August 13, 1999
I'd already settled on calling the thing "Explore:" after considering, and then discarding, "Dang" - which is Midwesternese for "Eureka!"
Why call it "Explore:" when at least three other magazines also carry that name? Because for 14 years, ending in 1995, I edited a print research magazine for KU called "Explore." Thus, the new webzine's name will be recognized by the print magazineŐs 47 faithful readers.
I mean, if Gillette went belly up but then made a comeback, it wouldn't call itself Slick Face, right? "Explore:"works on the same principle.
But enough of these self-aggrandizing comparisons. Here's how I came to realize that, in settling on "Explore:" for a name, I'd misnamed the new webzine.
My friend Rosemary Hope, who used to write for the old print magazine, sent me an e-mail and said, "Roger, why not call your webzine 'BrainChow'?"
Rose, a publicist at the KU Medical Center, knows the new webzine will be full of information, and information is, after all, brain food.
Randy Nudo, the associate director of research at the KUMC Center on Aging and an expert on brain recovery after stroke, will tell you that.
Having talked with him I can say without hesitation that if you call up "Explore:" on your favorite search engine, at www.research.ukans.edu/explore/, and read it, your brain will grow.
Here's the scoop. Picture the typical brain cell as a straight shaft that branches at its tips, just like the branches off a tree trunk. The branches are called dendrites. Now growing off the dendrites are the brain cellŐs equivalent of leaves. Brain scientists call those "leaves" spines, and it's through the spines that brain cells talk among themselves.
When you read "Explore:" webzine, or engage in any learning task, you stimulate the growth of new dendrite branches. This increases the number of connections and potential communications between and among brain cells. Theoretically, that richness of connection might afford protection against some disasters the brain is heir to, such as stroke. Scattered evidence for this does exist, Nudo says.
And that's not all, folks. It also appears that when you learn, formerly silent or weak connections between brain cells come on or rev up, Nudo says. It's as if a light bulb that was totally out suddenly sputtered on, or a bulb that was glowing dimly suddenly brightened.
Now the only threat here is that because "Explore:" is so information rich, your brain will overload. Some scientists believe that at a certain point, the only way to jam more info into the brain is to subtract some, Nudo says. Rest assured, though: You'll be able to read many issues of the new electronic "Explore:" magazine before memory dump occurs.
So sit down at your computer right now and feed your head. There's something dang good to chew on at www.research.ukans.edu/explore/.
Trust me on this one.
Column by Roger Martin