Neurotransmitters, the molecules that relay messages between neurons in the brain, have entered everyday vocabulary. Here are just a few examples: we find ourselves associating the pleasure gained from sport with the release of endorphins. We speak of an ‘adrenalin high’ when it keeps us...
The Dichotomy is the next of Zeno’s paradoxes and it is very simple to state: In order to reach your destination you must first cover half the distance, but in order to cover half the distance you must first cover a quarter of the distance, and...
With its gas chambers, mass executions, and willful destruction, World War II was human behavior at its worst. Moreover, when the Western world took stock after the dust had settled, it was impossible to ignore the savagery that had been committed in the heart of...
The Reformation: Where Lies the Authority for Faith? – Christianity dominated the social, political, and religious life of Europe for more than a 1000 years, from the fall of Rome till at least the 17th century. The first major division of Christianity occurred with the...
And now the most important; you asked me whether you would have to give up your sense of beauty to study mathematics, whether everything would become just numbers and equations to you, laws and formulas. Rest assured, Meg, I don’t blame you for asking this,...
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the countries of the West had witnessed the fastest, most radical transformation in living standards ever known in history. The majority of the population of medieval and early modern Europe had belonged to the peasant class. They had been poor,...
Just imagine you’re four years old, and someone makes the following proposal: If you’ll wait until after he runs an errand, you can have two marshmallows for a treat. If you can’t wait until then, you can have only one—but you can have it right now. It is...
Technology feeds on itself. Technology makes more technology possible, as we can see if we look for a moment at the process of innovation. Technological innovation consists of three stages, linked together into a self-reinforcing cycle. First, there is the creative, feasible idea. Second, its...
Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often. This effort-saving instinct is a huge advantage....
When the MIT researchers started working on habits in the 1990s— at about the same time that Eugene came down with his fever—they were curious about a nub of neurological tissue known as the basal ganglia. If you picture the human brain as an onion, composed of layer upon...
