Google Gets Smart With Our Brains

How to Increase your memory
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Google is the biggest player on search engine market – no doubts. But even this glorious major is really far from being perfect when it comes to the quality of its results.

With all efforts that they are reporting to have put into evaluation of links, content, after all encouragement of natural site growth and fights against brutal SEO manipulations Google still needed a real advance to provide its searchers with the new level of quality of its search results. Many webmasters think that before artificial intelligence is introduced into Google’s algo it is almost impossible to talk about this new level of search results.

But where others would give up, Google is not not going to lose its positions.

And the solution to the new quality of search engine results without artificial intelligence is really smart. Think about it this way – who is better than any artificial intelligence? We – the lovely bipedal human beings with brain!

And once again Google resorts to the extra help of human beings. Most of you should have heard that Google introduced the ‘Web History’ which records your searches and sites that you visit. You can pause or delete the history at any time which is a great feature. Plus Google is not sneaking you into this feature which is another “thumbs up” for their attitude to the searchers and their freedom.

But let’s have a look into the potential of “Web History” feature.

For Google – in future – this is a great feedback on what exactly people search, what sites use most of all for these searches and how exactly use them (what pages visit, how often, etc.)

This history is a perfect statistics gatherer for Google. And this information – when properly processed – can be a real boost in refining the search engine results. Because with the web history data Google can get an extra digest of the Internet market and how people react to this or that web site.

No one but Google can guarantee that they will or will not use this information to refine the quality of search results. But human beings have proven to be very crafty in selecting good resources. So, Google will be very smart to use this extra help. And we should reap the fruits in a way of far better search results.

Automatic Link Exchange Script for Free Free Debt Consolidation Help Guide

Five Fast No-Brainers to Increase Online Profits Now

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You don’t need to spend wads of borrowed cash to make your web site sell– you don’t even need to offer the world’s hottest product or feature Java-enabled animated doodads.

Making your web site a money-maker can be as easy as…well..1,2,3,4,5. Here are five simple tips that can transform just about any site into a hot candidate for profits.

1. Don’t hide your best stuff. This is the king of the no-brainers, but you would be surprised how many sites are guilty of this. Take your best selling product or service and put it near the top of your opening page. Make the headline a link to more information. Give your product a delectable description that not only tells readers what it is and how it works, but how the reader will feel after they buy it.

2. For gosh sakes, make your site load faster! These days the promise of fat fast lines are fading with the falling stock prices of the telecom industry. Looks like you, I, and most of our customers will have to put up with slow dial-up modems for several more years. Keep that in mind before packing your site with stuff that complicates or delays the whole process.

Fast-loading sites sell. One customer showed me how he took ALL the cool graphics off his site until it was bare and, quite frankly, kind of ugly. Guess what– sales shot up. People found his site, started reading, and clicked straight to his fast-loading order page where they bought in abundance.

3. Print prices. Nothing is more frustrating than to have to hunt and guess at what something costs. Put the price right near the top of the page so people know they can afford it.

There’s a mistaken notion out there that if you hide the price near the bottom of the page, most prospects will read all your copy and fall in love with the product before they get to the price. Usually it works the other way. If people don’t see the price right away, they’ll likely figure they can’t afford it, get frustrated, and leave your site.

Be sure to mention if you recently lowered the price, or if your price is lower than others in your field.

4. Put your picture, your phone number, your mailing address, and your email address where visitors can find it. Customers buy a lot faster if they feel like they know you. In this age of big corporations that make you jump through hoops just to talk with a person who can’t deviate from their printed script, being able to call you on the phone and discuss what you can do really excites customers.

5. Finally, don’t go away. Thousands of sites have gone belly-up in recent months– don’t let yours be one of them! Over time, people will start to notice that you are one of the survivors. Customers will look to you as someone who will be there to help them next month and next year. That is a valuable key to the repeat business that’s at the heart of all profitable web sites.

__________
Meredith Pond and her team of top writers turn your site into a money-maker. See Meredith’s editing services, advertising packages, and free business ideas at http://CheapWriting.com
Reach her at mailto:meredith@drnunley.com or 801-328-9006

Brain Power Through Exercise

How to Increase your memory
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According to the latest research, you can add better brain power to the list of benefits from exercise. Find out which exercises help the most.

