MORE and more retired people are heading back to the nearest classroom — as students and, in some cases, teachers — and they are finding out that school can be lovelier the second time around. Some may be thinking of second careers, but most just want to keep their minds stimulated, learn something new or catch up with a subject they were always curious about but never had time for.

For many, at least part of the motivation is based on widespread reports that exercising the brain may preserve it, forestalling mental decline and maybe even Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Is there any truth to it? And if there is, what type of learning is best suited to the older brain?

Many studies do find that being mentally active is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. But the standard caveat applies: association does not prove cause and effect, and there is always the chance that the mentally active people who never got Alzheimer’s simply had healthier brains to begin with. Even, so, researchers say, there is no harm in telling people to try to stay engaged.

“When you and I are having this conversation, you’re taking notes, thinking, remembering pieces of it, trying to relate it to other things,” said Arthur Toga, a professor of neurology and director of the laboratory of neuroimaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You’re changing the circuitry in your brain. That is because you have changed something in your brain to retain that memory.”

Dr. Toga elaborated: “The conversation requires nerve cells in the brain to fire, and when they fire they are using energy. More oxygen and sugar must be delivered, by increased blood flow to those regions.

“Why would that be good? If you are vasodilating, delivering more blood to certain regions of the brain, that is important. It increases the longevity and the health of those circuits. In adults, if I ask you to perform tasks you’ve never done before, the amount of brain it takes for you to try and do it is far greater than the amount of brain it takes for you to do something you’re already good at. So yes, exercising the brain is good.” Playing video games probably qualifies as a type of brain exercise, he said, though older people might not sharpen their skills as fast as younger ones do.

Dr. Toga warned that while using the brain might help avert some of the mental slowing that normally comes with aging, it had its limits. “I do not believe that it forestalls degenerative disease, however,” he said. “That’s a different process.”

But research continues. Dr. William Jagust, a professor of public health and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, said there were two main theories that tried to explain why exercising the brain might make it more resistant to disease. One is the “cognitive reserve” theory, which says that if the brain is in the best possible shape with extensive neuronal connections from being used a lot, it may be able to withstand the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for a while and symptoms may take longer to develop.

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s is deposits in the brain of an abnormal form of a protein called amyloid. “A paper we published showed that people who were more cognitively active over their whole life span had less amyloid,” Dr. Jagust said.

“My interpretation is that people who are more cognitively active have more efficient brains,” Dr. Jagust said. “What seems to happen in aging is that older people seem to have less efficient brains.” A scan of brain activity on a 20-year-old being asked to remember something will show less activity needed than in an 80-year-old asked to perform the same task.

“Older people seem to activate or bring on line brain areas that young people don’t use,” Dr. Jagust said. “They have to work their brains harder. So people who stay cognitively active may use their brains more efficiently.” That way, they may generate fewer amyloid deposits. But he emphasized that being mentally active throughout life — not just in old age — was what mattered.

Nonetheless, Dr. Jagust acknowledged, “this is all theoretical.”

It is a good idea to try something new.

“A variety of things is important,” Dr. Toga said. “We try to encourage people to do certain things because it couldn’t hurt and may be good. Retaining lots of social interaction is really important. It involves so much of the brain. You have to interpret facial expressions and understand new concepts.

[...]

One of the largest programs for retirees is at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (it is not associated with Osher). Called Learning in Retirement, it is sponsored by the university, with more than 1,000 members and more than 240 courses a year. Michael W. Murphy, who spent more than 30 years as an English professor, said this program had brought him some of the greatest joy he had experienced in the classroom. Since 2001, when he stepped down from his post as acting dean at the university, he has been teaching poetry and other subjects to Learning in Retirement members. It is an unpaid position. “I’ve always enjoyed teaching, and the idea of teaching without having to read papers, correct tests and worst of all, give out grades, was really appealing,” Dr. Murphy said.

To his delight, the students actually want to be there. They take the time to tell him how much they appreciate him and sometimes even break into applause after his lectures. The students include doctors, lawyers, professors and high-school dropouts. “The biggest problem I had teaching 18-year-olds was a kind of general apathy,” Dr. Murphy said. “They were looking forward to a career in high finance and I was trying to teach them to appreciate Tennyson. The fact that these people show up, and toddle in or waddle in, some with their walkers or wheelchairs, it’s heartwarming.”

www.nytimes.com/, March 7, 2012.

