Concerning nootropics, for the most part what little evidence there is for them working is measured on people that have aged or damaged brains.
Pop quiz. This was one of my favorite questions that I recall back in my middle school math team days (it’s probably easy for a mathy adult though): “What is the length of a line that spirals once around the surface of a cylinder as it descends from top to bottom?”
I remember that problem from one of Gardner’s books. It’s one good example of how generalizing can help you avoid pitfalls—try more than one spiral, or shapes other than cylinders.
Concerning nootropics, for the most part what little evidence there is for them working is measured on people that have aged or damaged brains.
Pop quiz. This was one of my favorite questions that I recall back in my middle school math team days (it’s probably easy for a mathy adult though): “What is the length of a line that spirals once around the surface of a cylinder as it descends from top to bottom?”
I remember that problem from one of Gardner’s books. It’s one good example of how generalizing can help you avoid pitfalls—try more than one spiral, or shapes other than cylinders.