This episode is presented by eBay.

Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time, don't they? Absolutely, mate. And you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. there's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.

Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most

importantly, free. It's free, Rob. When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals

on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business

sellers.

Welcome to Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American for the seven days starting August 8th. I'm Steve Murski. This week on the podcast, if you look at the lavishly

illustrated brain books where one region is zoned for, let's say, vision. That's what it now turns out

can be overturned. That's journalist Sharon Begley, and we'll hear from her this week, plus

we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Sharon Begley is senior

science writer at Newsweek magazine, and she's the author of the book,

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves.

The conventional wisdom in neuroscience has long been that our adult brains are pretty much

hardwired by the time where three structure and function are pretty

much fixed. But recently, there's been a shift in that thinking with new experiments revealing

that we not only have the ability to change the structure of our brains, but that we in fact

continually grow new neurons right on through to old age. More surprising is that we change our brain

and not only through behavior,

just thinking in certain ways can change structure and function.

Scientific Americans Christy Nicholson recently spoke with Begley

about this groundbreaking research and just what it takes to change your brain.

One of the center points of the book is this idea of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.

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