MORE and more retired people are heading back to the nearest classroom — as students and, in some cases, teachers — and they are finding out that school can be lovelier the second time around. Some may be thinking of second careers, but most just want to keep their minds stimulated, learn something new or catch up with a subject they were always curious about but never had time for.

For many, at least part of the motivation is based on widespread reports that exercising the brain may preserve it, forestalling mental decline and maybe even Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Is there any truth to it? And if there is, what type of learning is best suited to the older brain?

Many studies do find that being mentally active is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. But the standard caveat applies: association does not prove cause and effect, and there is always the chance that the mentally active people who never got Alzheimer’s simply had healthier brains to begin with. Even, so, researchers say, there is no harm in telling people to try to stay engaged.

“When you and I are having this conversation, you’re taking notes, thinking, remembering pieces of it, trying to relate it to other things,” said Arthur Toga, a professor of neurology and director of the laboratory of neuroimaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You’re changing the circuitry in your brain. That is because you have changed something in your brain to retain that memory.”

Dr. Toga elaborated: “The conversation requires nerve cells in the brain to fire, and when they fire they are using energy. More oxygen and sugar must be delivered, by increased blood flow to those regions.

“Why would that be good? If you are vasodilating, delivering more blood to certain regions of the brain, that is important. It increases the longevity and the health of those circuits. In adults, if I ask you to perform tasks you’ve never done before, the amount of brain it takes for you to try and do it is far greater than the amount of brain it takes for you to do something you’re already good at. So yes, exercising the brain is good.” Playing video games probably qualifies as a type of brain exercise, he said, though older people might not sharpen their skills as fast as younger ones do.

Dr. Toga warned that while using the brain might help avert some of the mental slowing that normally comes with aging, it had its limits. “I do not believe that it forestalls degenerative disease, however,” he said. “That’s a different process.”

But research continues. Dr. William Jagust, a professor of public health and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, said there were two main theories that tried to explain why exercising the brain might make it more resistant to disease. One is the “cognitive reserve” theory, which says that if the brain is in the best possible shape with extensive neuronal connections from being used a lot, it may be able to withstand the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for a while and symptoms may take longer to develop.

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s is deposits in the brain of an abnormal form of a protein called amyloid. “A paper we published showed that people who were more cognitively active over their whole life span had less amyloid,” Dr. Jagust said.

“My interpretation is that people who are more cognitively active have more efficient brains,” Dr. Jagust said. “What seems to happen in aging is that older people seem to have less efficient brains.” A scan of brain activity on a 20-year-old being asked to remember something will show less activity needed than in an 80-year-old asked to perform the same task.

“Older people seem to activate or bring on line brain areas that young people don’t use,” Dr. Jagust said. “They have to work their brains harder. So people who stay cognitively active may use their brains more efficiently.” That way, they may generate fewer amyloid deposits. But he emphasized that being mentally active throughout life — not just in old age — was what mattered.

Nonetheless, Dr. Jagust acknowledged, “this is all theoretical.”

It is a good idea to try something new.

“A variety of things is important,” Dr. Toga said. “We try to encourage people to do certain things because it couldn’t hurt and may be good. Retaining lots of social interaction is really important. It involves so much of the brain. You have to interpret facial expressions and understand new concepts.

[...]

One of the largest programs for retirees is at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (it is not associated with Osher). Called Learning in Retirement, it is sponsored by the university, with more than 1,000 members and more than 240 courses a year. Michael W. Murphy, who spent more than 30 years as an English professor, said this program had brought him some of the greatest joy he had experienced in the classroom. Since 2001, when he stepped down from his post as acting dean at the university, he has been teaching poetry and other subjects to Learning in Retirement members. It is an unpaid position. “I’ve always enjoyed teaching, and the idea of teaching without having to read papers, correct tests and worst of all, give out grades, was really appealing,” Dr. Murphy said.

To his delight, the students actually want to be there. They take the time to tell him how much they appreciate him and sometimes even break into applause after his lectures. The students include doctors, lawyers, professors and high-school dropouts. “The biggest problem I had teaching 18-year-olds was a kind of general apathy,” Dr. Murphy said. “They were looking forward to a career in high finance and I was trying to teach them to appreciate Tennyson. The fact that these people show up, and toddle in or waddle in, some with their walkers or wheelchairs, it’s heartwarming.”

www.nytimes.com/, March 7, 2012.

