Cognitive Labs

CMP Media and Gamasutra have announced today the 1st serious games summit, in Arlington, VA, based on games for education, training and healthcare.

People are beginning to recognize the therapeutic,educational and psychological benefits from games...

We're rebuilding the engine on gamer-iq - so if (when) you encounter some broken links, we beg your indulgence. We just wiped off some of the hot grease on a shop rag so we could write this post. If you've ever dropped and rebuilt a VW engine, you know there's lots of finicky little parts with pins and springs that have to cleaned, greased, and carefully reinstalled or tapped into place with the soft touch of a surgeon.

AOL plans to release an antimatter to the matter of the hit post-it yourself video site 'youtube.' Why is it popular? "America's Funniest Home Videos" was once a sensation. This is just the same, except you are behind the camera and you are the editor.

The bandwidth being consumed by youtube reminds us of our hi-bandwith internet radio days. Supposedly youtube is spending $1 million per month on bandwidth. In our day, AOL was kicking in about $300,000 per month in free bandwidth for some of the biggest shoutcasters in our network

ref: techcruch via digg.com

In the study of Alzheimer's disease, the smallest steps forward have sometimes led to the most exciting breakthroughs, reports today's SF Chronicle.

In the case of a recent study from Novato's Buck Institute, it's a molecular step forward -- specifically, modifying a single amino acid in the brains of lab mice that could prevent the frightening memory loss and dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease.

While several scientists outside the Buck Institute were reluctant to call the study a true breakthrough, the results "are not a trivial step forward," said Stephen Snyder, an Alzheimer's disease specialist with the National Institute on Aging.

"This opens the door on a field of research. What these guys are showing, basically, is a new universe for us to look into more deeply," Snyder said. "We don't know much about the mechanisms. You could fault these people for rushing to print the study without knowing that, but in the Alzheimer's field, we accept a lot of this because these little incremental things could mean a lot."

Alzheimer's is a debilitating neurological disease that affects 4.5 million Americans, and with the Baby Boomer generation a decade or so away from the at-risk years, scientists have been under increasing pressure to develop treatments for the disease.

There are dozens, even hundreds, of studies being conducted on Alzheimer's at any given time, as scientists reconsider 15-year-old theories that haven't yet led to viable treatments, or spin off into new, untapped realms of brain chemistry research.

In the Buck Institute study, a protein was altered in the brains of lab mice. The mice that received the treatment showed all the pathological signs of suffering Alzheimer's disease -- most notably, a buildup of sticky plaque that scientists believe is related to the disease -- but had none of the memory-loss symptoms or brain shrinkage.

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