Brain Boosters

Week of December 18

First, a correction: thanks to you boosted brains who noticed the error in the December 11, 2023 Brain Booster.  XIBT in the first word of the clue should have been XIBU.

Apologies for that slip of the finger – it’s heartening to know you’re paying great attention as you solve these!

This week’s puzzle (triple checked for accuracy!):

Look at the below set of words and cross off each set of words that are described. When you are finished, read the words that you have NOT crossed off. Go from left to right and top to bottom to find the answer to this riddle:

Where do you mail bread?

Cross off

• 3 things to wear
• 2 things to drink
• 4 words that rhyme with MINE
• 2 words that have the letter X in them
• 3 green creatures
• 3 things to read
• 3 weather words

Answers

Where do you wear bread? At the toast office!

3 things to wear: JEANS, SHIRT, COAT

2 things to drink: MILK, JUICE

4 words that rhyme with MINE: FINE, DINE, LINE, NINE

2 words that have an X in them: TAXI, NEXT

3 green creatures: TURTLE, FROG, LIZARD

3 things to read: NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE, BOOK

3 weather words: RAINY, SUNNY, CLOUDY

Week of December 11

Change each letter in the puzzle below to a different one to reveal a riddle and its answer.

XIBT EP CFFT MJLF UP DIFX?

CVNCMF HVN.

Hints: Alphabetical order matters, and while the letter A does appear in the answer, it’s not in the puzzle. What each letter stands for will be the same throughout the puzzle.

Answers

Change each letter to the one that comes right before it in the alphabet. So XIBU = WHAT

What do bees like to chew?

Bumble gum.

Week of December 4

Don’t put your brain in Jeopardy! Put your money where your mouth is (and join us for the 12/7 Weekly Webinar on oral care)! Provide the questions for these answers from a Jeopardy! category called Tricky Questions (11/17/2023 episode):

$200 – Just before Mount Everest was discovered, this was the highest mountain in the world.

$400 – If you enter a room with a matchbook and a candle, oil lamp and heater are in the room, this is what you’d light first.

$600 – It’s the 11-letter word all Canadians pronounce incorrectly.

$800 – If a British farmer has 22 sheep and all but 9 die in a tragic shearing incident, this is how many sheep the farmer has left.

$1000 – It’s the main reason in Kansas that a man can’t marry his widow’s sister.

Answers

$200 – What is Mount Everest?

$400 – What is the match?

$600 – What is “incorrectly”?

$800 – What is 9?

$1000 – What is he’s dead?

How’d you do – are you the next Jeopardy! champion?

Week of Novmeber 27

Check out the photo identification quiz here.

You will see a picture with only a small piece revealed. Can you identify the object in the photo?

Answers

Photos and answers will vary – the quiz site offers hints, and you get two tries before the site reveals the answer. Play as many times as you like, and your eyes and brain will get a good workout!

Week of Novmeber 13

Detect the Pattern

Looking at these numbers:

1=3

4=4

8=5

12=6

1. Which set of numbers matches the pattern? 

1. 17=7
2. 13=8
3. 14=7

2. Which number comes next in this group?

11, 69, 88

• 101
• 127
• 93

3. What number comes next in this group?

8723, 3872, 2387

• 3278
• 7238
• 8327

As you come up with the correct answers, make sure you show your work – explain how you got there!

Answers

1. b. 13=8 (thirteen has eight letters; 1 has 3; 4 has four; 8 has five and 12 has six)
2. a. 101 (all four numbers the same right side up and upside down)
3. b. 7238 (to continue the pattern, move the last number to the front)

Week of Novmeber 6

Letter perfect – boost your brain with these puzzles starring letters (including, of course, the letter Y – Why? We invite you to watch our film Thursday, November 9 on the Weekly Webinar)

Why do these letters sound familiar? B M = 2 A B P, S S, L, C, P, O on a S S B

Hint: It’s a jingle for something that might make you say, “I’m lovin’ it!”

An interview was conducted to test the structure, usage and competence of the letters in the English alphabet. To do this, each letter was interviewed for one hour in sequence and the interview was expected to take a whole day. Letter A was the first, then B, C, D, etc., until letter X, which rounded off the interview. Why were the letters Y and Z left out?

Bonus question (for fun, brainstorming and creativity!): Starting with the word Why, what would the rest of the title of a movie about your life be?

Answers

B M = 2 A B P, S S, L, C, P, O on a S S B stands for Big Mac = 2 all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun

Bet you’re singing along! Check out this vintage McDonald’s commercial featuring the jingle.

There are 24 hours in a day and 26 letters in the English alphabet. Each letter is allotted one hour. Therefore, letters Y and Z could not be interviewed; once 24 hours had passed, the interviewers could only complete interviews up to the letter X. Y is the 25^th letter of the alphabet, and Z is the 26^th. Don’t leave Y out of your life – join us Thursday, November 9 for a showing of Why on our weekly webinar, followed by a discussion of the film

Bonus question – answers will vary! Answer for Kelly G. Loeb, MSW, Community Engagement Coordinator: Why I Always Include the G (Reason: it’s in honor and memory of my grandmother Grace, who had Alzheimer’s disease.)

