Project Talent Blog

Introducing the Project Talent BioBank!

Project Talent is excited to announce that for the first time ever, we will be collecting biological specimens as part of our research. You’ve already answered questions that will help us better understand how your environment, education, and other factors have contributed to later life health and wellness. Now we’d like to understand how your […]

“Life was very different back then.”

Kathy Berry liked growing up in Douglas, Arizona. “It was a nice, quiet little town. . .I thought it was a good place to grow up.” An only child born to a freight conductor and housewife, Kathy spent her childhood days playing with the local kids, studying dance, and actively participating in school life. At […]

Spotlight on Belen High School, New Mexico

Sylvia Burns was born and raised in Belen, New Mexico, a town of 7,000 south of Albuquerque. She became part of Project Talent when she was in the 11th grade at Belen Senior High School. High School Days Sylvia has fond memories of her childhood in Belen, which was safe and largely free of crime. […]

Washington Post Profiles Project Talent as Groundbreaking Resource on Alzheimer’s Disease

The Washington Post has published an in-depth story on Project Talent. The story profile’s Project Talent’s origins and it’s potential to become the most important resource for research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. We believe this remarkable study deserves national attention and this is a big step towards achieving that. The story will be […]

Spotlight on Port Arthur, Texas: Home of Project Talent’s Most Famous Participant

Port Arthur, Texas is home to the nation’s largest oil refinery, Janis Joplin, and Project Talent school, Thomas Jefferson High School. I spoke with Sylvia Majors (née Patin), a lifelong resident of Port Arthur, Project Talent participant, and high school friend of Janis Joplin about her […]

Check your Mail Box! PTAS is Here!

The next round of questionnaires for the Project Talent Aging Study (PTAS) has been dispatched to participants across the country! Fielding a survey of this size takes a lot of organization and people power. The video above gives you a glimpse into what goes into printing, collating, and mailing your survey packets, ready for delivery […]

The New Project Talent Follow-Up is Here!

Project Talent’s newest follow-up study has launched! The Project Talent Aging Study (PTAS) includes approximately 22,500 Project Talent participants. For this study, there will be a a special focus on participants of color and on twins and their siblings. As PTAS data collection activities begin, we’ll be posting updates on this page–so check back regularly […]

Type II Diabetes is a Public Health & Economic Catastrophe: What Project Talent Tells Us About the Origins of the Crisis

Type II Diabetes (T2D) is a chronic condition that can lead to a host of serious health problems including heart disease, nerve, kidney and eye damage, and Alzheimer’s disease. T2D increased by a staggering 40% between 2002 and 2014 and is now the third leading cause of death in the United States, affecting more that […]

As Alzheimer’s Crisis Looms, Researchers Redouble their Efforts

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are having a profound and devastating effect on families across the country. As the Baby Boom generation continues to age, the situation is set to get much worse before it gets better. Today, 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, that number could reach 16 million–and […]

Project Talent Participants in the Spotlight!

Earlier this year, the Society on Aging held its annual Aging in America conference. Researchers, academics, and clinicians from across the country descended on chilly Chicago for the event. Also in attendance was a diverse group of Project Talent participants who stole the show as panelists at a well-attended symposium on Project Talent. The Project […]

Homer Hickam: How one Rocket Boy Achieved His American Dream

Homer Hickam is a former NASA, a New York Times bestselling author, a Vietnam War veteran, a small town hero, and a Project Talent participant from Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia. His memoir, Rocket Boys, is an account of his youth spent designing and launching rockets with his friends in his hometown of Coalwood, West Virginia

Janis Joplin: Project Talent Participant, Woodstock Legend

In August of 1969, half a million people gathered in Bethel, New York to attend the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Some of the most celebrated musical artists of the era took to the Woodstock stage, including the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, and Jimi Hendrix. The lineup also included music legend and Project Talent participant, Janis Joplin.

Project Talent and the Vietnam Experience

In 1983, Project Talent participants were the subject of a groundbreaking study called Lives after Vietnam (Card, 1983). Approximately half of all males from the class of 1963 who participated in Project Talent either enlisted or were drafted into service during the early years of the Vietnam War.

The Ranger 9 Mission

In March of 1965, NASA launched Ranger 9, the last in a series of probes to the moon. It would never return from its one-way mission, but it would provide Americans with their first real glimpse of space in a ground-breaking live television broadcast.

Welcome to the new Project Talent Blog!

We are delighted to launch the new Project Talent blog, a forum for the project’s staff and participants to share conversations, reflections, and insights. We will be updating the blog with information we think you will find thought-provoking, enlightening and at times, entertaining!