Can you boost brain power with exercise? Several relevant studies were reported on at the annual Meeting Of The Society Of Psychophysiological Research in Montreal recently. The findings showed both immediate benefits from exercise, as well as long-term effects. Exercise seems to help your brain work more efficiently and actually make you smarter.

In one study, the thinking ability of subjects was tested. After the tests, they ran on a treadmill for thirty minutes. Then, when their hearts returned to normal resting levels they took the follow-up tests. For all tests the subjects were connected to an elctroencephalogram (EEG), in order to track their brainwaves.

The first thing researchers noted was that exercising had sped up the speed of their decision-making. It was a significant difference. Upon scoring the tests, it was also found that the subjects answered more accurately after the exercise than before.

The study participants were between 18 and 24 years old, but researchers think the findings will hold true for other age groups as well. Another study showed that just ten minutes of moderate exercise each day can improve mood and reduce fatigue. Brainpower specifically wasn’t tested, but it seems likely that less fatigue means better brain power.

Best Exercise For Brain Power?

Most research has focused more on the duration of exercise more than on the specific type. Aerobic exercise seems to be the common element in the studies that have shown improvements in brainpower, however. It seems likely that running, bicycling, swimming, dancing and any other aerobic exercises will have the same effect.

Ten minutes of exercise is apparently enough to have effects on the brain. It’s not clear how much more benefit there may be with longer exercise sessions. Interestingly, while most scientists probably expected to find brain power benefits from long-term exercise programs, the study using treadmills showed an immediate effect as well. In other words, get up and run around, and you can be smarter ten minutes from now.

Many people find that walking is one of the best ways to boost brain power. Apart from the aerobic benefits that are now being explained by recent studies, there seems to be something more. Perhaps it has something to do with the rythmic and relaxing nature of the exercise, but many people report that their clearest and most creative thinking happens when walking.

The benefits of exercise include better sleep, a healthier immune system, weight control, and a lower risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Now you can add better brain power to that list. Why not take a walk today?

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower enhancement, creative problem solving, and related topics for years. Learn more, and subscribe to his free Mind Power Course, at:? http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/mind-power.html

Effects of Brain Injury

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This article provides useful, detailed information about Effects of Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury is very serious and its effects can be disastrous. Since the brain controls nearly all of the body’s functions, receiving a TBI can cause a number of disabilities that can affect a person’s cognition, physical abilities, and emotional functioning.

Most traumatic brain injuries are the result of a serious blow to the head, sometimes resulting from the negligence or malice of other people. Several lawyers specialize in representing clients with TBI to insure that they receive the most comprehensive rehabilitation and are appropriately compensated for their injuries, especially if their injury was someone else’s fault. Head injury can be relatively minor, resulting in mere bruises, cuts, and abrasions, but more severe injuries can lead to permanent brain damage.

The most common sign that the brain might have been affected is the loss of consciousness combined with loss of memory after a blow to the head. The effects of a hit to the head on brain function vary based on the individual characteristics of the skull and the force of the blow. Contusions or hematomas, which cause swelling in the brain, are the most common injuries suffered from a TBI. Surgery, cooling, or medicine must be applied immediately to relieve the pressure from the skull to prevent death.

The effects of head injury can be separated into three categories: physical, cognitive and behavioral. Physical disabilities lead to dysfunction in motor functions, cognitive deficits cause disorders in attention, concentration, memory, and understanding, while behavioral disabilities include agitation, irritability, impulsivity, depression, suicidal thoughts, and both verbal and physical aggression. Identifying and treating these deficits is very important to the patients and their families.

Unfortunately, there are many people that don’t even know they suffer from such brain damage. Many private companies have been formed offering rehabilitation services and several hospitals have specialized sections where people with TBI are treated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anoxic Brain Injury Lawyers provides detailed information on Acquired Brain Injury , Anoxic Brain Injury, Brain Injury Associations, Brain Injury Lawyers and more. Anoxic Brain Injury Lawyers is affiliated with Aquired Brain Injury Attorneys.