Week of October 30

Feeling inspired by today's tip? Working on each week's Brain Booster is a great hobby! This week, try your hand at figuring out 7 Little Words.

How to Play:

Find 7 words to match 7 clues

Find the 7 words in any order.

Use each letter set only once.

Example - 

If the clue is deep fried treats, the letter combination for the answer is

DO + NU + TS = DONUTS

Clues:

1. bosses

2. Wisconsin baseball team

3. holey cheese

4. relaxing

5. sets in a location

6. made a call to 

7. core of the matter

Letter sets: 

TEL      NGI     ISS     ING

SW       ED      UX      CES

EW      HON     ER      EP

SUP     ERS     ORS    VIS

LOU    PLA       BR      CR

Play more 7 Little Words puzzles here

Answers

Bosses = Supervisors
Wisconsin Baseball Team = Brewers
Holey cheese = Swiss
Relaxing = Lounging
Sets in a location = Places
Made a call to = Telephoned
Core of the Matter = Crux

Week of October 23

This week's webinar is alive with The Sound of Music! Join us on Thursday to hear Dr. Rebecca Lepping tell us about the benefits of music for people living with dementia. 

This week's Brain Booster - one of our favorite things - is inspired by The Sound of Music. You may not know how to solve a problem like Maria, but you can answer these!

1. What letter comes next in the following sequence?

D R M F S L T _

2. A family (large like the Von Trapp family) has two parents and six sons. Each of the sons has one sister. How many people are in the family?

3. Captain Von Trapp often tells his children to quit doing things. Keeping that in mind, which word logically comes next in this sequence?

Spot, Tops, Pots, Opts, ____

Answers

1. D for Do

The sequence is Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do

Bonus: Can you sing the lyrics Maria uses to teach the Von Trapp children to sing?

Do (doe), a deer, a female deer

Re (ray), a drop of golden sun

Mi (me), a name I call myself

Fa (far), a long, long way to run

So (sew), a needle pulling thread

La, a note to follow So

Ti (tea), a drink with jam and bread

That will bring us back to Do!

2. There are nine people in this family: two parents, six sons, and one daughter!

3. STOP. All the words are anagrams of each other. Captain Von Trap frequently tells his children to stop singing, stop playing, stop laughing. Maria and the children eventually win him over!

Week of October 16

This week’s webinar will address driving, dementia, and strategies for keeping everyone safe. Try out the brain-boosting driving dilemma and logic problem at

Don’t let it drive you crazy!

Answers

Akira 5, Basho 1, Chie 4, Daichi 2 and Etsu 3.

The steps for solving this one are included in detail in the article. Did you go the extra mile or put on the brakes?

Week of October 9

This week's tip talks about making connections between fruits and vegetable. Our brain booster encourages you to make connections between words.

Using a of words, create four groups of four words that have one thing in common:

Example:

fire trucks, apples, stop signs, ketchup

The four things above are all red!

Here's a list of 16 words:

Water, Afghan, Converse, Jabber, Speech, Angora, Lead, Chat, Jordan, Alpaca, Trial, Yak, Vans, Blather, Puma, Gab

Hints:

Some words have more than one pronunciation, and that can change their meeting

Categories will always be more specific than names or 5-letter words or verbs.

Each puzzle has exactly one solution. Watch out for words that seem to belong to multiple categories!

If you enjoyed this brain booster, you can solve more like it - there's a new Connections word puzzle daily in the New York Times.

Answers

Afghan, Alpaca, Angora, Yak = long-haired animals

Converse, Jordan, Puma, Vans = sneaker brands

Blather, Chat, Gab, Jabber = ways of talking

Lead, Speech, Trial, Water = types of balloons

Week of October 2

"I wish that every day was Saturday and every month was October." - Charmaine J. Forde.

At the KU ADRC, we really like Mondays, when we deliver your MyAlliance newsletter! Thursdays are great too, when we gather for the Weekly Webinar. We think Charmaine J. Forde, author, poet  and singer, is right on about Saturdays and October too!

Boost your brain by answering these questions about October:

1. Six US Presidents were born in October, more than in any other month. How many can you name?                                                                                                                        

2. One of the six US Presidents born in October is from our area - who is he? (Bonus: there's another US president from across the state line - who is he and when was he born?)
3. Live long and prosper - more people in this age group are born in fall (including October) than in any other season. What age are they?

Answers

1. The six US Presidents born in October are

• John Adams
• Rutherford Hayes
• Chester Arthur
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Dwight Eisenhower
• Jimmy Carter

2. Dwight Eisenhower, from Abilene, Kansas. Bonus answer: Harry S Truman, born May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri.

