The long, slow process of scientific peer review makes a dull story. It's much snappier to throw out a contrarian question like, "Has Google made us stupid?" After the topic bubbles around a bit, it's appealing to find an exclusive new study that rebuts the media's own conventional wisdom. When that reporter's need arises, PR people are there, exclusive new studies in hand.

Science from UCLA now suggests that searching the Internet a lot, for years and years, is measurably good for your brain. Awesome! I'm glad to learn I haven't been giving myself brain damage since 1981. To celebrate, I used the Internet to find out how many people are on UCLA's media team pushing that study. I miss the old days, when they'd have bought me lunch.

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