How To Discover That Million Dollar Idea Inside Your Brain?

How to Increase Memory –

Niche research and brainstorming are the two top skills every Internet infopreneur needs. And it is surprising how often you often ignore your own knowledge and expertise – or are completely unaware of it!

In every niche market brainstorming session, I ask a group of clients, friends, or subscribers to take out a sheet of paper and make a list of valuable things they know… things that others will pay them to learn.

9 times out of ten, the answer is almost instant.

“But I Don’t Know Anything That Valuable!”

Then, for the next few minutes I explain what we’re about to discuss in this section. After a while, their mindset changes and the ideas start flowing.

But don’t take my word for it. Try this experiment. Go to someone you know – a friend, spouse, family member, colleague at work, anyone. Ask them the same question – what do they know that’s worth cash.

You’ll be surprised to hear the same answer coming out of everyone’s mouth. And that includes folks whom you admire and respect, wish you could learn to follow, and would gladly pay to learn what they know!

So before going ahead, I want you to repeat this sentence out loud – 3 times. “Everything that happened in my life is worth money.”

Now, say it out loud. Three times. Done? Do you believe it? Well, you soon will.

The 20 Minute Exercise

Now, I want you to take a short time-out for 20 minutes and carry out this simple exercise. Get out a paper and pen or pencil. Jot down on it a list of the things you have learned in your life.

You could go about making this list 2 ways.

The first way is to begin from early childhood and follow the course of your life sequentially. The other is to recall the most remarkable events in your life, both good and bad, pleasant and unhappy.

Look at the things you’ve done, the successes and failures, the ups and downs. Think about how they have impacted the way you are today, and the lessons each has taught you.

Don’t worry about how trivial it appears – if it taught you a lesson, one that you benefit from today, make a note of it.

Remember, this may not be easy work. But it will become the cornerstone of your entire infopreneurship career, so don’t skimp or cut corners. Identifying your strengths and potential competitive advantages is a crucial step to your success as an infopreneur.

When you’ve completed this exercise, one thought will stand out in your mind: You Know A Lot

And almost everything you know, someone else wants to know. Or needs to know.

Your life experience teaches meaningful lessons. Your problems and the solutions you adopted to tackle them are valuable to others. Your contacts, connections and network are worth a lot.

But not all of them!

That’s one of the biggest traps new infopreneurs fall into. The hear about how easy it is to sell information they have, skip the difficult research, and jump right in to create an information product – based on what THEY think is important.

The lucky ones find out early that this approach won’t work. The unfortunate many spend weeks, months, even years flogging a dead horse – before giving up in frustration, wondering what people mean by saying infopreneuring is easy.

Don’t make that mistake. Sure, there may be a market for anything you carry in your brain. But as an infopreneur, you want to sort and sift through that vast data bank, and look for the most valuable, most ‘in-demand’, most profitable information – and then place it in front of the most interested audience.

Internet infopreneur Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian has helped hundreds of business owners build online information empires. He shares powerful tips, ideas and secrets about achieving success and building massive wealth from information products in his “Internet Infopreneur Tips” ezine. Register for free at InfoProfitz – http://www.InfoProfitz.com/ea.htm – or send any email to infopre-tips@aweber.com

Ginkgo Biloba – Superb Supplement For Your Brain Power

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This ancient Chinese herb is an extract made from the leaf of the Ginkgo tree. It is the most well-documented plant extract used to support brain function – there are more than 1,000 studies of Ginkgo Biloba from all over the world. The consensus is that Ginkgo does help many people improve a variety of brain functions. It has been shown to minimize age-related memory problems (affecting learning, short-term memory, and recall), concentration problems, and absentmindedness. It may also help ease dizziness and vertigo, which often accompany forgetfulness, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). A 1995 study found that high doses of Ginkgo helped Alzheimer?s patients as well. Another very rigorous study published in 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association duplicated these results: Patients who took Ginkgo for one month enjoyed improved memory and attention span; this improvement was even more noticeable when patients took the herb for three months. However, many experts believe its more significant contribution may be as a preventer of cognitive decline than as a treatment. Ginkgo is very popular in Germany and France, where more than 10 million prescriptions are written every year; in the United States it is available without a prescription.