3. 100+ - they are centenarians!

Week of September 18

Today's tip prompts you to check out some new music. This week's Brain Booster shows you that the oldies but goodies get your toes tapping too!  Belt out the lyrics to the songs below and earn a point for each one whose artist and singer you can name. Extra points if you sing the choruses too!

1. Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you've got to do is call

And I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah

2. But what it is

Is something true

Made up of these three words

That I must say to you 

3. Let us realize

That a change can only come

When we stand together as one

(By the way, all of us at the KU ADRC dedicate these songs to all of you!)

Answers

1. You’ve Got a Friend by James Taylor (by the time you read this, fall will be just days away!)
2. I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder (we feel this way on World Alzheimer’s Day and always)
3. We are the World by USA for Africa (as other lyrics in the song say, we are the ones who make a brighter day – and we are working on empowering the whole world with good brain health!)

Week of September 11

This week’s puzzle calls upon your vocabulary, spelling, strategy and logic skills, plus a dose of patience! Here is a group of 20 common three-letter words. Take these 20 words and turn them into 10 six-letter words.

Each three-letter word is used only once.

Word List:

act, age, bed, can, cat, cud, dam, did, don, dot, for, gel, get, ion, lam, nap, out, par, pen, rag

Hint 1: Saying the words out loud can help you combine the words.

Hint 2: One word is the opposite of remember.

Bonus: What additional words can you make, using some of the three-letter words more than once?

Answers

1. action
2. bedlam
3. candid
4. catnap
5. cudgel
6. dampen
7. dotage
8. forget (the opposite of remember)
9. pardon
10. ragout

Bonus words:

1. cation
2. damage
3. forage
4. outact
5. outage
6. outdid

Did you find any others? Did you notice that age combines with the most words?

Week of September 4

Happy September! This new month brings a new season – autumn, with its cooler temperatures, colorful trees and chances to celebrate our team spirit.

For this week’s Brain Boosters, we’re bringing you some new fun facts and dates to remember:

1. Which one is not happening in September?

1. 1. Read a New Book Month
   2. International Square Dancing Month
   3. National Piano Month
   4. National Pizza Month

2. Elephants are said to have good memories. What other animal also has exceptional recall? Hints: it’s usually green, can grow to as long as 6 feet, and, in some varieties, has three eyes?

3. True or false: National Be Late for Something Day and Fight Procrastination Day are the same day.

Answers

D) National Pizza Month is actually in October – a treat to go along with Halloween tricks!

The iguana! Since 1998, National Iguana Day is observed on Friday, September 8. The iguana’s good memory is essential for its survival in the wild, including remembering where to find food and water and the location of their mate and offspring.  Their intelligence helps them be good problem solvers. Source:

False. National Be Late for Something Day is September 5 and Fight Procrastination Day is September 6. Whether you celebrate one, both or neither, don’t be late for or procrastinate attending our Weekly Webinar on Thursday, September 7 – see details in this issue of MyAlliance Monday!

Week of August 28

Brain Booster

This week we get to ask the expert! Dr. Russell Swerdlow, director of the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, will take your questions about brain health, dementia diagnosis, prevention and treatment and clinical trials on the August 31 session of our Weekly Webinar.

Not only will Dr. Swerdlow’s answers to our questions enrich our cognition, this week’s Brain Boosters are a great way to pump things up.

Part 1: Try your hand (and your mind) at figuring out what item is the answer to these 20 clues describe. How many clues will you use?

1. I am in every city and town.
2. You can join my club.
3. I am sometimes found on the corner.
4. I sometimes have a healthy theme.
5. I have checkers, but no chess.
6. I am full of vitamins and minerals.
7. With me it’s always in the bag.
8. My diapers are always clean.
9. I usually have my own parking.
10. I can be open 24 hours a day.
11. I’m not a bar, but I offer plenty to drink.
12. I’m not a link, but I can be part of a chain.
13. Everything registers with me.
14. My sales have nothing to do with sailing.
15. I don’t produce produce, but I have plenty of it.
16. In 2020, I was considered an essential business.
17. You can check yourself out here.
18. Mr. Hooper owns one of my kind.
19. My meat can be fresh, frozen or canned.
20. I honor coupons.

Part 2: See if you can stump 20Q! This site - -   invites you to play 20 Questions by thinking of an object, and it will attempt to figure out what’s on your mind within 20 questions.

Part 3: Send in your questions for Dr. Swerdlow’s Ask the Expert webinar to . We will keep the questions anonymous. Tune in to the Weekly Webinar on Thursday, August 31 at 2:00 pm Central to hear the answers!

Answers

Part 1: I am a grocery store!

Part 2: Answers will vary – were you able to stump the site?

Part 3: Hear Dr. Swerdlow’s answers to your questions on the Weekly Webinar on August 31!

