time, memory, and cognitive decline. Slower reaction times and poorer memory associated with greater risk of dying in young and old people...
--
CogLabs Newswire: Slower reaction times and poorer memory are associated with a greater risk of dying in young and old people, a new study shows. The finding in younger subjects is especially surprising, given that prior research linking higher mortality with poorer cognitive function in the elderly was attributed to degeneration of the brain due to aging.

"These results suggest that reaction time is not merely an indicator of age-related physiological deteriorations but rather an indicator of the brain's more basic information processing ability, suggesting that slower and more variable processing skills are a risk factor for mortality in themselves...
>>read more


from: Medical Study News 1.23.06

A new Solitaire game is available at Game Central from Cognitive Labs. Register here. Try the game now!

news highlight...from the Observer. Alzheimer's is a devastating disease for which there is no cure. But drugs can help to delay the onset of the memory loss and personality changes which come with the condition. These drugs have lifted treatment out of the dark ages, transforming the possibilities for doctors to offer patients and carers relief against a bleak future. Now, as we report today, the government's licensing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), has concluded, following a 10-month investigation, that they should be prescribed on the NHS for people in the earlier stages of the disease....

MyDNA Media, part of Revolution Health, and Cognitive Labs are collaborating on a memory test you can take at myDNA.com. Revolution is a holding company established by Steve Case of AOL fame.

MyDNA is a fascinating site that provides not only general health information but also is focused on using the knowledge gained from the human genome to create a better future for all of us through predictive programs. It is part of Revolution Health, which you can read about here in Information Week.

A leader has emerged in the mac vs. PC challenge! But we are going to suspend your disbelief (or is it the other way around?) for a while longer. But soon, the data will speak to us. If you use a mac or ibook or PC/laptop by all means, take the test, it may be your last chance to quantitatively weigh in on this topic. As a side effect, you will also get a read of your own cognitive speed

Who is it? What computer is indeed the fastest?? Try at cognitivelabs.com

How about some Asteroids?.....

1/20th of a second - or 50 milliseconds, is the amount of time people decide if they like, or dislike, a website, and surf away,according to Canadian researchers, it was announced today in Reuters. That's even less time than it takes to blink (don't worry - no ad there. Don't you hate in-text contextual links? 1. they are annoying and 2. they are never relevant) even faster than the time it takes, if you follow Malcolm Gladwell's theory - to grok something new. 50 milliseconds is faster than almost anyone can submit an answer and get a response on a Cognitive Labs test.

That's why we let people 'vote' on whether they like the generic registration process on our site. The answer, on a scale of 1-5, is 4.4 - telling us that we are doing pretty well in that department, though of course we want to get to a five.

How does the brain convert images into coherent pictures? Sorting the input of our perceptory organs is a little like solving one of the Cognitive Labs picture puzzles using the swap and sort algorithm or maybe, Rubik's Cube.

How does the brain go about it?

Now researchers from John Hopkins have published some very interesting results.

More new evidence exercise can ward off Alzheimer's was announced this week, as a result of a study of more than 1,700 people that generated statistically significant results to what seems, on the face of it, to be common sense. So, now is the time to get moving. On our hikes and walks we often see people who are taking this to heart by enjoying 5-7 mile walks. Where are the hiking trails? many of our urban areas have relatively pristine experiences nearby: the Santa Cruz Mtns has numerous walking trails almost from the start of the hills to the Ocean; the Santa Monica Mtns have a number of excellent trails as well in a slightly more arid environment. What's your favorite?

Faster brains. There is a new Rubik's Cube champion...according to CNET
SAN FRANCISCO--Think of the things you could do in 11 seconds. Maybe you could walk to the fridge to get a soda. You could change CDs, or possibly put on a T-shirt. But when you think about it, it's a pretty short period of time.

Don't tell that to Leyan Lo. On Saturday, at the International Rubik's Cube competition held at the Exploratorium here, Lo took just 11.13 seconds to set the world record for solving of one of the iconic red, white, blue, green and yellow cubes.




