If you find these resources helpful, please share this post with your friends. I would greatly appreciate it.

Before you begin, make sure you Grab Your Free Brain Training Power Pack.

The Pomodoro Technique Having trouble concentrating? Try this simple technique, and your productivity will zoom.

Perfect Lecture Notes Step by Step Comprehensive instructions on how to take the perfect set of lecture notes.

8 Concentration Tips for Studying Effectively Eight drug-free ways to stay alert while studying for an exam.

Test Your Sense of Pitch Curious about the accuracy of your sense of musical pitch? Test it right from your computer, using the directions on this site.

The Cerebrals Society Test your intelligence, using three different subtests: Verbal Analogies, Mathematical Problems and General Knowledge.

Infoplease Biography Biographies of 30,000 different individuals are all available at this site.

Martindale’s Online Reference Desk Reference site with daily world reports on weather, museums, and even traffic cams. Language corner available, with examples of 1800+ languages. Science too.

Mr. Shakespeare and the Internet Annotated guide to scholarly sources on Shakespeare available on the Internet.

Research and Citation Research and citation instructions for APA, MLA, and the Chicago Manual of Style.

Science Tattoo Emporium Amazing collection of science tattoos.

Forbes.com Corporate biographies with an online business directory.

Free Flashcards Maker Create your own free flashcards online.

CIA World Factbook Primary source of facts and figures for country research.

iTunes U Learn anything, anytime, anywhere. Powerful distribution system for information, including lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, tours, and more. Free podcasts from colleges around the world.

Proofreading Tips from Purdue Help from Purdue University’s online writing lab.

Flashcard Exchange World’s largest online library of free flashcards.

Quizlet Easily create flashcards of your own. Create a study group online, or import questions from other sites to make into your custom-designed flashcard sets.

MBAPrograms.org Online guide to MBA programs.

Learn to Type Free online typing tests and typing tutor.

Relax by Doodling Having a tense day? Relax by doodling through this online screen. It’s hypnotic!

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Find the great thinkers here, including Plato, Aristotle and their peers throughout the centuries.

Digital Librarian Reference Librarian’s choice of the best research sites across the web.

Talks by Remarkable People Riveting talks by remarkable people. Topics include “Why Math Class Needs a Makeover”, “How We Wrecked the Ocean”, and “Why I Am a Weekday Vegetarian.”

Happiness Formula Find some great ideas for appreciating what you already have.

Bastiat Free University Self-directed learning for visionaries and entrepreneurs.

Free IQ Test IQ Testing Information including five sites that offer a free online test.

How to Build a Character 19 free videos for actors on how to build a character.

Human-Anatomy Fascinating and detailed illustrations of the human body.

Open CourseWare Free access to course material taught at MIT.

Livemocha Learn a foreign language online.

Sign Language Teach yourself sign language using the info provided here.

Citizenship Course Study to become a U.S. citizen, using the multicultural help provided here.

Brain-Challenging Games

Brain Games Enjoy our huge selection of fun and popular brain training games.

Physics Games Physics-based games for you to play online.

Magic Triangle Game Fun online math game.

Optical Illusions are Everywhere Wonder how optical illusions work? Find out here.

Word Games Find the hidden word within each circle; only one correct answer per circle.

Professor Tangent True nutrition for the mind. Quality thinking: skeptical inquiry, logic, brain teasers and other brain food.

Café Wall Illusion First discovered in 1973, this tile wall appears to move.

Hexaflexagons Online tool kit for building a hexaflexagon, which is a six-sided folding puzzle toy.

Logic Mazes Challenge your brain with tilt mazes, eyeball mazes, sliding door mazes and many others.

BrainVista Solve these brain teasers through application of logic and math principles, but be warned; some of these games have no solution.

Eluzions Distorted illusions, ambiguous optical illusions, moire patterns, pen and paper games, and online board games.

Archimedes Laboratory Find illusions and paradoxes, oddities and curiosities to test your brain.

Perplexus.info Perplexing puzzles, from simple logic puzzles and word tricks to complex games involving geometry and probability.

BrainBashers The cryptogram puzzles on this website are challenging; see paradox puzzles that appear to contradict reality.