Week of August 21

Brain Booster:

In August 1988 - 35 years ago - then-President Ronald Reagan proclaimed August 21 to be National Senior Citizens Day! You may not have been a senior then (or now), but we can all honor older adults for the expertise, perspective and care they share. 

In honor of this special day - and ahead of our weekly webinar on honorable aging -  boost your brain by answering these questions:

1) What age do you have to be to be a senior/older adult?

1. a) 50
2. b) 55
3. c) 60
4. d) 62
5. e) 65
6. f) 15 years older than you currently are
7. g) Any or all of the above

2) What age did the oldest person to have ever lived reach?

3) True or false: dementia is a normal part of aging.

Bonus question: what are some tips for healthy aging? 

Answers:

1. g: any or all of the above! At age 50, you can join AARP and receive discounts, services and other benefits; at 55, many retailers offer senior discounts. Once you’re age 60, the federal Older Americans Act () means you can receive supportive services like home-delivered meals, in-home care, caregiver support, job training and more. Social Security retirement benefits can begin at age 62 (some people may choose to delay them in order to eventually receive more money).  Medicare eligibility starts at 65 for most people. And if none of these resonate with you, you can designate any year you like!
2. Jeanne Louise Calment is the oldest verified person to have ever lived. The Frenchwoman lived to be 122 years and 164 days old. She was born on February 21, 1875 and passed away at age 122 on August 4,  1997.
3. False. Dementia (of the Alzheimer or any other type) is not a normal part of aging.

Bonus question: Join our weekly webinar on Thursday, August 24 to hear from Dr. Jaime Perales Puchalt about honorable aging, check out our LEAP! programming and stay tuned to MyAlliance for Brain Health to receive tips for healthy aging. 

Week of August 14

Brain Booster:

In recognition of our upcoming Why showings, boost your brain by figuring out which of these Y words is the correct one. If you get it, you’re a real wise guy!

Casey is used to multiple spellings of her name (Kaci, Kaycee, and of course KC!). She makes sure to be sincere as she very carefully spells it out: "C for chaos, A for arpeggio, S for scenery, E for empty, Y for ____."

Which of the following words is she most likely to select to help with Y?

Young
Youth
Yacht
Yikes
Yahoo

Answer:

Youth

All of Casey’s choices of helpful words sound as if they begin with another letter - K-os, R-peggio, C-nery, M-pty ... and so, U-th!

A word to the wise: join us for an upcoming screening of Why and for our August 17 webinar featuring the KU School of Medicine Center for Clinical Research, co-sponsor of our Wichita Why screening!

Week of August 7

Memory is a great artist. - Andre Maurois

It's rhyme time! Find a rhyme for each word below so you end up with a familiar three-word phrase in the form __, __, [and] __.

Example:
Clue = Cook, Wine, Drinker
Answer = Hook, Line, and Sinker

1. Won, Dune, Cars (hint: look up)
2. Wed, Night, Two (hint: find a flag)
3. Wraith, Soap, Clarity (hint: three good things)
4. Steak, Cattle, Sole (hint: feel the earth move)
5. Find, Field, Shivered (hint: stamped, too)
6. Blast, Pheasant, Suture (time flies)

Boost your brain even more - come up with additional rhyming phrases!

Bonus booster: at least three of these are also the titles of classic songs – do you know which?

Answers:

1. Sun, Moon and Stars
2. Red, White and Blue
3. Faith, Hope and Charity (bonus booster: this is also the title of a song recorded by Don Cornell in the 1950s…perhaps by others too!)
4. Shake, Rattle and Roll  (bonus booster: several versions of this song move us, including recordings by Elvis Presley, Big Joe Turner and Bill Haley and His Comets)
5. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (bonus booster: a Stevie Wonder classic…and this newsletter is signed, sealed, delivered: it’s yours!)
6. Past, Present and Future

Week of July 31

Memory is a great artist. - Andre Maurois

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for. - Georgia O'Keefe

August is for art! As we move into a new month, we're exploring the power of art to move our minds, hearts and souls. This week's brain booster draws on art - answer these riddles:

1. I am a kind of coat that can only be put on when wet. What am I?
2. How do you inspire an artist?
3. What do you call an artist who sculpts with bicycle parts?

Answers:

1. Paint
2. Easel-y
3. CYCLE-angelo

Week of July 24

It's game time! This week's Mindful Minutes video talks about family games and how they can be marvelously meaningful for together time. The next session of our Family Series (Thursdays, July 27 and August 3 from 4:00 to 5:30 at the KU Clinical Research Center, 4350 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205) addresses activities and suggestions for engagement (including board games!) with a person experiencing cognitive change.

In keeping with this theme, boost your brain by taking this board game trivia quiz - it promises you won't be board out of your mind, and it'll give you some fun memories and motivation for games to play.

Answer:
Answers are immediately below each question on the trivia quiz website. Which board game is your favorite?