Ginkgo seems to accomplish its many miracles in several ways. In the first place, it increases the circulation of blood to the brain, which improves the supply of oxygen, nutrients, and glucose. This enables neurons to create the energy and other chemical reactions you need to think and remember. It also boosts circulation to the inner ear, thus explaining its power to help heal tinnitus and dizziness, a malfunction of the nerves in the ear. In the second place, Ginkgo protects against free-radical damage and reduces inflammation. This further improves circulation by keeping your cardiovascular system in shape, and also protects the nerve cells themselves.

It is recommended that you take an extract standardized to 24 percent flavoneglycosides and 6 percent terpenelactones, or capsules of the dried herb. For prevention take 40 mg of standardized extract, or 120 mg of capsules daily, in divided doses. You may take up to three times this dose if you have mild to moderate symptoms. Some people notice an improvement within two to three weeks of beginning treatment, but, in most cases, you need to take Ginkgo for at least three months before you enjoy the full benefits.

Gingko biloba is essentially devoid of any serious side effects. Some people have reported mild headaches for a day or two when starting the herb, and some people have reported mild stomach upset. Do not take Ginkgo if you are on a blood-thinning medication, including aspirin or ibuprofen, because Ginkgo can add to the blood-thinning effect. For the same reason, avoid taking Ginkgo for two weeks prior to any surgery, including oral surgery.

Joseph Plazo is a killer success coach who teaches how to rapidly win love and attract women through leadership executive coaching.

Internet Marketing Power Tips: Brainstorm Your Business Requirements First

How to Increase Memory –

Are you considering building a business web site or re-designing the one you already have? Here are some of the fundamental things you need to brainstorm to get the internet marketing power your business needs.

Focus On The End At The Beginning A business website can’t be all things to all people. In fact, you’ll soon find that it shouldn’t be. The expense in time and traffic costs can be better used with qualified prospects and existing customers. For starters, ask yourself:

What are the basic goals of my internet marketing efforts (e.g., branding, lead generation, customer service, direct sales, corporate communication)?

Now narrow your basic goals down to specifics. What types of web visitors do you want to attract? What are your goals for each type of visitor?

Try to refine your goals so precisely that they can be expressed in one sentence. If you have more than one goal, prioritize them.

Establishing a profitable web presence is a process– not a thing. So this is a good time to begin to layout your schedule requirements too. Think about a reasonable timeline and a way to identify milestones.

From Bricks to Clicks

You already know your sales process requirements in the brick and mortar realm. You’ll need to map those same business principles to your internet marketing efforts. You?ll probably find it helpful to make a checklist of every element you’ll need in place to get whatever transaction you want– whether it?s an actual sale or qualified lead, or something else altogether.

Sales Information Is The Foundation Insufficient sales information is the key factor responsible for the poor internet marketing results that business websites commonly experience. This deficiency can most often be traced back to an original web design that stressed graphic appeal over sales and marketing requirements.

Roger Parker in his ‘Guide to Web Content and Design’, says business web content should consist of two components:

1. Information Your Prospects Need To Know In Order To Buy From You You know the marketing messages that attracted your current customers. This is the conversation that must predominate on your website.

With the inherent internet speed and conversion testing tools that are available, you can select, test, and refine the sales and marketing messages that will attract the kinds of customers and qualified prospects you desire.

Information You Know That Will Convince Prospects To Buy From You Having fielded numerous questions over the life of your business, you know that out of a hundred questions prospects and customers ask, the majority of them tend to be variations of a much smaller subset. The same holds true for objections.

When objections and questions are addressed in advance, a shortened sales cycle, increased conversions, and savings in time/money are the results.

The Internet Marketing Golden Rule A business web site has to be rooted in sound business logic and evaluated like all of your other business investments. Business investments aren’t judged on beauty– the ultimate criterion is the ROI.

Beginning your web development with strict attention to basic sales elements will be the difference between eventually having a moneymaking internet business presence or an asset-wasting website. The Takeaway

The path to internet marketing power begins with a clearly defined sales process and only later moves to graphic and functional design. If there’s one offline business truth that the internet hasn’t changed it’s that “poor salesmen (still!) have skinny kids.” That one may be etched in stone.