Lo's record came at the very beginning of a long day in which dozens of "cubers" squared off in bids to become the best at one or more of a series of different categories of Rubik's Cube competitions. Among them were the standard 3x3x3, the 3x3x3 blindfolded, the 3x3x3 one-handed and the 4x4x4 (The numbers refer to the number of rows and columns the cube has).

And by day's end, Lo had established himself as perhaps the most accomplished of all the competitors, having finished second in the 3x3x3, first in the 3x3x3 blindfolded and 3x3x3 one-handed, and second in the 4x4x4.

But it was his world record that had everyone on hand buzzing all day, even if Lo himself tried to play it down.

"It was a lucky solve," he said. "It was kind of cool. You get good cases and bad cases all the time."

He explained that the solution he'd chosen--based on algorithms he'd memorized for solving the cube as it was presented to him--ended up not requiring a final step that normally would have added two or three seconds to his time.

But others weren't so sanguine about what they saw Saturday.

"It's great," said Tyson Mao, a student at Caltech and the organizer of the event. "I mean, it's great that people have opportunities to push the limits of Rubik's Cube solving. The world record has dropped so much recently because people have been putting in so much time."

Renewed popularity
Indeed, for a puzzle that is now 25 years old, it has gone through some serious peaks and valleys. After years in the 1980s as a worldwide phenomenon, Rubik's Cube dropped off the puzzle map in the '90s. But thanks to a growing number of competitions around the world and clubs like the one at Caltech, it is going through a major resurgence.
Click here to Play

Video: A puzzle gone wild
Rubik's Cube competition brings the quickest solvers in the world to San Francisco

Part of the credit, naturally, goes to the Internet, and to its ability to spread the gospel of top-rank cube solving. The mecca for the Rubik's Cube community, said many on hand Saturday, is SpeedCubing.com.

And to see Saturday's competitors, some just little children and others in their thirties and forties, it's easy to see that one reason the cube is back is that it is appealing across all generations.

"It's addictive. I'm very addicted," said 15-year-old Shotaro "Macky" Makisumi, considered by many the best cuber in the world today. "It's something you can improve yourself on. There's a time to show (how you're doing), and it's almost a competition against yourself instead of others. It's a chance to perfect something."

Shotaro certainly did his best Saturday to cement himself in the Rubik's Cube community as the best, or at least one of the best.

Researchers identified signs of cognitive impairment in asymptomatic (no evident symptoms) subjects in a recent study, which showed significant differences between performance between individuals who were APOE3/3 and APOE 4....
>>read more

Rocketing over Crescent City and heading southeast, the 110-pound capsule carrying particles from comet Wild2 (including hints on the origin of the solar system and content of interstellar dust)will hit the atmosphere between Reno and Elko and the capsule will descend in western Utah....The re-entry speed is 29,000 MPH, faster than the returning Apollo 10 Command module which reached about 28,500 MPH in the late 60's.

The analysis phase will be open-source. You can sign up here at UC Berkeley's stardust@home site and help ID and analyze the interstellar dust...

here's the text to this release if you have any comments....please phone, email media AT cognitivelabs.com or IM us. We'll be releasing the results in about a week and sending them into the AP, LA Times, NY Times, Chronicle, engadget, and so forth...the interesting part from a 'blogging prospective' is this line -In latter 2005, the Company's software, web service, and web blogs were included in the launch of BrainSpeed™, a line of dietary supplements for brain health by Natrol, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOL) available at retail outlets across America.
. Natrol also advertised on weblogs inc aroung the time of e3. brainspeed.blogspot also performed well in generating
support...

Cognitive Labs launches a survey that will enable computer enthusiasts everywhere to get closer to the answer to one of the world's great questions.

Mountain View, CA (PRWEB) - Jan 16, 2006 -- Cognitive Labs today launched a survey that will enable computer enthusiasts everywhere to get closer to the answer of one of the world's great questions.

Who is Faster, Mac or PC users? By deploying its reaction time assessment technology used both in clinical settings and as a healthy living assessment tool on this key problem, Cognitive Labs strives to enhance the world's knowledge. Since processors from Intel will soon become standard in a larger percentage of Macs, according to publicly disclosed information, it appeared that this longstanding question might remain unanswered.

