Gray Matters

Went to an interesting discussion on the workings of the brain today, titled "Gray Matters",  at Stanford's Maples Pavilion. It was moderated by Juju Chang of ABC News and featured some really interesting panelists, including Bob Woodruff of ABC who went through a long recovery after suffering severe brain injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006. Brain science is still in its infancy, but more and more people are studying it, addressing questions such as: what are thoughts, how are memories stored, and how can we retain our mental agility. Much of the research is focused on gaining better understanding of ailments of the brain, such as Alzheimer's disease. All of the panelists seemed to feel that the research is moving in the right direction, although there's obviously so much more to be done.