Week of July 17

This week we’re watching wise words! Our Mindful Minutes video talks about why words matter and therapeutic shifts in communication for care partners. The next session of our Family Series (Thursdays, July 20 and 27 and August 3 from 4:00 to 5:30 at the KU Clinical Research Center, 4350 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205) addresses behavior in and communication with a person experiencing cognitive change.

In keeping with this theme, boost your brain by seeing how many wonderful words of 2 to 11 letters you can make using the letters

C O M M U N I C A T I O N

Answer:

Answers will vary! This website () will show you 360 words using those letters. How many did you think of?

Week of July 10

Let's have some fun with serious series! To highlight our upcoming Family Series for Family Caregivers, boost your brain by putting these things in the correct order: 

1. Arrange these Roman numerals in order of value, from smallest to largest: C, D, L, M
2. Put these states in order of area, from largest to smallest: California, Georgia, Montana, Oklahoma
3. List these inventions in order, from earliest to latest: diesel engine, hovercraft, battery, jeans

Bonus: in which order will our Family Series Topics be?

Why is He Acting this Way?

Help Me Understand

How Do I Keep Doing This?

She Just Sits Around All Day

Answers:

1. L – 50, C – 100, D – 500, M – 1,000
2. California (158,648 square miles), Montana (147,047 square miles), Oklahoma (69,903 square miles), Georgia (58,390 square miles)
3. Battery (1799), Jeans (1850), Diesel Engine (1892), Hovercraft (1955)
4. Bonus – Help Me Understand, Why Is He Acting This Way, She Just Sits Around All Day, How Do I Keep Doing This?

Join us for the Family Series on Thursdays, July 13, 20 and 27 and August 3! Attend any or all of the sessions, which will be held at 4350 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205.

Week of July 3:

This week we’re focusing on food, glorious food! Boost your brain (and stimulate your appetite?) with this logic puzzle about the most important meal of the day – breakfast.

Five roommates eat breakfast at different times in the morning; each with their own breakfast preferences. Using the clues, match the roommate to the weekday they ate their preferred breakfast food, and at what time.

Clues:

1. Charles recently started a high-protein diet at the beginning of his three-day weekend.
2. The last person to eat breakfast in the morning is either Daniel or the person who eats French toast.
3. Brittany didn’t even have time for her English muffin on Wednesday or Thursday.
4. The cereal was eaten Tuesday morning.
5. Charles ate a half-hour before Brittany.
6. Daniel likes to make his special breakfast in the middle of the week.
7. The pancakes were eaten at the latest time of the morning.
8. Adam only has time for a bowl of cereal as he has an early class and must leave before everyone else.
9. Eva likes to eat breakfast in the middle of the morning.

There’s a handy grid for solving this puzzle (and some instructions for doing so) here:

You can also download a PDF to print to solve on paper.

Pro tip: after solving the brain booster, join us for a cooking demonstration highlighting the Therapeutic Diets in Alzheimer’s Disease study, hosted by Jessica Keller, MS, RDN, LD, on Friday, July 7 at 1:00 pm at the KU ADRC Clinical Research Center, 4350 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS. Register to attend here (seating is limited): .

Can’t make it then? Watch a video of a previous cooking demonstration here:

Brain Booster Answer:

Adam ate cereal at 7:00 am on Tuesday

Brittany ate an English muffin at 7:45 am on Monday

Charles ate scrambled eggs at 7:15 am on Friday

Daniel ate pancakes at 8:00 am on Wednesday

Eva ate French toast at 7:30 am on Thursday

Let's have some fun with serious series! To highlight our upcoming Family Series for Family Caregivers, boost your brain by putting these things in the correct order: 

1. Arrange these Roman numerals in order of value, from smallest to largest: C, D, L, M
2. Put these states in order of area, from largest to smallest: California, Georgia, Montana, Oklahoma
3. List these inventions in order, from earliest to latest: diesel engine, hovercraft, battery, jeans

Bonus: in which order will our Family Series Topics be?

Why is He Acting this Way?

Help Me Understand

How Do I Keep Doing This?

She Just Sits Around All Day

Brain Booster Answers:

1. L – 50, C – 100, D – 500, M – 1,000
2. California (158,648 square miles), Montana (147,047 square miles), Oklahoma (69,903 square miles), Georgia (58,390 square miles)
3. Battery (1799), Jeans (1850), Diesel Engine (1892), Hovercraft (1955)
4. Bonus – Help Me Understand, Why Is He Acting This Way, She Just Sits Around All Day, How Do I Keep Doing This?

Join us for the Family Series on Thursdays, July 13, 20 and 27 and August 3! Attend any or all of the sessions, which will be held at 4350 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205.

Week of June 26:

Happy Summer! Last Wednesday, June 21 marked the longest day of the year and the summer solstice. Summer days can be sunshiny, long and hot. Cool your brain with these brain boosters about some of the longest things in the world:

What is the longest river in the world?

What is the longest animal in the world?

What is the longest word in the English language?

What is the longest book in the world?