"There is much focus on improving processor clockspeed and efficiency, at the same time, there is increasing interest in taking care of our minds and mental processes at any age," said Michael Addicott of Cognitive Labs."We thought it would be fun and also illuminating to address this question from an unbiased perspective."

Users simply visit cognitivelabs web site and the test and survey are delivered as a web service. Once they take the survey users can move on to the test dashboard and take more tests.

"Much of our work is quite serious,involving the enrollment of hundreds of thousands of people in our monitoring service, which is creating a database of cognitive performance - a snapshot of how the world thinks. It is important today because the early detection of cognitive impairment is foremost in the minds of many," said Dr. Addicott. "People are curious and want to see how they are doing. It also is important because there is increasing interest in learning about your genetic make-up and taking a proactive approach to your health, including nutrition and exercise. Cognitive Labs is ideally positioned in this information-rich future."

The Company offers numerous cognitive tests on its website, games selected by its editorial staff that exercise specific modes of interacting with a computer, such as space bar, arrow keys, and letter key, that may be well-known to PC Gamers but not to the average computer user or to individuals more familiar with set-top box type computers, as well as regular newsletters, feeds, blogs, and special content.

To track themselves over time and receive reports from Cognitive Labs, users need to sign up for Memory for Life, which now can be purchased in 5 languages and 30 currencies. Memory For Life subscribers get unlimited access to tests and games, as well as all new test and game releases. Memory For Life Pro is a portal solution that extends the capability of testing and monitoring to the enterprise and is used by researchers and clinicians.

The company also licenses tests and web services to strategic partners. In latter 2005, the Company's software, web service, and web blogs were included in the launch of BrainSpeed™, a line of dietary supplements for brain health by Natrol, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOL) available at retail outlets across America.

About Cognitive Labs

Cognitive Labs develops and markets cognitive testing software delivered as web service on the Internet and through strategic partners. In 2005, the company's technology was highlighted at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on the Prevention of Dementia in Washington, D.C. and at the XIIth International Psychogeriatric Association Conference in Stockholm Sweden in conjunction with the work of Stanford and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs researchers. As of January 2006, the company has records of hundreds of thousands of users.

Weekend, January 14-15 (CogLabs Newswire)

The drug Namenda slows Alzheimer's diseasse for at least a year,
doctors report in the Archives of Neurology.

Namenda, which was approved by the FDA in 2003, had already fared well in a study that lasted about seven months. The new results come from an extension of that study.

The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 4.5 million people
in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is the most common form of
dementia in older adults. However, it's not a normal part of aging.

Alzheimer's disease affects parts of the brain involved in
memory, intelligence, judgment, language, and behavior. Its exact cause isn't
known, and no cure exists.The study was funded by Merz Pharmaceuticals GmBH, which markets Namenda in Germany.

>>read more

Arthur Jensen, (a member of the advisory board here) and perhaps the world's foremost authority on human intelligence is Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley. Dr. Jensen received his BA from UC-Berkeley and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is coming out with a new book: Clocking the Mind : Mental Chronometry and Individual Differences (to be published in April 2006) which promises to be intriguing and instructive. As increasing parallels with silicon analogs are observed, the objective and dispassionate model of analyzing performance becomes increasingly relevant.

Open invitation:



Now is the chance to migrate to the new system. All you need to do is go here, complete your order, and you are all set. Your email address serves as your account notifier and can be used in all correspondence with us regarding your account. Since we are a web service, we do not mail out CD's to each user. Your registration and payment serves as the activation key.

For example, for users in Australia, Canada, and France --now is the opportunity to sign up with the convenient new system - pay in Australian, Canadian or US dollars, or Euros. In the event that you are not supported through this system, Paypal Pro is the back-up, also providing a means for you to contribute to cognitivelabs.com and the whole project. Those details will be provided later.

User Notice:

1/13/06 14:22
We just re-initialized the servlet....if you for a moment you could not receive a complete score for the past few minutes...

