Idealogian

Brain Bulk

A few people have sent me links to various articles reporting scientific findings that exercising a specific part of the brain can cause that portion to increase in size:

In a study conducted by Dr. Arne May and colleagues at the University of Regensburg in Germany, people who spent three months learning to juggle showed enlargement of certain areas in the cerebral cortex, the thin sheet of nerve cells on the brain's surface where most higher thought processes seem to be handled. They were then asked to quit juggling completely, and three months later the enlarged areas of the cortex had started to shrink.

Which means that if I want to be in tip-top shape to juggle at my friends' upcoming wedding, I'd better start exercising again. For those of you who don't know how to juggle and would like to learn, watching this guy may help you pick up the rhythm.

Also, I wonder if certain areas may be more malleable/plastic than others. It's said that once you learn how to ride a bicycle, you never forget. Is the portion of the brain that controls bike riding less "plastic" than others, and thus once it expands, it never fully contracts?