What is the longest officially released song in the world?

Don't short yourself - click here for the answers! 

Answer:

Longest river: The Nile (4,157 miles / 6,690 kilometers)

Longest animal: the Blue Whale (98 feet / 29.9 meters)

Longest English word: pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters); it’s a disease, more commonly known as silicosis, that results from breathing in volcano dust

Longest book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu (The Remembrance of Things Past, in English) by Marcel Proust (1.3 million words, 2400 pages)

Longest officially released song: “Shri Ram Charit Manas” by Dr. Jagadeesh Pillai of India (138 hours, 41 minutes, 20 seconds; certified by the Guinness Book of World Records on April 12, 2023)

Week of June 19:

You've been inspired! After participating in this week's Weekly Webinar (and watching some of our other recordings about exercise, fitness and brain health), you might consider getting a book about physical activity from the library or bookstore. But if you see a book with How to Jog printed on its spine, you actually shouldn’t check it out. Why not?

Answer:

How to Jog is an encyclopedia volume (remember those?)! It simply carries entries of words that begin with How to words that begin with Jog. For the best brain health benefits and boosters, definitely keep reading the MyAlliance newsletter each week for lots of great tips on fitness, food and finding about advances in research.

Week of June 12:

Is it a hit or a myth?

Decide if the following statements are true or false:

1. You are born with all the neurons your brain will ever have.
2. You cannot learn new things when you are old, also described as “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
3. Dementia is an inevitable consequence of old age.

 For some hints on what’s right and wrong (and more on how to engage your brain), read the article linked in today’s tip: Engage Your Brain GCBH Recommendations on Cognitively Stimulating Activities doi.org.10.26419%2Fpia.00001.001 (aarp.org)

Answer:

They’re all false – these myths are misses! See the Global Council on Brain Health article here: Engage Your Brain GCBH Recommendations on Cognitively Stimulating Activities doi.org.10.26419%2Fpia.00001.001 (aarp.org) for more information.

Week of June 5:

June is here - give your brain a jump start with this brain booster:

In the following list, the words are out of order (the correct order is NOT alphabetical). Can you figure out the pattern and put them in the proper order?

A. Leaf
B. Part
C. Mitt
D. Corn
E. Saw

Bonus Booster: Once you figure out the answers, can you think of more words that would fit this pattern?

Answer:

The words, when combined with the placement letter, form new words.

A. Corn (Acorn)
B. Leaf (Belief)
C. Saw (See-Saw)
D. Part (Depart)
E. Mitt (Emit)

Bonus Booster Answers: Once you figure out the answers, can you think of more words that would fit this pattern?

Here’s what Weekly Webinar Host Kelly G. Loeb came up with:

1. Fort (Effort)
2. Con (Icon)
3. Hawk (obviously, JAYHAWK, of course!)
4. Bull (Cable)
5. Bow (Elbow)

Note: G and H stumped Kelly – did you think of one for those? Or other letters of the alphabet?

Week of May 22:

Monday, May 29 marks Memorial Day, a time we remember and honor our loved ones - especially those who served our country. This week's Brain Booster focuses on memories in music (which is known to be a boon to brain health). Name the crooners who belted out these harmonious hits!

The Way We Were

I Will Remember You

Reflections

Dance with My Father 

In My Life

Remember the Time

Bonus Booster: Think of more songs about memories. What are your favorites? Turn up your radio or streaming service, put the needle on a 45, pop in a cassette, spin a CD or grab a karaoke mic and sing along!

Answer:

Barbra Streisand

Sarah McLachlan

The Supremes

Luther Vandross

The Beatles

Michael Jackson

Bonus: The possibilities are endless – enjoy the tunes! 

Week of May 22:

This week we’re giving you tips on advocating for yourself and a loved one, and speaking up for what you need. Our brain boosters will have you thinking about speaking – raise your voice and give them a try!

A worker went into the office one day and spoke only Italian. Everyone could understand what the worker was saying and didn’t have any problems understanding. It was a perfectly normal day. How? Why?

I have no voice, yet I speak to you,

I tell of all things in the world that people do.

I have leaves, but I am not a tree.

I have a spine and hinges, but I am not a human or door

I have told you all – I cannot tell you more.

What am I?

Two speakers are on an upcoming schedule. Using the list of presenters below, identify which of them will talk today and which tomorrow.

Hint: the answer is a common idiom.

Today’s Speakers:

• Professor Present
• Representative Right
• Honorable Here

Tomorrow’s Speakers:

• Lecturer Later
• General Gone
• Faculty Future

Answer:

The worker was in Italy!

A book

Honorable Here and General Gone – Here today and gone tomorrow!

Week of May 15:

Prepare to be a-MAZEd by this week's Brain Booster! To align with our Weekly Webinar about Seeking Clarity in the Labyrinth, this week's challenge is to find your way through a maze. 

