The Anne-Laure Le Cunff interview: How to become “the scientist of your own life”

Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to know Anne-Laure Le Cunff, whose insights I reference so often in The Nightcrawler that I just might owe her royalties. For those unfamiliar, Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist by training and the founder of Ness Labs, a platform dedicated to exploring the intersection of neuroscience and innovative thinking. She writes a widely read weekly newsletter on the neuroscience of creative thinking, reaching over 100,000 readers — including me.

Her upcoming book, Tiny Experiments, releasing this March, offers a practical framework for embracing uncertainty — and thriving through small, systematic changes. In this Q&A, we explore how neuroscience, curiosity, and an experimental mindset can fundamentally transform how we approach work and life.

Eric Markowitz: What initially sparked your interest in neuroscience — and how did that journey lead you to focus on creativity and the experimental mindset in your work?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: As a child, I was captivated by questions about the brain: Do you see colors the same way I do? Is your pain like my pain? When we laugh together, is your happiness the same as mine? These questions stayed with me, but coming from an immigrant background, I initially chose what seemed like a safer path.

This led me to Google, where I worked on digital health campaigns for Google Fit and wearOS. Wearable technology was in its infancy then, and our engineering team was constantly experimenting and refining the software. I got my first taste of how powerful systematic curiosity could be.

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I was introduced to the scientific method in a formal way when I returned to university to study neuroscience in my late 20s, which inspired me to apply this experimental mindset to my own life. It started as a simple experiment: writing 100 blog articles in 100 days. This experiment evolved into both a newsletter with over 100,000 readers and a business dedicated to helping others become scientists of their own lives.

Eric Markowitz: Before becoming a neuroscientist and entrepreneur, did you have a moment or experience that made you realize the importance of experimenting with life and work, rather than following a linear path?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: A pivotal moment was when doctors found a blood clot in my arm that could potentially travel to my lungs. Instead of getting immediate surgery, I scheduled it during a company retreat to avoid disrupting team projects.

That’s when I realized how dangerous a linear path can be. When success is measured by how quickly you can tick boxes, it warps your priorities to the point where you’d risk your life to maintain productivity. An experimental path is the opposite. Instead of following a predetermined path with a fixed destination, you explore interesting questions through experimentation. The timelines are longer and the journey more rewarding.

Eric Markowitz: You’ve built a unique blend of neuroscience and practical advice in your career — what inspired you to take this interdisciplinary approach, and how has your background influenced your vision for Tiny Experiments?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Having a foot in both the academic and business worlds, I see myself as a translator turning scientific insights into practical tools for entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, and researchers. As knowledge workers, our most important tool is our brain. Whether we’re connecting ideas, solving complex problems, or navigating uncertainty, knowing how to work with our neurobiology rather than against it is key to long-term success. And you don’t need big changes. You just need to approach challenges with curiosity. That’s what Tiny Experiments is about — it’s a way to inject systematic curiosity into daily life and work, to discover one’s own definition of success through experimentation.

Eric Markowitz: What does neuroscience tell us about the brain’s ability to adapt and thrive when we adopt an experimental mindset over the long term?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: The brain operates through what neuroscientists call the perception-action cycle: we perceive information in our environment, make predictions, take action based on those predictions, and then use the new data to refine our next predictions. This is our brain’s natural way of adapting to change. However, our brains also crave certainty. Over time, we develop cognitive scripts that help us navigate life more efficiently but can blind us to new possibilities. The good news is that our brains are highly plastic and we can rewrite these scripts at any age. By adopting an experimental mindset, we can break free from linear thinking and create new pathways for growth, both personally and professionally.

Eric Markowitz: From a neuroscience perspective, why do small, iterative changes often have a stronger impact on long-term success compared to large, sweeping decisions?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Our brains’ reward system processes both curiosity and impulsivity through shared neural mechanisms in the frontostriatal circuits. When we make big, sweeping changes, we’re often acting on impulse — chasing the immediate dopamine hit of taking action. Small, iterative changes work differently. They activate the same reward pathways but in a more sustainable way, allowing our brains to adapt through consistent experimentation.

By replacing big changes with tiny experiments, we’re essentially rewiring our brain’s relationship with uncertainty. Instead of seeking the immediate gratification of dramatic change, we learn to find reward in the process of experimentation itself. This is particularly powerful in domains that require long-term thinking, like investing or creative work, where the ability to adapt over time is essential.

Eric Markowitz: How can viewing business or investment decisions as a series of experiments help rewire our thinking to embrace uncertainty — rather than fear it?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Most people view success as reaching a specific outcome, making uncertainty feel threatening. But scientists view it differently — for them, success is learning something new. When the unexpected happens, they don’t see failure; they see data. By treating business and investment decisions as experiments, our fear of failure can turn into curiosity about what we might discover. Any result becomes valuable information for our next experiment. This experimental mindset is how we can embrace uncertainty as a source of discovery.

Eric Markowitz: Can curiosity help people preserve mental flexibility and cognitive function over time? 

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Yes, absolutely! When we’re curious, we activate networks throughout our brain, particularly the dopamine-rich regions associated with learning and motivation. Think of it as a mental workout that keeps our cognitive abilities sharp and flexible over time. 

Beyond just maintaining brain health, curiosity has a powerful compounding effect: the more we learn and explore, the better we become at spotting patterns and potential connections. Just as scientists maintain their edge through constant experimentation, we can keep our minds agile by staying curious throughout our lives.

Eric Markowitz: What practical steps can people take, based on neuroscience, to cultivate curiosity that fuels long-term learning, innovation, and adaptability?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: You’ve probably heard about the exploration-exploitation dilemma. Our brains are wired for efficiency, which can lead us to optimize for productivity at the expense of curiosity. That’s why we need to intentionally create space for exploration. I like to call this a ‘curiosity hour’ — a weekly appointment with yourself to explore questions that fascinate you, even if they have no obvious practical application. Read that intriguing paper, fall into that Wikipedia rabbit hole, or dive into that random topic that caught your attention.

Next, don’t stop at passive consumption. When something sparks your interest, turn it into a tiny experiment. Like a scientist, define a specific action to try for a set period, observe what happens, and take notes. This transforms abstract curiosity into practical discovery, helping you become the scientist of your own life.

Eric Markowitz: How do you see curiosity contributing to long-term resilience in constantly changing industries, and how can business leaders foster continuous reinvention within their teams or companies?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Curiosity is your most valuable asset in rapidly evolving industries. While skills become outdated and knowledge gets disrupted, curious teams keep excelling by continually exploring, learning, and adapting. This starts with hiring — look for people who ask thoughtful questions rather than those who claim to have all the answers.

But hiring curious people isn’t enough. Leaders need to optimize for curiosity by creating an environment where it’s safe to experiment and learn in public. When teams see their leaders openly sharing their learning process, including the missteps and uncertainties, it creates psychological safety, which encourages everyone to embrace their own curiosity. This is how you can create a virtuous cycle of continuous reinvention.