For the 1st time researchers (at the Gladstone Institute at UCSF) have successfully modeled APOE in three dimensions. APOE e4 is the gene responsible for increased cardiovascular risk as well as Alzheimer's risk...APOEe4 comes in two varieties - homo or heterogenous zygote which can amplify the risk.... read more>>

Don't forget: mac or PC?
Try it!
It's your chance to weigh in on a 21-year debate

Most people believe that stress plays a role in heart disease. A study published in the latest issue of Psychophysiology finds that large rises in blood pressure during mental stress are associated with higher levels of activity in the regions of the brain associated with experiencing negative emotions and generating physiological responses in the rest of the body. The research suggests that exaggerated activity in the cingulate cortex during mental stress may generate excessive rises in blood pressure that may place some individuals at a greater risk for heart disease

Because it's MacWorld, we are running a test to solve that age old question. What's better - a mac, or a PC? This question goes back to 1984.

Doesn't faster user performance mean a device is better? Or is it the users themselves who are better? This is the 1st clinical trial of a silicon brain that we know of...

Soon, you'll know! So start off by taking the survey! At the end of the survey, which will be in a week or so, we'll publish the results and the question will be solved !!!

If you recall last year one of the top stories in science was the report of an experiment where researchers convinced a rhesus monkey that an articifical limb or robotic arm was in fact its own appendage - and the monkey learned to manipulate the arm simply by 'thinking'.

One of the researchers is now at UC-Berkeley and hopes to tackle even greater challenges in the future, such as bringing this capability to those who have suffered strokes or are incapacitated. Think, for example, of Steven Hawking being given robotic appendages. He could then proceed without any difficulties.
Here's an article from Berkeley Lab Notes that discusses it. Where does it lead? That's up to your imagination and ingenuity.

Use a Mac? Or a PC? Who's got the faster brain? Pretty soon this will be irrelevant...stay tuned for a chance to show off.

Impairment may proceed along two different paths, both ending up in Alzheimer's Disease. The first path affects the memory and hippocampal structures; the 2nd path affects other forms of cognition and not necessarily the memory (such as attention and executive function).

University of Pittsburgh and University of California, Los Angeles imaging study establishes two forms of mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitional stage between normal cognition and Alzheimer's disease, exists in two different forms, according to a study published today by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles in the Archives of Neurology.

Using a new imaging procedure that creates 3-D maps of the brain, researchers determined specific areas that had degenerated in people with MCI. Depending on the person's symptoms, more tissue was lost in the hippocampus, a brain area critical for memory and one of the earliest to change in Alzheimer's disease, indicating two different paths of progression to Alzheimer's disease. The finding could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of patients with MCI, perhaps delaying or preventing the onset of dementia.

MCI is categorized into two sub-types - currently distinguished based solely on symptoms. Those with MCI, amnesic subtype (MCI-A) have memory impairments only, while those with MCI, multiple cognitive domain subtype (MCI-MCD) have other types of mild impairments, such as in judgment or language, but also have either mild or no memory loss. Both sub-types progress to Alzheimer's disease at the same rate. Until now it was not known if the pathologies of the two types of MCI were different, or if MCI-MCD was just a more advanced form of MCI-A.

Researchers found that the hippocampus of the patients with MCI-A was 14 percent smaller than that of the healthy subjects, nearly as great as the 23 percent shrinkage seen in Alzheimer's disease. But, the hippocampus of those with MCI-MCD most resembled that of the controls, showing only 5 percent shrinkage.

Using highly accurate Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data from six patients with MCI-A, 20 with MCI-MCD and 20 with Alzheimer's disease who were seen at the University of Pittsburgh's Alzheimer Disease Research Center and 20 healthy controls, researchers created 3-D mesh reconstructions of each participant's hippocampus that allowed them to see where the hippocampus had deteriorated. This study is the first to use such modeling technology to visualize changes in the brains of people with MCI. Prior studies have only been able to measure the volume of the hippocampus and estimate atrophy through noticeable volume loss.

