Museum hosts mental masterclass

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What is thought to be the UK's first gym for the mind will be opened for one night only this week.

Visitors to the Science Museum in west London can expect to find mentally challenging games and memory-enhancing tips.

Experts from the Alzheimer's Society, King's College London and the Forget Me Not Centre, which cares for people with dementia, will also be there.

It will take place at the museum's Dana Centre on Tuesday evening.

Exciting idea

Among the activities will be traditional games including chess and Rubik's cube as well as fashionable newcomers such as the Japanese puzzle sudoku.

The event was brought together to look at "cognitive fitness", the idea that mental exercise can help increase intelligence and delay age-related memory loss.

Clive Ballard, professor of age-related diseases at King's College, said: "It's an exciting idea that stimulating the brain may help stave off mental decline.

"However, there is little research evidence so far to support it so we do need better quality and more specific research studies to really fully understand the issue."