LES TECHNOLOGIES DE L’INFORMATION ET DE LA COMMUNICATION POUR L’ENSEIGNEMENT- TICE: OUTILS ET INNOVATIONS

L’intégration des TICE dans l’enseignement des langues s’impose aujourd’hui comme une nécessité. De nature transversale, les technologies posent la question de leur intégration dans la discipline non pas seulement comme des outils mais aussi et de plus en plus comme des vecteurs de la construction de nouveaux savoirs.

Maîtriser les TICE pour un enseignant, c’est maîtriser un rapport au texte et à l’image dans une configuration nouvelle et inédite. C’est aussi engager un dialogue nouveau avec les nouvelles générations d’apprenants et c’est ordonner le temps et l’espace de la classe dans une approche résolument contemporaine qui s’appuie sur les facultés de l’apprenant.

C’est également installer l’enseignement de la langue étrangère dans un environnement nouveau que l’on appelle société de l’information et de la communication. Le domaine des TICE peut axer son développement autour des trois priorités - formation, recherche, expertise - justifiant ainsi son statut prioritairement universitaire. Les TICE permettent à de nombreux enseignants d’approfondir leurs connaissances dans un domaine en constante évolution.

Les formations proposées abordent toutes les problématiques. De la création de ressources multimédias à l’utilisation en cours de langue, en passant par l’ingénierie de dispositif de formation ouverte et à distance favorisant l’autonomisation des apprentissages, l’intégration de nouveaux outils, le développement de nouvelles pratiques d’enseignement et la réflexion sur l’évolution des compétences de l’enseignant de langue. Les formations deviennent ainsi ancrées dans l’actualité et l’innovation didactique.

Adapté de l’éditorial et d’un des articles de Nouvelles CLA, nº7, février 2012.

Leonardo “se asoma” tras una pared de Florencia

La batalla de Anghiari ha sido durante 500 años una batalla perdida. Se sabe que, en 1503, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) recibió de la república de Florencia el encargo de pintar un fresco que recreara la victoria de los florentinos sobre las tropas milanesas a mediados del siglo XV. Incluso se sabe que el pintor renacentista ejecutó el trabajo y, de hecho, en el museo del Louvre de París existe una copia realizada por Rubens (1577-1640) basándose en grabados de la época. Al original, sin embargo, se lo tragó la tierra. O, mejor dicho, la pared. Un equipo de expertos acaba de asegurar que los rumores de que La batalla de Anghiari se encontraba oculta tras un muro del Salón de los Quinientos del palacio Vecchio tienen toda la pinta de ser ciertos. Al parecer hay restos de la misma pintura negra que utilizó Da Vinci para pintar la Mona Lisa y el San Juan Bautista.

El problema – porque todo no podía ser tan fácil después de cinco siglos de misterio – es que La batalla de Anghiari, o lo que quede de ella, se encontraría justo debajo de otra obra de arte - de La batalla de Scannagallo, pintada por Giorgio Vasari en 1565 sobre la misma pared del palacio Vecchio, sede del Ayuntamiento de Florencia. Vasari, que sólo tenía ocho años cuando murió Leonardo Da Vinci a los 67, recibió en su madurez artística el encargo de decorar todo el Salón Quinientos.b La duda es si tras la pintura de Vasari sigue durmiendo la de Leonardo o si los restos encontrados gracias a una técnica muy sofisticada son sólo eso, restos. Y sobre esa duda se libra ahora otra batalla cada vez más encarnizada.

De una parte, el equipo dirigido por Maurizio Seracini, un estudioso que lleva 36 años buscando el mural perdido y que, gracias a apoyos científicos y mediáticos muy potentes - la Universidad de San Diego, la National Geographic Society…–, parece haber alcanzado una feliz conclusión: “Aunque todavía estamos en las etapas preliminares, la evidencia muestra que estamos buscando en el lugar correcto”. Y las evidencias, según Seracini, son un pigmento negro compuesto principalmente de manganeso y algo de hierro, algunos fragmentos de rojo, una fina capa de beige…

No obstante, Mauricio Seracini no será demasiado explícito hasta el próximo domingo, que es cuando National Geographic Channel emitirá el documental En busca del Da Vinci perdido. En la otra trinchera, por ahora sin mecenazgo, se sitúan quienes sostienen que la investigación de Seracini puede causar más daño que beneficio.