"These vibrant images produced by 3-D modeling have proven what we suspected - there are at least two transitional states that lead to Alzheimer's disease," said James T. Becker, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist and professor of psychiatry, neurology and psychology, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Now we can investigate these pathways and develop treatments that, we hope, may slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer's."

Alzheimer's disease affects as many as 10 percent of people older than 65, and delaying or preventing the onset of dementia is an important medical priority. "We can now see the pattern of brain damage in people with MCI and we can use these new types of images to monitor how different therapies may be working," said Paul M. Thompson, Ph.D., associate professor of neurology, at the University of California, Los Angeles. "By imaging the brain like this, we can explore the progression of diseases, and see if therapies are protecting the brain."

This research was conducted by the Imaging Methods and Analysis in Geriatrics Research Group. Co-authors of this study from the University of Pittsburgh were: Simon W. Davis, department of psychiatry; Carolyn Cidis Meltzer, M.D., departments of radiology and psychiatry and Oscar L. Lopez, M.D., department of neurology. Contributing from UCLA were Kiralee M. Hayashi and Arthur W. Toga, Ph.D., both of the department of neurology.

The study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Research Resources and National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

If you recall your Astronomy 101, remember that 'heavier' gases and elements - with an atomic weight over 3 or so must be created in stars, that, is anything denser than helium, is created as a result of fusion. As the star gets increasingly dense as it moves from a red giant to a shrinking globe, heavier elements are created - even gold. At last, the density is so great that the star collapses on itself and then explodes as a supernova. The heavy elements are then distributed in nearby clouds of gas and dust, and then the whole cycle begins again.

Now scientists are investigating the role of gold in fighting Alzheimer's. Read more

Get your own zero-latency brain at cognitivelabs.com.

Zero-latency was a term invented by consultants to sell software, yet another SAP module or a bolt-on to SAP and Oracle making your organization whole and complete and solving that problematic supply chain, you know 'why are my widgets in Wisconsin and my T-rings in Taiwan'? kind of problem. After spending billions on software that could improve your inventory of pencils and erasers, the bullhorns and megaphones were put away and the revolution was declared 'over.'

The next great battleground, or campus martialis is the brain. If you can optimize your brain, gain visibility into changes dynamic changes and then intercede, lives can be improved, not just ontime performance for the delivery of products on a shelf.

If the brain is enhanced, you will have already solved the supply chain problem before it ever occurs - eliminating a bottleneck by going upstream...

Shari Roan of the Los Angeles Times has written this interesting piece:

A faster mile, bigger biceps, more stamina — all are proof that exercise hones the body. Less tangible, but no less important, is the effect on the mind.

Over the last decade, neuroscientists have been churning out an abundance of data pointing to changes in the brain following physical activity. Some researchers have even suggested that the type of exercise matters — as does the age at which it begins.


"I would absolutely recommend people exercise for the mental benefits — especially the elderly," says Henriette Van Praag, a staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla. "People don't care about whether they're a size 4 or a size 6 as they get older. But they do care where their car keys are and whether they'll have the ability to play their card games and enjoy life."

read more>>>

Over 500 people were tested yesterday, from the comfort of their own computer, wherever they reside around the world. You'll see some changes in the flow of tests, as the brief picture and word test, which was used in the Stanford research (and which was awarded a U.S. patent) is now in the 'free test' slot. This test was central to the results presented internationally over the past 7 months, both in Washington D.C. and Stockholm. Incidientally, after the free test you can decide to track your results and tell Cognitive Labs to track them for you. For a small subscription fee, you can subscribe to the reporting service Memory For Life and get reports on your scores: are they trending up or down? Faster or slower? Plus, after time passes you will receive reminders. It's all about taking proactive steps to manage your health through better information.

This leads into a discussion of the human genome. From double helix discoverer Francis Crick to Craig Venter, much progress has been made in unraveling the mystery. I was surpised to see, in Dr. Venter's interview in BioItWorld by Kevin Davies, that he was APOEe4, putting him at a theoretical higher risker for certain ailments, particularly cardiovascular and cognitive issues such as Alzheimer's.
Hence the need for early detection.

