Angry Toxicologist  A study in Neurology came out today ($
required) that found that those with better reading skills had
2.5 times less cognitive brain damage due to lead! Reading
ability is one of the best ways to measure cognitive reserve
(CR), the ability to maintain good cognitive performance despite
disease or injury. It is also related to head size, education,
linguistic ability, and occupational achievement but reading is
really the best indicator (achievement under very controled
settings is better but it’s really hard to control for
opportunity in medium size studies). Those in the study are
occupationally exposed to lead and were divided into categories
depending on their reading ability and administered 14 neuropsyc
tests. Among similar exposures, those with better CR did better
on the tests.  What strikes me after reading this article (after
I get over how facinating I find the brain and neuropsyc) is how
“the rich get richer” applies to more than finances. For those
with a low CR, one could expe