Best Optical Illusion See the best optical illusion of 2010, created by a mathematical engineer from Japan. Video included.

Mental Floss Where knowledge junkies get their fix. Quirky bits of information such as “5 Things You Should Know About Isaac Newton.”

Sporcle – Mentally Stimulating Diversions: Hundreds of factual trivia games such as Song Title Questions, Famous Daniels, and Books by Chapter Titles.

Dual N Back Task targets your working memory and increases fluid intelligence. You are required to remember the series of audio and visual sequences.

Conundrums Enjoy playing these puzzling, intriguing games that have no real answers.

Memory Game Players repeat a sequence of numbers in a memory challenge game.

Zuzzle One of the largest selections of puzzles, brainteasers, word games on the internet.

Mission to Learn Play learning games that aid humanitarian causes around the world.

Simon Says Remember this game from when you were a kid? Now you can play it online, by memorizing a pattern of light and sounds, then repeating it.

English as a Second Language

ESL Student Help Online writing lab help for ESL students.

ESL Learning Guide A wide range of websites providing ESL help.

ESL Business English Learn the language of business in English here.

BusinessEnglishSite.com Business English vocabulary site, created by people with many years of experience in the corporate business world.

EnglishClub.com Free tips for teachers and learners of English.

Math Skills

Analyze Math Academically-oriented math learning site. Online geometry calculators and solvers, plus free practice for ACT and SAT tests.

Math Mystery Games for all arithmetic operations. A good site for boosting students’ math grades.

Illuminations Are you a teacher? Here are 105 online math activities, including proofs and other math learning games.

Cryptic Math Puzzles Cryptic math puzzles, cryptarithmetic, cryptarithms, alphametics.

Really Hard Math Puzzles Enjoy playing games with math? These will challenge even the most skilled math whiz.

Math Contests Problem of the Week contest and other math questions. Some of these are part of the White House Math Challenge.

Braingle 100s of math puzzles that require computations to solve.

Learning for Kids

Bullying Help Advice for handling a bully.

PBSkids.org Free learning activities from Public Broadcasting.

Neuroscience for Kids Quick answers to questions like, How Long Is the Spinal Cord? What does a neuroscientist really do? How big is a neuron?

FunBrain Flash arcades for math and grammar. Web books, comics, and much more.

e-Learning for Kids Fun, thoughtful activities for kids of any grade.

Learning Games for Kids Word games, geography games, keyboarding games and more.

Starfall Learn to read with phonics.

Play Kids Games Memory games, geography, puzzles and much more for pre-K through middle school.

Intro to the Sky Beginning astronomy for kids. Learn about meteors, comets, the Northern Lights, and other sky info.

Elementary Math Brain Teasers Geometry puzzles, matchstick puzzles and paradoxes galore.

Sheppard Software Games for Kids World geography, animal games, animal information pages and more.

Nick.com Nickelodeon’s free online site for kids.

Teen Nick Nickelodeon for teens.

Science Games for Kids Games involving animals, plants, biology, physic, space and more.

Earth Science for Kids Earth science games, for kids only.

How to Draw Cartoon Animals Simple instructions for kids on how to draw cartoon animals.

Discovery.com This is the Discovery channel’s site for kids. Play learning games like Crazy Eyeball, Hierogenerator, Mummy Maker, and Beach Blanket Invaders.

BBC for Kids Math, English and science for 5 – 11 year olds.

Kaboose Science games for kids.

Learning Disabilities Info on what a learning disability is, and how to get started coping if you have one.

Understanding Dyslexia Understand what dyslexia is, find out if you have it, and how to get help.

Books

Gutenberg Free audiobooks in more than 50 languages, human-read by volunteers.

LibriVox Free audiobooks from the public domain. Volunteers record books that are in the public domain, and release them back onto the net. You may also sign up to be a volunteer.

Free eBooks and Audio Books Here’s a site that offers free eBooks and audio books for your iPod, PDA, or eBook reader.

BookSwap Trade books and read for free through this online swap service.

Bookins Swap books here, with a huge selection to choose from.