Leonardo “se asoma” tras una pared de Florencia

La batalla de Anghiari ha sido durante 500 años una batalla perdida. Se sabe que, en 1503, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) recibió de la república de Florencia el encargo de pintar un fresco que recreara la victoria de los florentinos sobre las tropas milanesas a mediados del siglo XV. Incluso se sabe que el pintor renacentista ejecutó el trabajo y, de hecho, en el museo del Louvre de París existe una copia realizada por Rubens (1577-1640) basándose en grabados de la época. Al original, sin embargo, se lo tragó la tierra. O, mejor dicho, la pared. Un equipo de expertos acaba de asegurar que los rumores de que La batalla de Anghiari se encontraba oculta tras un muro del Salón de los Quinientos del palacio Vecchio tienen toda la pinta de ser ciertos. Al parecer hay restos de la misma pintura negra que utilizó Da Vinci para pintar la Mona Lisa y el San Juan Bautista.

El problema – porque todo no podía ser tan fácil después de cinco siglos de misterio – es que La batalla de Anghiari, o lo que quede de ella, se encontraría justo debajo de otra obra de arte - de La batalla de Scannagallo, pintada por Giorgio Vasari en 1565 sobre la misma pared del palacio Vecchio, sede del Ayuntamiento de Florencia. Vasari, que sólo tenía ocho años cuando murió Leonardo Da Vinci a los 67, recibió en su madurez artística el encargo de decorar todo el Salón Quinientos.b La duda es si tras la pintura de Vasari sigue durmiendo la de Leonardo o si los restos encontrados gracias a una técnica muy sofisticada son sólo eso, restos. Y sobre esa duda se libra ahora otra batalla cada vez más encarnizada.

De una parte, el equipo dirigido por Maurizio Seracini, un estudioso que lleva 36 años buscando el mural perdido y que, gracias a apoyos científicos y mediáticos muy potentes - la Universidad de San Diego, la National Geographic Society…–, parece haber alcanzado una feliz conclusión: “Aunque todavía estamos en las etapas preliminares, la evidencia muestra que estamos buscando en el lugar correcto”. Y las evidencias, según Seracini, son un pigmento negro compuesto principalmente de manganeso y algo de hierro, algunos fragmentos de rojo, una fina capa de beige…

No obstante, Mauricio Seracini no será demasiado explícito hasta el próximo domingo, que es cuando National Geographic Channel emitirá el documental En busca del Da Vinci perdido. En la otra trinchera, por ahora sin mecenazgo, se sitúan quienes sostienen que la investigación de Seracini puede causar más daño que beneficio.

LES TECHNOLOGIES DE L’INFORMATION ET DE LA COMMUNICATION POUR L’ENSEIGNEMENT- TICE: OUTILS ET INNOVATIONS

L’intégration des TICE dans l’enseignement des langues s’impose aujourd’hui comme une nécessité. De nature transversale, les technologies posent la question de leur intégration dans la discipline non pas seulement comme des outils mais aussi et de plus en plus comme des vecteurs de la construction de nouveaux savoirs.

Maîtriser les TICE pour un enseignant, c’est maîtriser un rapport au texte et à l’image dans une configuration nouvelle et inédite. C’est aussi engager un dialogue nouveau avec les nouvelles générations d’apprenants et c’est ordonner le temps et l’espace de la classe dans une approche résolument contemporaine qui s’appuie sur les facultés de l’apprenant.

C’est également installer l’enseignement de la langue étrangère dans un environnement nouveau que l’on appelle société de l’information et de la communication. Le domaine des TICE peut axer son développement autour des trois priorités - formation, recherche, expertise - justifiant ainsi son statut prioritairement universitaire. Les TICE permettent à de nombreux enseignants d’approfondir leurs connaissances dans un domaine en constante évolution.

Les formations proposées abordent toutes les problématiques. De la création de ressources multimédias à l’utilisation en cours de langue, en passant par l’ingénierie de dispositif de formation ouverte et à distance favorisant l’autonomisation des apprentissages, l’intégration de nouveaux outils, le développement de nouvelles pratiques d’enseignement et la réflexion sur l’évolution des compétences de l’enseignant de langue. Les formations deviennent ainsi ancrées dans l’actualité et l’innovation didactique.

Adapté de l’éditorial et d’un des articles de Nouvelles CLA, nº7, février 2012.

