Stanford Roundtable discusses your brain, your life and brain science in the 21st century

What if you could use sadness to make you more creative? What if you could erase bad memories and wipe out stress, keep your brain fit into your 90s, and drastically reduce your risk of Alzheimer's and memory loss?

The plasticity and capability of the brain have never been better understood than now. New research is revealing compelling findings that will change the way we think, interact and plan throughout our lives. As longevity and mental health issues such as Alzheimer's are on the rise, our ability to affect the brain is also increasing.

Yet these are the very early days, as some put it, of understanding "those three pounds of meat inside our heads." How can we apply the new brain science to our own lives, and how is neuroscience in the 21st century going to affect us?

"Gray Matters: Your brain, your life and brain science in the 21st century" is the topic of the 2012 Roundtable at Stanford University on Saturday, Oct. 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Maples Pavilion.

The Roundtable is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

Moderated by ABC news correspondent Juju Chang, the conversation will include:

John L. Hennessy, Stanford's president

Carla Shatz, director of Bio-X at Stanford

Dr. Frank Longo, chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Jill Bolte Taylor, author of My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Bob Woodruff, TV journalist who suffered a brain injury in Iraq.

Full Roundtable panelist bios can be found here.

Parking is limited; public transportation is advised.

-30-