Regular followers of this blog (if there’s any: my parents have already made it clear that they don’t care too much about my rants on the internet) know that if one post is not about evolution or cancer (and preferably, about both) is more likely than not because I am writing about coffee.
Most (if not all) scientists should be grateful to coffee as a facilitator of research but some should be even more so as coffee is in itself a subject of research. So all my envy goes with Dr. Miia Kivipelto and colleagues in Sweden and Denmark who have found out that coffee reduces the risk of developing* dementia* later on in life NYT source. The study involved 1409 people that were tracked for about 21 years.
Having been in Sweden myself a few years ago (and tasted the local coffee) my guess would be that the results should have been even stronger have the study been performed in a country in which espresso-style coffee was more popular.
I remember this. Which cheers me, as I’ve not lost it yet.
Do they recommend any particular bean?
I like your blog, David! And I also like coffee – though I can only drink it in the morning, and even then only a limited amount, or my already very poor ability to sleep is rendered even worse.
Lee: Not sure they did recommend any particular type of bean. I’d play safe and cover all bases by taking first arabica, then south american and finally some java beans. Three espressos a morning keep the doctor away…or so I say!
Maxine: Thanks for your support :) That coffee still has the potential to keep you awake at night can only be good news. If I have to be awake at night for some deadline, coffee won’t help me, I have to keep awake by imagining the horrible consequences of missing out the deadline :O
David – does this explain why you drank nine shots of espresso during the morning coffee break at the MBI meeting?
Simon, you know that even though I do much of my work on the theoretical side there are things for which first hand experimentation is the only route to go.