The wisdom of popularity rankings

For three days a story on keeping the middle-aged brain sharp topped the list of most e-mailed articles on the New York Times web site. It offers the following reassurance: “The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can.” Judging from the challenges many of my students face, this may well be true. Still, the article kept its top ranking because baby boomers seem to badly need such reassurance after each episode when they (or should I say, we) cannot recall a PIN number or forget to turn off the stove.