This website has lots of mazes from easy to hard - you can do them on your device or print them and use a pen or pencil. If you do one on your device, the website will tell you how much time you took and how many steps you made. On one practice run of a medium-level maze for the MyAlliance team, it took 79 seconds and 170 steps. How will you do?

Do you know the difference between a maze and a labyrinth?

Answers:

Solutions to the maze you choose to do will vary depending on which maze you pick and which path(s) you take. Enjoy challenging and boosting your brain!

LABYRINTHS ARE UNICURSAL*, WHILE MAZES ARE BRANCHING.

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, mazes and labyrinths have slightly different definitions. Officially, the word maze refers to a collection of branching paths, through which the traveler must find the correct route. Labyrinth, meanwhile, refers to a pathway which, while winding and potentially disorienting, is non-branching, and leads directly to its endpoint.

*Unicursal describes something that has a single continuous path or line.

Source:

Week of May 8:

Brain Booster:

As a nod to our Weekly Webinar on physical exercise and brain health, and our research study COMET, which focuses on exercise, this week's Brain Booster questions are math challenges that are out of this world:

1) Halley's comet was last seen from Earth 37 years ago in 1986. When can we expect it to see it from earth again?

2) What is the pattern for these numbers?

31, 59, 90, 120, 151, 181, 212, 243, 273, 304, 334, 365

(Hint: a calendar will be helpful!)

Bonus question: in what other years was Halley’s comet visible from earth?  We hope you’ll comet to tuning in to the Weekly Webinar on Thursday, May 11 for the answer!

Answers:

1. According to Caltech.edu, Halley’s comet will next appear in the night sky in 2062. It orbits the sun every 75 to 76 years.
2. The pattern is every month, starting from January going to December. The numbers are the number of days in each month, and each time the pattern goes on, that number is added to the total. Here are the months’ number of days in order from January to December:

31
28
31
30
31
30
31
31
30
31
30
31

(31+28 = 59; 59 +31 = 90; 90+ 30= 120; and so on)

Bonus question answer: watch the Weekly Webinar on Thursday, May 11 to find out when else Earthlings have seen Halley’s comet!

Week of May 1:

Mayday! May Day! As we start a brand new month, you may have questions and concerns about sleep – how much is enough, how can you improve your sleep and what impact does sleep have on brain health? Check out and answer these brain boosting questions, then join us for the Weekly Webinar on sleep on Thursday, May 4 – may the fourth and the force of good sleep hygiene be with you!

How many times a day is your body programmed to feel sleepy?

1. 4
2. 3
3. 2
4. 1

What percentage of your sleeping hours are spent dreaming?

1. 5 to 10%
2. 20 to 25%
3. 50%
4. 75%

11-13 hours of sleep per night is the optimal amount of sleep for which age group?

1. Preschoolers
2. Elementary schoolers
3. Adolescents
4. Adults

Answers:

1. C) 2 – Humans have two natural periods of sleepiness during a 24-hour day, no matter how much sleep we’ve had in the previous 24 hours. These periods are generally between 12:00 am  and 7:00 am and 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm
2. B) 20 to 25%. On average, we spend about 2 hours dreaming each night, or 20 to 25% of a night’s sleep. Some researchers think dreams are merely a byproduct of sleep, and others believe dreams are important for mood regulation, problem-solving and stress reduction.
3. A) Preschoolers. Most adults sleep 7 to 9 hours a night.

Bonus Question: Set your alarm for 2:00 pm on Thursday, May 4 and join us for the Weekly Webinar and the answer to this question!

 Source: WebMD.com

Week of April 24:

Boosting your brain can help you with aging gracefully. Tackle tic tac toe using numbers instead of X and O.

Arrange the numbers 1 through 9 on a tic tac toe board such that the numbers in each row, column and diagonal add up to 15.

HINT: A Kansas City area code will help you put three of the numbers in the correct order!

Answer:

4            3            8

9            5            1

2            7            6

(notice the 816 on the right vertical column!)

Week of April 17:

April is Volunteer Month! Besides joining us for the Weekly Webinar on Thursday, April 20 – a conversation with Paige Harding, Miss Kansas Volunteer, whose platform is Alzheimer’s disease – boost your brain by making as many (English) words as possible using the letters V O L U N T E E R.

Answers:

1. There are 230 English words possible using the letters V O L U N T E E R.

How many did you get? This website lists them all.  

Week of April 10:

Sleep is the subject for this week, including some brain-boosting questions and the topic for our Weekly Webinar on Thursday, April 13. 

Do you know the answers to these slumber stumpers?

1. What common household appliance decreased the number of people who dream in black and white?
2. Is it possible to sneeze in your sleep?
3. True or false: humans are the only mammals that can delay sleep.
4. Bonus question: which of these animals sleeps the most: a koala, an elephant, or a giraffe? (Tune in to the Weekly Webinar on Thursday, April 13 for the answer).

