“A compound based on a liquorice extract improves memory in older men, shows a new study.

The substance works by blocking the activity of a brain enzyme that boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone is thought to be responsible for eroding memory with age.

The drug, called carbenoxolone, was once used to treat stomach ulcers. But when given to men aged between 55 and 75 it sharpened their verbal memories within weeks.

‘You get subtle but definite improvements,’ says Jonathan Seckl who led the study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Verbal memory, he explains, is needed for remembering recently received information, and is ‘crucial to normal functioning’ – for example, recalling the time of an appointment.

Seckl believes such compounds may be available for the elderly within five years to help improve memory and possibly even treat dementia.” —New Scientist

“One of Laura Bush’s favourite British authors has been refused entry to the US, a day before he was due to lecture to an audience of 2,500 people.

Ian McEwan was stopped by immigration officials as he left Vancouver airport, in Canada, for an engagement in Seattle.

The man who was last year invited to Downing Street by Cherie Blair to meet American’s first lady – who said she keeps a McEwan novel by her bedside – found himself detained for four hours before being turned back.” —Guardian.UK

McEwan noted he has “been doing this type of thing for 30 years and I have never been refused entry”. The comments from McEwan’s would-be host, CalTech, suggest that his refusal was purely the result of a technicality. I cannot find any record of comments from US officials on the matter. Do any readers know of any positions taken by McEwan on issues that would get him barred? I would be interested in seeing what would happen if John Le Carré tried to tour the US behind his most recent book, Absolute Friends.

“Whether he really was there or not for the president’s speech, the young yawner has caused quite a flap between David Letterman and CNN.” —Washington Post

It is of course an April Fool’s piece, but the question Maureen Dowd poses is a real concern: Will Dick Cheney’s lips move when George W. Bush gives his testimony? —New York Times op-ed