Personal Growth

Researches who studied children from low-income neighborhoods from infancy to adolescence have found that educational tools correlate to a specific brain biology. 

Daniel Kahneman makes an important point, one rarely addressed so directly in academic circles – that the ego-clashes we tend to excuse among high-achievers are dangerously counterproductive when it comes to advancing human knowledge. He proposes adversarial collaboration as one alternative. 

The broad philosophical differences between cultures, divided broadly into East and West categories, inform our responses to major life events, including our response to death. 

This month, NASA chief Charlie Bolden pitched the idea to the White House. And while the government may balk at the price tag, the private space industry could step in to help…

Researchers now believe that tucking a problem at the back of your mind is not necessarily the best way to find novel solutions to old problems. Instead, do something boring, they suggest. 

What’s the Big Idea? Hey, did you know that sex improves your self-esteem? It’s also linked to increased bladder control, reduced depression, fewer colds, pain-relief from the rush of oxytocin […]

What’s the Big Idea? A few milestones in the short but storied history of machine translation: in 1939, Bell Labs presented the first speech synethesizing device, the Voder, at the World’s Fair in New York. […]

Behind this phenomenon — which I call internship-snobbery — is a deep anxiety. Wary of an increasingly competitive labor market, students engage in the subconscious act of hypercritical inquiry in an attempt to “size-up” their immediate competition.   

Now that Curiosity has safely touched down on the Martian surface, it will get to work calibrating its scientific instruments, which will search for past signs of life on the planet. 

Contrary to the positive thinking industry, psychologists say that too much rosy-colored thinking can backfire, making us blind to potential problems and more vulnerable to failure. 

In this Q&A with Dr. Meg Jay, the clinical psychologist explains why the twenties matter, and how to make the most of them.

Writer Alain De Botton believes that status anxiety is more pernicious and destructive than most of us can imagine, and recommends getting out of the status-as-self-worth game altogether.   

The Olympics are obviously a contradictory event, says David Brooks. An opening ceremony which celebrates virtues of unity and equality are shortly followed by fierce competition.

Like Galileo, those who advocate a new understanding of ourselves often face persecution. While tight budgets are cited for a lack of NASA funding, there may be something larger lurking. 

If you experience stress because you feel you don’t have enough time, researchers say the best way to overcome that feeling may actually be to give more of your time away. 

What’s the Big Idea? Every culture in history has had an archetype of the wise woman. Throughout history, the voices of these women have been categorically suppressed. But now, more […]

We want to ascribe intentionality and blame for success and failure, then study them for blueprints. But Gladwell says he’s always found it more productive to follow his own curiosity without worrying too much about whether or not the world will reward him for it.

I was speaking at The University of Texas — Pan American not long ago and a student asked me a question that had never been asked of me in more […]

A commitment to space exploration satisfies our curiosity and need to explore new lands, it provides innovation and new jobs to the economy, and it will help our species escape this rock. 

Will humans ever run 100 meters in under 9 seconds? Usain Bolt is the world’s best opportunity yet to see just how far our biological limits can be bent by training and nutrition. 

Notre Dame moral philosopher Gary Gutting asks whether, morally speaking, an American president could acquiesce to another country’s policies that harm US citizens in the name of some greater good. 

Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey likens the human body to a VW bug. In the future, medicine will enable us to replace our aging parts, extending life far beyond current limits. 

Is religion the only thing that can inspire feelings of a transcendent hope? Perhaps that is the wrong question. Do we even need hope to live? British philosopher Julian Baggini responds. 

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who ought to know, says that the future won’t be anything like The Terminator. “I live in the real world, and in the real world that’s simply […]

We do our society a great disservice by associating “having it all” with working long hours, whether at the office or at home–or both, says Boston University professor Ellen Shell. 

Today’s “visiting professor” Walter Mosley teaches us that failure is an important part of success. Failure demonstrates our willingness to take risks. But what else does failure tell us? What […]

Trying and failing is much more interesting that playing it safe and consistently succeeding.

Twentieth-century liberalism lives on in forms of the social contract that are outmoded for the twenty-first century’s globalized, technological world. Liberalism today is entirely reactive, fending off attempts by conservatism […]

A new study which highlights the unique role of fathers concludes that they teach persistence best by showing warmth, explaining the reasons behind rules, and granting autonomy. 

Surprisingly relevant career advice from the Viennese master.