Only hours after our last post where we referred to the memory of a lost helicopter, the knowledge arrived that another helicopter was downed in Iraq, this time a 12-person Blackhawk near Tel Afar....

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke has resulted in 'definitive cognitive impairment' according to his physicians, however, his life is apparently out of danger. Keep in mind that there can be many forms of impairment. Salon on Friday featured stories from Walter Reed Medical Center, mirroring similar accounts from all over the US over the past 24 months discussing the cognitive injuries of returning soldiers from Iraq.

Here, we covered the story of several Army troops who were being treated at the Palo Alto VA, which is equipped to deal with head injuries, including one soldier (Mr. Ocuerga) who was in the Chinook helicopter shot down near Fallujah in one of the single largest casualty-causing events for US forces.

Improved armor and helmet design has saved more lives than any previous conflict in history but there is a significant toll in cognitive impairment which is not always a visible injury....

If the risks of heart disease, diabetes and a lower quality of life aren't reasons enough for you to watch your weight, then consider what being fat may be doing to your brain.

People who are overweight or obese during their 30s, 40s and 50s have a greater risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease as they age, compared to people whose weight is normal, according to a 20-year study of Swedes published in the Archives of Neurology.

What do they have in common? Stephen Olemecher of the Associated Press speculates...a grouping of 78.2 million people, and they all need to start taking care of their memory.

In fact, the 'mode' of our database falls right in the midst of this, the Baby Boom generation (being born in 1953). So, when we developed our first banner ad about 18 months ago it featured the White Album and the tagline 'Do you Remember' whilst another featured a grainy B&W picture of Neil Armstong coming down the ladder of Apollo XI....

WASHINGTON - George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are doing it, and Laura Bush is joining them. So are Loni Anderson and Dolly Parton.

From politicians and celebrities to athletes and rock stars, some of the most celebrated members of the America's most celebrated generation are turning 60 this year.

They are the oldest of the baby boomers, that group of 78.2 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964.

And they are getting old.

"I see people going two ways," said Nancy Schlossberg, a professor emerita of counseling psychology at the University of Maryland. "They can continue with the plastic surgery, and just deny they're aging. Or there can be a group who are saying, hey, age is good, age is great, I'm proud of my wrinkles, I'm proud of my gray hair."

The Census Bureau estimates that 7,918 people will turn 60 each day in 2006. Their most popular names are Mary and James.

Among them, there are enough musicians to staff a pretty good rock band. Jimmy Buffett turns 60 on Christmas Day. He will be joined this year by Syd Barrett and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Robby Krieger of the Doors, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Edgar Winter of the Edgar Winter Group and irreverent folk singer Loudon Wainwright III.

If you prefer something more mellow, Linda Ronstadt turns 60 this year, as well as Liza Minnelli, Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and Donovan, perhaps best known for singing "Mellow Yellow."

Demographers and marketers note that this isn't the first generation to face its own mortality. But it is the biggest, so it demands attention.

"The fact is that Frank Sinatra also turned 60 once," said Robert Friedland, director of Georgetown University's Center on an Aging Society.

But he couldn't dance like Mick Jagger, who at 62 is just a little bit ahead of the demographic. He will front the Rolling Stones during the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl.

"Mick Jagger at 62 is not old. Frank Sinatra at 62 was old," said Matt Thornhill of the Boomer Project, a marketing company focusing on baby boomers.

Still, it's been a long time since some baby boomers starred on the big stage.

It's been more than a quarter century since Reggie Jackson became "Mr. October" while playing for the New York Yankees. And it's been nearly 40 years since Bob Beamon shocked the world by jumping farther than any other human before him in the 1968 Olympics. Both turn 60 this year.

They will be joined by financiers (Donald Trump and Michael Milken), more actresses (Cher, Susan Lucci, Patty Duke, Diane Keaton, Susan Saint James), more actors (Sylvester Stallone, Timothy Dalton, Tommy Lee Jones) and a game show host (Pat Sajak). Born on July 6, Stallone is exactly the same age as the president — Bush, that is. Clinton was born six weeks later on Aug. 19.