MORE and more retired people are heading back to the nearest classroom — as students and, in some cases, teachers — and they are finding out that school can be lovelier the second time around. Some may be thinking of second careers, but most just want to keep their minds stimulated, learn something new or catch up with a subject they were always curious about but never had time for.

For many, at least part of the motivation is based on widespread reports that exercising the brain may preserve it, forestalling mental decline and maybe even Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Is there any truth to it? And if there is, what type of learning is best suited to the older brain?

Many studies do find that being mentally active is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. But the standard caveat applies: association does not prove cause and effect, and there is always the chance that the mentally active people who never got Alzheimer’s simply had healthier brains to begin with. Even, so, researchers say, there is no harm in telling people to try to stay engaged.

“When you and I are having this conversation, you’re taking notes, thinking, remembering pieces of it, trying to relate it to other things,” said Arthur Toga, a professor of neurology and director of the laboratory of neuroimaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You’re changing the circuitry in your brain. That is because you have changed something in your brain to retain that memory.”

Dr. Toga elaborated: “The conversation requires nerve cells in the brain to fire, and when they fire they are using energy. More oxygen and sugar must be delivered, by increased blood flow to those regions.

“Why would that be good? If you are vasodilating, delivering more blood to certain regions of the brain, that is important. It increases the longevity and the health of those circuits. In adults, if I ask you to perform tasks you’ve never done before, the amount of brain it takes for you to try and do it is far greater than the amount of brain it takes for you to do something you’re already good at. So yes, exercising the brain is good.” Playing video games probably qualifies as a type of brain exercise, he said, though older people might not sharpen their skills as fast as younger ones do.

Dr. Toga warned that while using the brain might help avert some of the mental slowing that normally comes with aging, it had its limits. “I do not believe that it forestalls degenerative disease, however,” he said. “That’s a different process.”

But research continues. Dr. William Jagust, a professor of public health and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, said there were two main theories that tried to explain why exercising the brain might make it more resistant to disease. One is the “cognitive reserve” theory, which says that if the brain is in the best possible shape with extensive neuronal connections from being used a lot, it may be able to withstand the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for a while and symptoms may take longer to develop.

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s is deposits in the brain of an abnormal form of a protein called amyloid. “A paper we published showed that people who were more cognitively active over their whole life span had less amyloid,” Dr. Jagust said.

“My interpretation is that people who are more cognitively active have more efficient brains,” Dr. Jagust said. “What seems to happen in aging is that older people seem to have less efficient brains.” A scan of brain activity on a 20-year-old being asked to remember something will show less activity needed than in an 80-year-old asked to perform the same task.

“Older people seem to activate or bring on line brain areas that young people don’t use,” Dr. Jagust said. “They have to work their brains harder. So people who stay cognitively active may use their brains more efficiently.” That way, they may generate fewer amyloid deposits. But he emphasized that being mentally active throughout life — not just in old age — was what mattered.

Nonetheless, Dr. Jagust acknowledged, “this is all theoretical.”

It is a good idea to try something new.

“A variety of things is important,” Dr. Toga said. “We try to encourage people to do certain things because it couldn’t hurt and may be good. Retaining lots of social interaction is really important. It involves so much of the brain. You have to interpret facial expressions and understand new concepts.

[...]

One of the largest programs for retirees is at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (it is not associated with Osher). Called Learning in Retirement, it is sponsored by the university, with more than 1,000 members and more than 240 courses a year. Michael W. Murphy, who spent more than 30 years as an English professor, said this program had brought him some of the greatest joy he had experienced in the classroom. Since 2001, when he stepped down from his post as acting dean at the university, he has been teaching poetry and other subjects to Learning in Retirement members. It is an unpaid position. “I’ve always enjoyed teaching, and the idea of teaching without having to read papers, correct tests and worst of all, give out grades, was really appealing,” Dr. Murphy said.

To his delight, the students actually want to be there. They take the time to tell him how much they appreciate him and sometimes even break into applause after his lectures. The students include doctors, lawyers, professors and high-school dropouts. “The biggest problem I had teaching 18-year-olds was a kind of general apathy,” Dr. Murphy said. “They were looking forward to a career in high finance and I was trying to teach them to appreciate Tennyson. The fact that these people show up, and toddle in or waddle in, some with their walkers or wheelchairs, it’s heartwarming.”

www.nytimes.com/, March 7, 2012.

