So you want to strengthen your mental sinews, with an eye to becoming super-intelligent or just slightly smarter. Time is against you.
When you hit the tender age of 30, your brain enters a decline, which makes it hard to remember where you left your mobile phone, let alone the meaning of Kowloon ('Nine Dragons') or what emblem symbolises Hong Kong's reunification with the mainland (the Chinese white dolphin, which is pink).
Like a muscle, the brain must be exercised to stay in shape. One option is to enrol in an online degree programme - complete with virtual classrooms and click-and-drag curricula - with the University of Phoenix, in the United States. If that sounds laborious, an alternative is to explore the new breed of website that mirrors the spirit of Nintendo video game Brain Age and logic-based number placement puzzle Sudoku. This week's column highlights a selection of sites that could wreck your productivity.
Another addictive Braingle function, its Famous Artwork quiz, invites the visitor to guess the title or artist name for a string of old masters. Braingle's shtick seems attractively lightweight yet cultural and more worthy of your time than gossiping on Facebook.
If you prefer to test your brainpower through trivia, the website also caters to that fetish. Be prepared to sweat because each test is timed.