There are also quite a few famous people who would have turned 60 this year, but they died young.

Among those are comedian Gilda Radner of "Saturday Night Live," actor Gregory Hines, college basketball coach Jim Valvano and pro wrestler-turned-actor Andre the Giant.

The list of dead musicians who would have turned 60 this year is right up there with the list that is still alive. It includes Keith Moon of The Who, Bon Scott of AC/DC and Freddie Mercury of Queen.

Serial killer Ted Bundy would have turned 60 this year as well, but he was executed in 1989.

Thornhill, the marketer, said baby boomers in general will try hard to age differently than their parents. They will try to be more active and more vital, socially, financially and spiritually.

But, he said, there are some truisms that are impossible to escape.

"There's a transition that takes place somewhere between age 45 and 55 when you come to grips with the fact that you are getting old," Thornhill said. "Boomers are going to have to come to grips with it."

Here's a prediction:

In 20 years, people may be uploading their memories into a seagate portable for safekeeping in case they start to get Alzheimer's. If consciousness itself can be successfully intertwined into the magnetic imprint on the memory device, then there is a chance for immortality. Whether by cyborg, robot, or clone is unknown. That's why it's so important to start creating a cognitive baseline today, rather than tomorrow.

Add our blog feeds to your Google homepage:

It's easy. Start here.

When you are prompted to enter a feed or news source, type in blog.cognitivelabs.com/atom.xml - then you will automatically get our news along with any feeds you subscribe to from news sources and your favorite polisociety blogs....

same goes for GamerIQ at cognitivelabs.com/gamerIQ/atom.xml or edge.maxvision.us/atom.xml (my own blog)

Getting a subscription to Cognitive Labs has never been easier. You simply follow the link and order, no matter where you are or what currency. When you purchase you get tremendous benefits:

- 24x7 online testing
- tracking - where we track your score, no need to print it out
- We remind you when it's time to take a test again
- We bring you special values and buying opportunities
- We help you take control of your cognitive health by helping you to be proactive
- Perhaps the biggest risk with the brain is knowing if there is a problem
- Often times, when symptoms appear, it is too late
- Early detection and awareness are critical
- Entertain yourself with games that are both fun and a mental workout

Why not order today? If you are already a paid member or have been recently, don't forget to move over to our new system

This pic is a snapshot of all the IP addresses taking tests at cognitivelabs.com ---the last 1,000 visitors.

We are working on getting a clickable real time pic(working with NetApps) showing the location of every visitor as it occurrs, which will be in PNG format pulled out of the logs...or dynamically as it occurrs. When you click on a point you will see the name of the city, for example, just in the last few minutes people have logged on from Amman, Jordan, Lincoln, Nebraska (Go Cornhuskers), Puyallup, Washington; Austin, Tx; Santa Clara, CA; Columbia, South Carolina; Diamond Bar, CA; Hood, VA; Omaha, NE; Nashville, TN; Augusta, GA; Atlanta, GA; Titusville, FL; and Normal, IL.

So in the future people who are logged can be pointed to useful nearby services or directed to nearby helpful resources...

Why is Google such a powerful ad tool. In a word, context. When you receive a newsletter from cognitivelabs and you use Gmail, you will receive a context-driven link as well as links to relevant content. This efficiency in driving high demand concepts is one of the engines behind our user growth. It also drives sales growth from advertising, which is increasing at 50% per month, while allowing us to get more free products out there to help you sort through and understand your own cognitive performance, then be given a referral. The Alzheimer's Association has kicked off a learning program which intends to provide knowledge to Baby Boomers about Memory Loss. Expect to see further integration there - in fact about 33% of the thousands of people who have taken the simple cognitive speed test have clicked through to the Alzheimer's Association locator and found their local office. The local office here is in Mountain View, CA.

Happy New Year..for me it marks more than ten years work on the web...and thanks for joining up....4,813 people in the past few days.