BookCrossing Spread knowledge and hope by leaving a book in a public place, to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

How to Stack Books on a Wall Without Shelves Do-it-yourself instructions for making invisible bookshelves.

History

Interactive History Games Test your knowledge of ancient medicine, ancient Egypt, early Scotland, Rome, and more.

History.com Play Hidden Spirits, the Human Weapon fighting game, the Timeline Puzzle, and many other history games.

Life in the Colonies Online activities including streaming video to experience what life was really like in Colonial America.

Treasury of Primary Documents Massive collection of primary documents relating to early American history. Includes medieval European documents that affected later history in the formation of American government.

Colonial Williamsburg Kids Crossword Colonial World Search puzzle, and lots of other games.

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Sequence 1:

E   J  ?   T

The answer is O. Going through the alphabet, there are 4 letters between E and J. There are 4 letters between J and O, and there are 4 letters between O and T.

(E   f g h i   J   k l m n  O   p q r s  T)

Sequence 2:

5,  7,   ?  17,   25

The answer is 11. The key is to look for a pattern within the sequence.

5 plus 2 equals 7
7 plus 4 equals 11
11 plus 6 equals 17
17 plus 8 equals 25

The pattern that leads to your solution is a series of even numbers starting with 2: 2,4,6,8

Sequence 3:

R   N   ?   F

The answer is J. Going through the alphabet backwards, there are 3 letters between R and N. There are 3 letters between N and J, and there are 3 letters between J and F.

(R   q p o  N   m l k  J   i h g  F)

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E   J  ?   T

How about which number replaces the question mark in this sequence of numbers?

5,  7,   ?  17,   25

And one more with letters again?

R   N   ?   F

Please leave your answers in the comments. I’d love to see them!

Click here for the solution.Similar Posts:

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Only changing one letter at a time, you must find three words that take you from “CART” to “BAKE”. I’ve provided one solution, but you may find a different way.

Please leave your answers in the comments below. I’d love to see them!

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• Wake up to inbox full of “urgent” emails. Check.
• Go grab coffee with the dog. Before I could pay the woman, the dog reaches down and helps herself to the whipped cream on top. Check.
• Boyfriend gets acid in his eye while cleaning his pool. Check.
• Rush boyfriend to eye doctor to make sure he’s okay. (He’s okay.) Check.
• Dog has meltdown because it’s 106 degrees, and she can’t go out to play football. Check.
• Programmer tells me there’s another “short” delay and that coding can be a tricky process. Check.

So, by about 3pm, I head to the fridge to get a Coke. Now, before you cringe, I know – I know, I have really cut down on the sodas. For someone who was rarely allowed to drink the stuff growing up, I developed a full blown addiction to it.

With all of the chaos of the day, I had forgotten that I purchased a Brain Toniq™ the night before and stuck it in the fridge to get it nice and cold.

I popped it open and took a sip. Sweet, but not too sweet. Citrus-y, with a hint of grapefruit. No bubbles. Smooth and cold. Fresh. I admit – I wondered what it would taste like with Vodka – but that’s another blog post altogether.

I sat down next to my boyfriend and handed him the can. He’s one of those strange people who drinks water, not soda.

I asked him if it tasted like Red Bull, and like me, he’d never tasted Red Bull. So if any of you have had both, please leave a comment and let me know. I’m curious.

The Brain Toniq must have been good, because when I got the can back, there were maybe two sips left. Lesson learned. Next time buy two.

What’s In It?

Choline, Eleuthero Root extract (Siberian Ginseng), Rhodiola root powder, DMAE, Blue Green Algae extract, Carbonated water, Organic Agave nectar, natural citrus extracts and citric acid.

What’s not?

No caffeine. No processed sugar. According to the company, “no fake anything.”

Brain Toniq is both Vegan and Kosher.

The company calls its toniq, The Clean and Intelligent Think Drink. Because I shared my can, I can’t attest to the cognitive boost that is supposed to happen. I will say it lifted enough of the afternoon fog to get us both off of the couch and back out into the triple digit heat to finish our day.

My Review

I like that there’s no caffeine. I want something I can drink that won’t keep me up at night. I love that there’s no processed sugar. I clearly need help in this area. The ingredient list looks impressive, and you can research the science on the company’s website. Plus, it tastes good.

