Did anyone happen to see the national geographic video on Susan Polgar, the chess grand master? It showed how her brain was programmed (by her father making her read thousands of chess books) at an early age to instantly recognize patterns in chess. Then the scientists studied her brain to see if it was different from normal. After seeing the video, I agree to an extent that your brain can be programmed into being "smarter." But this poor woman appeared to have nothing else in her young life except chess. And it seems like her father was a gifted chess player too, which wasn't mentioned in the documentary. But it was very interesting. Here's a link to the video:

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/11/national-geographic-documentary.html