Kamau Jackson is a Chicago Internet marketing consultant who helps business owners leverage the power of the web to dramatically increase their profits and extend their marketing “reach”. Find out how you can get your free Internet Marketing Knowledge Toolkit– that’s 6 Ebooks and state-of-the-web White Papers (311 pages!) at http://www.internetknowledgesolutions.com You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the “About the author” message). ? 2006 Internet Knowledge Solutions.

Does Your Brain Need a Mental Makeover?

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Do you think your brain is in peak condition? Many of us can learn, remember, calculate, concentrate, and do lots of other brain gymnastics. Can you?

Can you analyze, multi-task, adapt? Perhaps your brain is beginning to show its age. Perhaps you find new ideas difficult to cope with. Perhaps you forget simple names and places. Perhaps you?re unable to use new gadgetry and dislike mental juggling. Perhaps your brain is out of condition.

Then you might need a mental makeover.

Like the rest of our bodies, we need to “train our minds,” says Stephen D. Eiffert, author of Cross-Train Your Brain: A Mental Fitness Program for Maximizing Creativity and Achieving Success. And, it seems, disorganization and counterproductivity are two of the scourges of the modern world.

Get your brain working then you can increase your efficiency and your perception of your environment.

The average brain – yes, including yours – contains 100 billion connections. It has the capacity five hundred times more powerful than that of the computer that you?re sitting at right now. Your brain is at its maximal capacity at around about the age of 20 and then gradually diminishes. But even though memory capacity does deteriorate after the ago of 20, there is still plenty of room there to satisfy your needs.

If you think that your mental powers are diminishing and that you do not have the capacity mention above, then you need a mental makeover. And, right now, there are people specializing in such a service – to assess your mental capacity and unleash (some) if the awesome power in your brain.

Eric Hartwell oversees the worlds best home page a user-led resource – do you wish to contribute your opinions?

Warning! – Your Brain Is Stupid!

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Hold on a second. Don?t get offended. I didn?t say YOU are stupid. Keep reading and you?ll understand what I mean. This one idea that I learned from my years of network marketing training has probably had the most impact on my life and my wealth than any other idea. Have you ever wondered what makes some people super successful while most other people seem to live average lives? Have you ever wondered why only 2% to 5% of all people are financially free by the time they reach age 65? There are many books, seminars, gurus and wise men out there that can tell you the answers, but I will try to shorten it for you in one little article. Basically, it all has to do with the fact that your brain is stupid.

First, you must understand that our lives and everything we have is a direct result of the thoughts we think. The key difference between someone who earns one million dollars per year and someone who only makes twenty five thousand per year is the way they think. It?s true that our actions play a big part, but even those actions all begin as a thought.

Before I get to the stupid part I want to give some credit to the brain. Did you know that your thoughts can actually affect the physical world? There have been experiments where they?ve taken two groups of people. One group worked out with weights every day for a specified period of time. Another group of people didn?t work out at all, but they imagined that they were working out. Amazingly, the people who only imagined working out showed strength gains that were nearly equal to those who actually used the weights! In other experiments, some people practiced throwing darts at a dart board over and over while another group only imagined they were throwing darts. Sure enough, the improvement in both groups was very close.

This is an incredible phenomenon. The brain is clearly responsible for changes in our physical strength and co-ordination regardless of what our bodies are actually doing. Now when I say that the brain is stupid, what I mean is that the brain doesn?t know the difference between actually doing something and only imagining it. This is the warning to which I urge you to pay attention.

If your brain can?t tell the difference between reality and imagination, then you should take the utmost care of what kind of information your brain takes in. If you watch television, all that information is going into your head where your brain will incorporate it into your life. So if you watch huge amounts of negative news, you thoughts will start to turn negative. However, if you listen to positive programs on tape or compact disc and read inspiring books, then your life will start to become positive and inspiring.

Also, remember the research about the people throwing darts. Take time each day imagining yourself as you want to be. Picture the car you want to drive, the business you want to own, the investments you want to own. See the relationships you want to have, the people you want to be helping and the family you want to be spending time with. If it works for the dart throwers it will definitely work for you.

