From baby boomers trying to improve the quality of their later years to kids whose parents (and schools) want to give them an edge, brain games are in high demand these days. Also in demand is some clear evidence that these brain games actually work. Of course, unlike some other health trends, there’s almost no downside to giving them a shot. As one expert explains: “I’ve never heard of anyone wearing out their brain.” From The Boston Globe Magazine: Do brain games work?

+ Can you train your brain to have more self-control? For an answer to that question, let’s look to the new memoir from a guy who was “a three-packs-a-day smoker, supplemented by a pipe.” Walter Mischel was also the psychologist behind the famous marshmallow test: “Mischel’s team would present a child with a treat … and tell her that she could either eat the one treat immediately or wait alone in the room for several minutes until the researcher returned, at which point she could have two treats.” (If my children were tested like this, you’d find the researchers tied to their chairs and my kids out back making S’mores.)