I will definitely purchase more, and I will update this post with my results.

Where To Buy It

I purchased mine at Whole Foods, but you can also order by the case via the main website.

Your Turn.

Have you tried Brain Toniq? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

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Neuroplasticity has been described in many ways. Some of these definitions have been basic enough for most of us to understand, while others speak of “cortical remapping”, “synapses” and a complete inventory of additional seemingly foreign terms that leave us still wondering what it is! In short, neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change its structure in response to what it experiences. This means that there are networks that run between the neurons in the brain. Based upon experiences, these neuron networks can change pathways and essentially change their functions, thereby altering the brain, itself. This is what is commonly referred to as a “rewiring” of the brain.

More specifically, the brain is not much different than other parts of the body when it comes to the concept of atrophy. Muscles that are not utilized tend to atrophy. In contrast, muscles that are exercised quite frequently tend to grow in strength and even become larger. According to recent research, when signals are sent to the brain, the brain will expand the area that is associated with the execution of these signals and the movement or behavior that they result in (Begley, 2007). Therefore, areas that are signaled often develop strong pathways between the neurons involved, while those pathways that are not used will be eliminated. As one researcher explains, “the very structure of our brain—the relative size of different regions, the strength of connections between them, even their functions—reflects the lives we have led. Like sand on a beach, the brain bears the footprints of the decisions we have made, the skills we have learned, the actions we have taken…” (Begley, 2010, 9).

Of course, this means that the ability to rewire your brain can apply to just about anybody in just about any aspect of behavior or, for that matter, any aspect of life. However, because this rewiring of the brain is a means of creating new connections between neurons that foster positive habits and behaviors, while turning off those pathways that are associated with negative habits, one can see how advantageous such a concept would be when applied to children with Autism. What is even more encouraging is that this rewiring of the brain and the development of new pathways that promote positive behaviors is achieved through repetition.

ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis) is the perfect vehicle for the promotion of this rewiring as the concept of discrete trials used within this approach is essentially just that: constant repetition of a positive behavior. Therefore, ABA therapy is an excellent means of rewiring the brain pathways in children with Autism. Doing so can retrain and restructure the child’s brain to engage in a myriad of behaviors that are prosocial, foster academic skills and support independence in daily living. Of course, early intervention is critical as the younger years seem to be the most optimal for changing and reprogramming the developing brain.

As a result of these findings and the way in which ABA therapy promotes this transformation of the brain, children diagnosed with ASD can essentially achieve learning skills that are similar to their same age peers that are not developmentally disabled. Of course, while the results are often profound and even phenomenal in some cases, it is always important to make the distinction between the process of recovery and the discovery of a cure. Currently, there is still no known cure for Autism and ABA does not qualify as one—even through its ability to rewire the pathways in the brain for the promotion of increased learning and the acquisition of positive behaviors. Yet, what it does offer is a chance for kids with ASD to adapt and experience a sense of recovery that can lead to great success in what can otherwise be a very challenging world.

For those that wish to read further on how the pathways in the brain can be rewired for use in Autism or in a variety of life skill capacities, the literature list below provides excellent resources to serve as a starting point for such research. Much of the information within this article was presented in these materials and such topics can be explored in greater detail and in easy to comprehend language for the inquiring parent or even the motivated learner.

References & Further Reading:

Arden, J. (2010). Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life. New York: Joh Wiley and Sons.

Begley, Sharon (2007). “How the Brain Rewires Itself”. In Jeffrey Kluger, The New Map of the Brain.

Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. New York: Viking.

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5th

And, if the red block is not next to the green block, what is the order from first to last (left to right) of the five blocks?

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1) The black block is between the blue block and the white block.

2) The red block is not first and the white block is not last.

3) The green block is separated from the white block by two blocks.

What is the position of the red block?

And, if the red block is not next to the green block, what is the order from first to last (left to right) of the five blocks?

Leave your answers in the comments below. I’d love to see them!

If you think your friends and family might enjoy this brain teaser, please click the blue Share Buttons below. I really appreciate your support!

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