So take care of your brain because it is creating your life. Want a better life? Change what?s going into your brain. Remember, it?s stupid, and will believe whatever you put in.

Written by Cyrus Uible

cyrus@uible.com

Cyrus Uible is the founder of http://www.mlmachiever.com A resource of information and inspiration for the hard working members of the network marketing industry. Delivering daily inspirational quotes that give you just what you need every morning in your inbox as well as information packed monthly newsletters. All free of course.

Brain Research: Blueprints of a New Era

How to Increase Memory –

Brain science has been one of the central topics in the scientific world in the last decade. The development of several new technologies has allowed scientists to reach a superior level in research methods.

Such technologies – particularly brain scanning techniques (PET, fMRI, CT, etc.) – have enabled experts to perform procedures which were thought to be in the realm of science fiction in a near past. In the verge of an advanced era in the perception and manipulation of the human mind, an ethical discussion was raised in the Old continent.

Meeting the ?Meeting of Minds?

?Meeting of Minds – European Citizens’ Deliberation on Brain Science, was a unique exercise involving the general public in a discussion on cutting-edge science. Citizens from nine European countries will suggest what they think should be done with our new-found knowledge of the brain. They will debate the ethical, social and legal implications with international experts. The citizens? conclusions on the use of new technology, medicines and techniques will be offered to policy-makers at the European, national and transnational level.? (www.meetingmindseurope.org)

Breaking through Brain Research

The outcome of the meeting of minds was one of the most elaborate displays of democratic decision-making in history. 126 citizens, 9 countries, 12 organisations and another dozens of professionals from several areas: resulting in over 100 recommendations that are being analysed by stakeholders in the fields of brain research and politics. The meeting?s organisation committee recognised several ?new? areas in brain research which are becoming increasingly relevant in our daily lives, and designed most recommendations based on probable outcomes from these areas.

Brain Stimulation
The initiative to solve psychiatric problems derived from common mental health disorders, such as OCD, has provided the background for neuro-surgeons to endeavour in ?tinkering at people?s brains?. Innovative procedures, such as the insertion of electrodes that emit mild currents to communicate with the patient via a wireless system, are part of this area. Issues? The definition of normality: how are medical treatments going to affect different social groups and who should, and should not, be treated.

Brain Scanning Technologies
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been used to identify patterns of cognitive behaviour in the human brain. Scientists have attempted to use it for lie detection and even to recognise which areas of the brain are being used when a stimuli is provided. Scientists have even attempted to scan several different people in order to define a ?normal? brain structure. Issues? Privacy and a patient?s right to refuse treatment are the major concerns which result from this type of research.

Regulatory Drugs
Several drugs have been developed to treat patients with brain disorders, such as compliance and conduct disorders. The ability to provide a ?quick fix? to particular behaviours has induced research in this area. Issues? Again the definition of normality: there is a concern on whether some conditions are in fact disorders that should be treated. With further development of research, such drugs could be used for social control.

Cognitive Enhancers
In the last decade cognitive enhancers have been a central topic of discussion in brain research. Drugs which improve memory, alertness and other cognitive functions have been developed, and drug companies are prepared to market them to the general public. Issues? There are several concerns about the non-regulation of such drugs, which could become a quick fix for ?mental problems?. This culture would play a role in decreasing the importance of preventive treatment.

Genetic Profiling
Increased research in the brain?s structure and functioning is giving scientists the opportunity to relate the genetic structure of individual?s with the possible development of particular brain conditions. Such procedure could allow the recognition of pattern which would predict the incidence of mental health diseases prior to the actual development of the disease. Issues? The burden of knowing the future for an individual that is likely to develop a mental health disease.

Themes and Final Recommendations

The project?s meeting on January produced more than 100 recommendations in six different areas of brain research. Following are some of them:

Regulation and Control

- Increase the transparency of public funding allocation mechanisms and its links to solving social issues.
– Extend the reach of ethical oversight to non-experimental research.
– Prevent the misuse of human beings for experimental research.
– Make disclosure of privately-funded brain research activities into a legal requirement.
– Increase transparency of ongoing research to align public funding.
– Increase public funding for fundamental research.
– Minimise bureaucratic barriers to encourage collaborative research.
– Strengthen legal regimes on discrimination against persons with mental conditions, particularly in their workplaces.

