美国科学60秒 SSS 2013-07-17（在线收听）

 　　A book a day may keep dementia away, even if you read it as a kid. Because the study finds the exercise in the brain in any age may preserve memory. The work appears online Journal Rolonogy. Previous studies have shown that engaging in brain building activities is associated with the delay in late life cognitive decline. But why? Does flexing the old brain matters somehow buffer against age related intellectual impairment, whereas cognitive law simply a consequence of the aging brain’s physical decline? To find out, researchers question nearly 300 elderly individuals about their lifelong participation in intellectual pursuits like reading books, writing letters and looking up things in the library. Then every year, for an average of 6 years until they died, they subjected to test their memory in thinking. What the researchers found is that folks who work their mental muscles both earlier and late in life remain more intellectually nimbler than those who didn’t. Even when I post more and look at their brains, revealed the tell-tale signs of their physical decline. So if you are heading to the beach, don’t forget a hat and a book, both protect your head.