LES TECHNOLOGIES DE L’INFORMATION ET DE LA COMMUNICATION POUR L’ENSEIGNEMENT- TICE: OUTILS ET INNOVATIONS

L’intégration des TICE dans l’enseignement des langues s’impose aujourd’hui comme une nécessité. De nature transversale, les technologies posent la question de leur intégration dans la discipline non pas seulement comme des outils mais aussi et de plus en plus comme des vecteurs de la construction de nouveaux savoirs.

Maîtriser les TICE pour un enseignant, c’est maîtriser un rapport au texte et à l’image dans une configuration nouvelle et inédite. C’est aussi engager un dialogue nouveau avec les nouvelles générations d’apprenants et c’est ordonner le temps et l’espace de la classe dans une approche résolument contemporaine qui s’appuie sur les facultés de l’apprenant.

C’est également installer l’enseignement de la langue étrangère dans un environnement nouveau que l’on appelle société de l’information et de la communication. Le domaine des TICE peut axer son développement autour des trois priorités - formation, recherche, expertise - justifiant ainsi son statut prioritairement universitaire. Les TICE permettent à de nombreux enseignants d’approfondir leurs connaissances dans un domaine en constante évolution.

Les formations proposées abordent toutes les problématiques. De la création de ressources multimédias à l’utilisation en cours de langue, en passant par l’ingénierie de dispositif de formation ouverte et à distance favorisant l’autonomisation des apprentissages, l’intégration de nouveaux outils, le développement de nouvelles pratiques d’enseignement et la réflexion sur l’évolution des compétences de l’enseignant de langue. Les formations deviennent ainsi ancrées dans l’actualité et l’innovation didactique.

Adapté de l’éditorial et d’un des articles de Nouvelles CLA, nº7, février 2012.

Leonardo “se asoma” tras una pared de Florencia

La batalla de Anghiari ha sido durante 500 años una batalla perdida. Se sabe que, en 1503, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) recibió de la república de Florencia el encargo de pintar un fresco que recreara la victoria de los florentinos sobre las tropas milanesas a mediados del siglo XV. Incluso se sabe que el pintor renacentista ejecutó el trabajo y, de hecho, en el museo del Louvre de París existe una copia realizada por Rubens (1577-1640) basándose en grabados de la época. Al original, sin embargo, se lo tragó la tierra. O, mejor dicho, la pared. Un equipo de expertos acaba de asegurar que los rumores de que La batalla de Anghiari se encontraba oculta tras un muro del Salón de los Quinientos del palacio Vecchio tienen toda la pinta de ser ciertos. Al parecer hay restos de la misma pintura negra que utilizó Da Vinci para pintar la Mona Lisa y el San Juan Bautista.

El problema – porque todo no podía ser tan fácil después de cinco siglos de misterio – es que La batalla de Anghiari, o lo que quede de ella, se encontraría justo debajo de otra obra de arte - de La batalla de Scannagallo, pintada por Giorgio Vasari en 1565 sobre la misma pared del palacio Vecchio, sede del Ayuntamiento de Florencia. Vasari, que sólo tenía ocho años cuando murió Leonardo Da Vinci a los 67, recibió en su madurez artística el encargo de decorar todo el Salón Quinientos.b La duda es si tras la pintura de Vasari sigue durmiendo la de Leonardo o si los restos encontrados gracias a una técnica muy sofisticada son sólo eso, restos. Y sobre esa duda se libra ahora otra batalla cada vez más encarnizada.

De una parte, el equipo dirigido por Maurizio Seracini, un estudioso que lleva 36 años buscando el mural perdido y que, gracias a apoyos científicos y mediáticos muy potentes - la Universidad de San Diego, la National Geographic Society…–, parece haber alcanzado una feliz conclusión: “Aunque todavía estamos en las etapas preliminares, la evidencia muestra que estamos buscando en el lugar correcto”. Y las evidencias, según Seracini, son un pigmento negro compuesto principalmente de manganeso y algo de hierro, algunos fragmentos de rojo, una fina capa de beige…

No obstante, Mauricio Seracini no será demasiado explícito hasta el próximo domingo, que es cuando National Geographic Channel emitirá el documental En busca del Da Vinci perdido. En la otra trinchera, por ahora sin mecenazgo, se sitúan quienes sostienen que la investigación de Seracini puede causar más daño que beneficio.