Normalcy versus Diversity

- Foster greater inter-disciplinary knowledge to improve thinking about norms
. – Take into consideration that diversity is ?normal? and positive for the development of society, the arts and science.
– Counteract a ?social pressure? for medical treatment.
– Do not treat patients if they do not wish it.
– Offer a broad range of treatment options and support, provide alternatives to medical treatment and complementary medicine or combine various approaches.
– Put more emphasis on prevention.
– Reinforce communication between patients and specialists in charge.
– Reallocate resources in favour of basic research.
– Give high priority to brain research.
– Ensure that the increased knowledge that brain science provides is also applied in other fields such as teaching, learning, thinking, and creativity.
– Do not allow enhancing drugs for people who have to pass exams.
– Definitions should be flexible as society moves on.

Public Information and Communication

- Promote broadcasting of scientific documentaries during viewer-friendly hours.
– Start a ?Brainpedia? similar to the general Wikipedia encyclopedia in the internet.
– Mobilize medical students and create opportunities for them to go public in order to enter a permanent discussion with practitioners, organizations, and citizens.
– Keep the medical press independent of pharmaceutical industries.
– Promote the information flow between experts.
– Encourage a more interdisciplinary approach.
– Introduce or improve communicative skills in the education for medical doctors in order to improve the doctor-patient relationship and the quality of information.
– Establish more direct information links between experts and patients. Scientists should be discouraged to publish immediately every new development in research in popular media.

Pressure from Economic Interests

- Introduce incentives for pharmaceutical companies to conduct fundamental research.
– Initiate foundations that support patients with rare diseases.
– Foster independent information about drugs that are positioned as consumer products.
– Keep the ban on advertising for prescription drugs.
– Require that sources of financing are listed with every academic contribution.

Equal Access to Treatment

- Make efforts to ensure equal access regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, economic capacity and social status.
– Make sure that people are well informed about treatments and non-medical alternatives in order to avoid exclusion from services.
– Extend the understanding of necessary treatment to prevention and create respective institutions and programs.
– Incorporate citizens and patients? organizations in decision making on allocation of resources.
– Target mental health care to particular groups (elderly, ethnical groups, socially weak groups?) to increase efficiency.

Freedom of Choice

- Create interdisciplinary support teams for patients and their families.
– Improve the geographical distribution of diagnosis and treatment units for patients and their families.
– Set up a multidisciplinary group to define ?unbearable psychological suffering?. The established criteria should serve as a foundation for laws on euthanasia independent of public opinion, one group emphasized.
– Guarantee equal access to treatment as a self-evident precondition for choice.
– Carefully prioritise public funds. Conduct a clear information policy on the costs of prophylactic measures, check-ups, and treatments.
– Don?t streamline research along political, financial or materialistic deliberations but keep it open in all scientifically relevant directions (blue sky research).

The Next Steps

?Since January 2006 the partner organisations have launched different types of initiatives at both national and European level to disseminate results and provide policy advice to relevant stakeholders and policy makers. Such initiatives include presentations in relevant fora such as national parliaments and scientific conferences, and the organisation of policy advice workshops. Willing citizens can play a key role during these events.? (www.meetingmindseurope.org).

Will the international efforts to overlook brain research work? The process is on its way, and time will tell. If the implementation of the several proposed recommendations is effective through the political, medical and social layers of participant EU countries ? it may be time to consider how scalable this project could be.

As the knowledge of brain functioning and particular interactions between neural networks is increasingly expanding, a discussion could arise from the very heart of mental health: how much impact can brain research provoke in the several mental health disciplines? Will learning paradigms shift ? or will brain research support contemporary theories? The blueprints of a new era are under development ? and the next steps will be promising.

Pedro Gondim is a writer and publisher for the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. The Institute is Australia’s largest counsellor training provider, offering the internationally renowned Diploma of Professional Counselling.