Paperback Available Now and Summer Workshops

The following was emailed to our Brain Rules Newsletter subscribers. If you want to receive email updates about 2x a year, sign up to subscribe to the newsletter.

Brain Rules Paperback Now in Stores
We are happy to report that the Brain Rules paperback is now available. The paperback includes a special link to watch the DVD online. You can pick up a copy at any bookstore. Links to buy online are here.

Brain Rules Workshops
Spend a day with John Medina as he takes the research and ideas in Brain Rules to the next level. Seattle Pacific University is hosting Brain Rules for Education (for teachers, principals, superintendents, and administrators).

Brain Rules for Education- Seattle
Thursday, June 25, 2009
OR
Thursday, July 16, 2009
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Register and learn more: http://tinyurl.com/brainruleseducation

Register now to secure your spot as seating will be limited.

Cool Links to Share
There's a ton happening online related to the book. Here are some links to check out:

Sleep Well, Think Well - learn why we spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping
Brain Rules for Presenters - Garr Reynolds shows how Brain Rules relates to presentations
YouTube - more than 30 Brain Rules videos
Authors@Google talk - watch John Medina's 50-minute talk at Google
Tutorials - explore each brain rule through charts, audio, and video
Twitter - follow the action on Twitter
Mind Map - interactive outline of all 12 Brain Rules
Facebook - become a fan of John's, watch videos, discuss the book, and more

Brain Rules T-Shirts
We now have our own t-shirts. If you'd like a free t-shirt, order 7 copies of either the paperback or hardcover from an online bookseller by April 15, 2009 (tax day). Simply forward your email receipt to brainrulesbook@gmail.com with the subject "t-shirt." Let us know your size and mailing address. Offer is only good for U.S. addresses.


Thanks for sharing this with your friends and colleagues. Remember, curiosity is everything.

Mark Pearson
Pear Press

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The 10 Minute Rule

So I ask this question in every college course I teach: “Given a class of medium interest, not too boring and not too exciting, when do you start glancing at the clock, wondering when the class will be over?” There is always some nervous shuffling, a few smiles, then a lot of silence. Eventually someone blurts out:

“Ten minutes, Dr. Medina.”

“Why 10 minutes?” I inquire.

“That’s when I start to lose attention. That’s when I begin to wonder when this torment will be over.” The comments are always said in frustration. A college lecture is still about 50 minutes long.

Peer-reviewed studies confirm my informal inquiry: Before the first quarter-hour is over in a typical presentation, people usually have checked out. If keeping someone’s interest in a lecture were a business, it would have an 80 percent failure rate. What happens at the 10-minute mark to cause such trouble? Nobody knows. The brain seems to be making choices according to some stubborn timing pattern, undoubtedly influenced by both culture and gene. This fact suggests a teaching and business imperative: Find a way to arouse and then hold somebody’s attention for a specific period of time.

"10 Minute Rule" slide with audio

To learn more about how Brain Rules relates to presentations, check out Garr Reynolds's Brain Rules for Presenters slideshow. Garr is the author of Presentation Zen.

Brain Rules for Presenters

View more slideshows:
Exercise
Sleep
Stress
Gender

Fishing for Genetic Links in Autism

This is the second installment in a 2-part series that addresses approaches to understanding the molecular underpinnings of autism. Learn more about "Brain Rules" here.

In my January column (“Fishing Expeditions and Autism: A Big Catch for Genetic Research?” Psychiatric Times, January 2009), I described the great difficulties researchers face characterizing the genetic basis of the disease. Complexities range from trying to establish a stable diagnostic profile to making sense of the few isolated mutations that show clear associations (either with disease or syndrome variants).

Using the metaphor of a fishing net, I discussed 2 overall research strategies that geneticists commonly use to catch these elusive sequences of interest. One strategy is to cast nets that act like large purse seiners to collect many sequences in a single (and usually quite expensive) effort. The other strategy is akin to dropping a single fishing line into the genetic waters to see if anything “bites.” In Part 1, I described one particularly successful strategy that snagged a large number of useful sequences.

Here, the focus narrows: I will not describe the isolation of many sequences, but rather only one. Our “catch” is called MeCP2, a gene whose mutations can give rise to a wide spectrum of related postnatal neurodevelopmental disorders—including autism spectrum disorders. I will start with some background regions about gene regulation, move to the biological functions of MeCP2, and then focus on studies in animal models that provide tantalizing hints about the origins of autistic behavior. My goal is to show that research progress in autism is a continuum of efforts, ranging from large projects with lots of identifiable sequences to small projects that focus on the properties of single genes.

Download the PDF of the complete article

Related:
- Theory of Mind