Baruh Polis
Bio
Neuroscientist, poet, and educator—bridging science and art to advance brain health and craft words that stir the soul and spark curiosity.
Stories (10)
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Why your memory lapses probably are not Alzheimer's
Yesterday, David, a 58-year-old friend of mine, sat in my office convinced he had early-onset Alzheimer's disease because he forgot his colleague's name at a morning meeting. His panic was palpable—and frankly, his fear reflects how poorly we still communicate the difference between normal cognitive aging and actual neurodegeneration.
By Baruh Polis5 months ago in Men
The Weight of Walking Forward
There are moments when life distills its essence into a single, devastating clarity. Today, it really hit me like a punch to the gut. It was not actually frightening, though deeply depressing in the way that only truth can be. As someone who has dedicated years to studying aging and wrestling with philosophical questions, I suddenly found myself confronted with both the meaning and meaninglessness of our existence in one brief encounter.
By Baruh Polis6 months ago in Confessions
The Lottery Paradox
You know that moment when you're standing in a 7-Eleven at 2 AM, clutching a crumpled five-dollar bill like it's the key to eternal happiness? The cashier—who's seen this dance a thousand times—slides you a shiny piece of paper covered in numbers that might as well be hieroglyphics. In your caffeine-addled brain, you're already mentally shopping for that yacht you saw on Instagram.
By Baruh Polis7 months ago in Humans
Beyond the Iron Curtain
My National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Fifty States The year was 1986, and I was drowning in the intoxicating currents of Gorbachev's winds of change. At sixteen, armed with a fountain pen and delusions of literary grandeur, I had already published several pieces in local and national press. My parents—two engineers who had transformed our apartment into a miniature Library of Alexandria—watched with bemused pride as their only child scribbled verses between math equations and dreamed of conquering the world through journalism.
By Baruh Polis7 months ago in Confessions
The Death of the Lecture Hall
Thirty-seven years ago, I remember sitting in a wooden seat in our medical school's largest auditorium, surrounded by 300 other first-year students. We were all clutching our heavy anatomy textbooks, pencils poised, ready to transcribe whatever our respected professor was about to share regarding the intricacies of human muscle attachments.
By Baruh Polis7 months ago in Education
My First Business Venture
I’ve been reflecting on my current business project a lot lately, and I realized that my very first venture occurred when I was just ten years old in the Soviet Union. It’s a story I enjoy sharing because it illustrates that universal childhood desire to earn money and the creative lengths kids will go to achieve it.
By Baruh Polis8 months ago in Confessions
The real cost of skipping college that no one talks about
As someone who has spent years in both medicine and neuroscience research, I have been watching the recent surge of "skip college, get rich quick" content with growing concern. Just last week, I reviewed "The Millionaire Fastlane" by M.J. DeMarco on Medium, and while I really appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit, I cannot shake the feeling that, in fact, it is selling young people a dangerous fantasy.
By Baruh Polis8 months ago in Education
Two cancer drugs just proved aging isn't inevitable, but death is…
As a doctor who has spent years watching patients deteriorate from age-related diseases, and as a neuroscientist fascinated by mechanisms of aging, I’ve learned to temper my excitement about longevity research. Too many promising studies never translate to humans. But when I saw the Nature Aging paper published just days ago, I couldn’t help myself — I read it three times (1).
By Baruh Polis8 months ago in Longevity
