Old People Can Produce As Many New Brain Cells As Teenagers

Long-time Slashdot reader Futurepower(R) shares this article about a newly-published study which counters previous theories that neurons stop developing after adolescence:
Healthy men and women continue to produce new neurons throughout life, suggesting older people remain more cognitively and emotionally intact than previously believed, researchers found. For decades it was thought that adult brains were hard-wired and unable to form new cells. But a Columbia University study found older people continued to produce neurons in the hippocampus -- a part of the brain important for memory, emotion and cognition -- at a similar rate to young people....
However, the researchers also noted fewer blood vessels and connections between cells in the older brains, which Ms Boldrini said 'may be linked to compromised cognitive-emotional resilience' in the elderly.
The article suggests these newest findings may be hotly debated.
'They come just a month after a University of California study suggested adults do not develop new neurons.'

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