Answers:

1. The color television! Before color televisions started to arrive in U.S. homes in the 1950s, as many as 75% of people reported dreaming in black and white! These days, that number is about 12%.

2. No! Read more here:

3. True! Humans are able to keep themselves awake even when their bodies are telling them it is time to go to sleep. All other mammals have to go to sleep when their bodies feel the need.

4. Bonus question: join our Weekly Webinar on Thursday, April 13 for the answer!

Week of April 3:

Look closely to answer this week’s Brain Booster: what is represented by the following?

HANY
HAEY
HAEY
HADY
HALY
HAEY

Answer:

A needle in a haystack

HANY
HAEY
HAEY
HADY
HALY
HAEY

NEEDLE is in a stack of HAY.

Week of March 27:

Since 1933, March 30 of every year is designated as Doctors' Day, an opportunity for patients to show appreciation for physicians and the care they provide. 

Besides boosting your brain, uplift your doctor by sending a thank you note!

Now, answer this brain booster. Which of the following is true about doctors?

A) A doctor first used anesthesia in surgery in 1842.

B) Doctors' Day is a legal holiday in the United States.

C) There are an estimated 700,000 doctors in the United States.

D) All of the above.

Answer:

D) All of the above!

Read more here:

Week of March 20:

Follow these steps and see if you can figure this out. Hint: read the directions thoroughly before starting!

1) Get a brown cardboard box.
2) Get purple, orange and turquoise paints.
3) Paint the box orange.
4) Paint on purple spots.
5) Paint on turquoise stripes.
7) Turn the box upside down.
8) Lie on your side.

What is missing from this sequence?

Answer:

Step 6!

Week of March 13:

This weekend we moved our clocks ahead one hour to spring forward into Daylight Saving Time. Boost your brain by determining if these statements are true or false:

1. True or False? Two US states do not observe Daylight Saving time. 
2. True or False? Daylight Saving Time begins at the stroke of midnight on the appointed day.
3. True or False? Farmers and department stores find great benefits in Daylight Saving Time.

Answers:

1. True – Hawaii and (parts of) Arizona do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

2. False – Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 am local time – the idea is that most people will still be at home or even asleep for the night and most businesses will be closed.

3. False – While department stores have found that more daylight is good for business because more people go shopping, farmers opposed it from the beginning because it wreaks havoc with their schedules, they have to wait for the dew to evaporate off the hay in the morning, regardless of what time it is, and it throws the cows off!

Week of March 6:

A 3-letter word has been taken out of each of the following words. Can you figure it out?

 _ _ _ AND

B_ _ _ Y

SI _ _ _ A

F _ _ _ ET

Answer: ERR

ERRAND

BERRY

SIERRA

FERRET

Week of February 27:

Tuesday, February 28 is National Science Day! Take on these Brain Boosters in honor of this momentous occasion:

Question:

1. If bananas were to have a chemical formula, what would it be? 
2. What number do nickel and neon make when they're combined?
3. You will find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?

Answer:

1. BaNa²   
2. NiNe (9)
3. The letter R 

Week of February 20:

Question:

During which month do people sleep the least?

Answer:

this one – February (it’s the shortest month!)

Question:

Four cars come to a four-way stop, all coming from a different direction. They can’t decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. They do not crash into each other, but all four cars go. How is this possible?

Answer:

All of the cars made right turns.

Question:

You’re in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove and a gas lamp. You only have one match, so what do you light first?

Answer:

The match.

Week of February 13:

1. What did the volcanos say to each other on Valentine’s Day?
2. Why are artichokes such a loving vegetable?
3. Every student in a second-grade class sends a Valentine to each of the other students in the class, for a total of 306 valentines. How many students are in the class?

Answer:

1. I LAVA you!
2. Because they have hearts!
3. 18 (Each student sends a Valentine to every other student, meaning each study sends 17 Valentines. 18 x 17 = 306).

Week of February 6:

Each group of three definitions describes three words that are spelled the same, except for one letter (each group describes a different set of words). Example: king, ring, wing.

Group 1:  a round shape; spoken; a gemstone.

Group 2: highly skilled; to conform; to accept formally and to put in effect.

Answer: 

Group 1: oval, oral, opal

Group 2: adept, adapt, adopt

Week of January 30:

A brain booster for cold weather: 

It is known that water freezes from the top to the bottom. So, if you were to take a glass of water and put it in a freezer until it was half frozen, the bottom would not be frozen. 

What would happen if you started to freeze the water in an upside-down glass? 

Answer: You can't. The water would pour out of the glass long before it would freeze.

Week of January 23:

What is the common word among these four things? 

1) 52 cards 
2) Part of a ship 
3) Popular Christmas song 
4) Hit the _____!! 

Answer:

the word deck

Week of January 16:

1. Why is Europe like a frying pan?

2. Forward, I am heavy; backward, I am not. What am I?

Answer:

1. Because it has Greece at the bottom.

2. A ton.