With experience, Dowell said, the brain speed ups, but the body slows down.
"The body slows down, but the brain speeds up," was the way that Anthony Dowell, the dancer who became artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London, once put it.
The myelin that's injected into the brain speeds up and improves the connections of the nervous system, reinforcing memories, before solidifying in your mid-20s.
It is here when hormones are released, energy is restored, brain waves speed up, rapid eye movement and dreaming occurs.
Since we don't always have the luxury of waiting until that happens, a "brilliant" alarm would gently encourage the brain to speed up over time, rather than with a jolt.
Last year, President Obama announced that the federal government would create a Brain Initiative to speed up the development of tools that can track how the brain works and how it breaks.
The study's lead author explained in a statement that among older adults, "sleeping less will increase the rate their brain ages and speed up the decline in their cognitive functions".
Automatic processing of these CT brain scans could speed up the decision making process, lower the cost of healthcare, and reduce the chance of human error.
But even when advances in brain-reading technologies speed up, there will be new challenges, as scientists will have to determine if the person wants to search the Web for something in particular, or if he is just thinking about a random topic.
Ephedrine, the active ingredient in ephedra, a plant also known as ma huang, is a stimulant that can increase heart rate, raise blood pressure and speed up brain activity.
