Annaliese Franz: Karate Chemist

After a full day of teaching, research and meetings, Annaliese Franz dons a brown cotton jacket and indigo pants, cinches her black belt into a tight knot and, bowing, steps barefoot onto the wooden floor of a karate dojo near campus.

Podcast Features Clifford Saron on Neuroscience of Meditation

People have practiced various forms of meditation for thousands of years, usually in a religious context.  But only recently has meditation been the subject of scientific study. In the latest episode of The Backdrop podcast, Clifford Saron, a neuroscientist at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain who directs the Shamatha Project meditation study, discusses how mindfulness can affect our physical, mental and emotional health.

Markers of Cellular Aging Improve During Insight Meditation Retreat

Telomeres, which act as as protective “caps” at the end of DNA strands, tend to shorten as cells age. A recent study by researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain found that the average telomere length in immune cells increased instead in individuals who participated in a month-long Insight meditation retreat. This is the first study to show changes in telomere length occurring over such a short time span.

7-Year Follow-Up Shows Lasting Cognitive Gains From Meditation

Gains in the ability to sustain attention developed through intensive meditation training are maintained up to seven years later, according to a new study published in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. The study is based on the Shamatha Project, a major investigation of the cognitive, psychological and biological effects of meditation led by researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.