MORE and more retired people are heading back to the nearest classroom — as students and, in some cases, teachers — and they are finding out that school can be lovelier the second time around. Some may be thinking of second careers, but most just want to keep their minds stimulated, learn something new or catch up with a subject they were always curious about but never had time for.

For many, at least part of the motivation is based on widespread reports that exercising the brain may preserve it, forestalling mental decline and maybe even Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Is there any truth to it? And if there is, what type of learning is best suited to the older brain?

Many studies do find that being mentally active is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. But the standard caveat applies: association does not prove cause and effect, and there is always the chance that the mentally active people who never got Alzheimer’s simply had healthier brains to begin with. Even, so, researchers say, there is no harm in telling people to try to stay engaged.

“When you and I are having this conversation, you’re taking notes, thinking, remembering pieces of it, trying to relate it to other things,” said Arthur Toga, a professor of neurology and director of the laboratory of neuroimaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You’re changing the circuitry in your brain. That is because you have changed something in your brain to retain that memory.”

Dr. Toga elaborated: “The conversation requires nerve cells in the brain to fire, and when they fire they are using energy. More oxygen and sugar must be delivered, by increased blood flow to those regions.

“Why would that be good? If you are vasodilating, delivering more blood to certain regions of the brain, that is important. It increases the longevity and the health of those circuits. In adults, if I ask you to perform tasks you’ve never done before, the amount of brain it takes for you to try and do it is far greater than the amount of brain it takes for you to do something you’re already good at. So yes, exercising the brain is good.” Playing video games probably qualifies as a type of brain exercise, he said, though older people might not sharpen their skills as fast as younger ones do.

Dr. Toga warned that while using the brain might help avert some of the mental slowing that normally comes with aging, it had its limits. “I do not believe that it forestalls degenerative disease, however,” he said. “That’s a different process.”

But research continues. Dr. William Jagust, a professor of public health and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, said there were two main theories that tried to explain why exercising the brain might make it more resistant to disease. One is the “cognitive reserve” theory, which says that if the brain is in the best possible shape with extensive neuronal connections from being used a lot, it may be able to withstand the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for a while and symptoms may take longer to develop.

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s is deposits in the brain of an abnormal form of a protein called amyloid. “A paper we published showed that people who were more cognitively active over their whole life span had less amyloid,” Dr. Jagust said.

“My interpretation is that people who are more cognitively active have more efficient brains,” Dr. Jagust said. “What seems to happen in aging is that older people seem to have less efficient brains.” A scan of brain activity on a 20-year-old being asked to remember something will show less activity needed than in an 80-year-old asked to perform the same task.

“Older people seem to activate or bring on line brain areas that young people don’t use,” Dr. Jagust said. “They have to work their brains harder. So people who stay cognitively active may use their brains more efficiently.” That way, they may generate fewer amyloid deposits. But he emphasized that being mentally active throughout life — not just in old age — was what mattered.

Nonetheless, Dr. Jagust acknowledged, “this is all theoretical.”

It is a good idea to try something new.

“A variety of things is important,” Dr. Toga said. “We try to encourage people to do certain things because it couldn’t hurt and may be good. Retaining lots of social interaction is really important. It involves so much of the brain. You have to interpret facial expressions and understand new concepts.

[...]

One of the largest programs for retirees is at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (it is not associated with Osher). Called Learning in Retirement, it is sponsored by the university, with more than 1,000 members and more than 240 courses a year. Michael W. Murphy, who spent more than 30 years as an English professor, said this program had brought him some of the greatest joy he had experienced in the classroom. Since 2001, when he stepped down from his post as acting dean at the university, he has been teaching poetry and other subjects to Learning in Retirement members. It is an unpaid position. “I’ve always enjoyed teaching, and the idea of teaching without having to read papers, correct tests and worst of all, give out grades, was really appealing,” Dr. Murphy said.

To his delight, the students actually want to be there. They take the time to tell him how much they appreciate him and sometimes even break into applause after his lectures. The students include doctors, lawyers, professors and high-school dropouts. “The biggest problem I had teaching 18-year-olds was a kind of general apathy,” Dr. Murphy said. “They were looking forward to a career in high finance and I was trying to teach them to appreciate Tennyson. The fact that these people show up, and toddle in or waddle in, some with their walkers or wheelchairs, it’s heartwarming.”

www.nytimes.com/, March 7, 2012.