Mark Mattson is a scientist at the National Institute of Aging and a professor at Johns Hopkins Medical who is also has been a practitioner of caloric restriction and intermittent fasting. In the July issue, he explains in his article “What Doesn’t Kill You…” how low-level exposure to toxic chemicals in plants may provide some of the same mild stresses on brain cells as do fasting and caloric restriction—stresses that actually help protect neurons. In a TED talk, he also explains the benefits of fasting on the brain: