Explore
Search results
Our drive to create makes us unique among living things. What is special about the human brain that enables us to innovate? Why don’t cows choreograph dances? Why don’t alligators invent speedboats? Drawing on their upcoming book, The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, neuroscientist David Eagleman and composer Anthony Brandt examine the evolutionary...
Acclaimed authors and experts Annie Murphy Paul, Sheena Iyengar, and Keith Sawyer explore the multifaceted nature of decision-making, choice, and creativity. Through their unique perspectives, this trio delves into the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, and social dynamics, shedding light on how our choices and creative processes shape our lives and the world around...
The pandemic revealed significant weak points in the health care safety net and compelled practitioners, executives, and policymakers to acknowledge deep inequities they failed to in the past. Since then, countless initiatives have been introduced, or expanded, to rebuild a system with inclusion at its core. So, what’s working? From telehealth counseling to mobile clinics,...
Nancy Andreasen is a leading neuroscientist and psychiatrist at the University of Iowa whose fascinating research into the creative mind has been informed in part by the stream of remarkable writers who gather there. She is now conducting a study that uses neuroimaging to visualize the creative brain in action, examining both artists and scientists. Her work also examines...
Scientific evidence suggests that we can change our brains by transforming our minds and cultivating habits of mind that will improve well-being. These include happiness, resilience, compassion, and emotional balance. Each of these characteristics is instantiated in brain circuits that exhibit plasticity and thus can be shaped and modified by experience and training. Menta...
The Aspen Challenge presents three high school teams from Louisville and one team from Dallas who developed innovative solutions to issues that have chronically impacted their communities. See these young change-makers take to the stage to prove that entrepreneurial community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Justin F. Kimball and Central High School Magnet Ca...
Research supports the idea that creatives of all types are over-represented in the population dealing with mood disorders and other psychiatric challenges. Certainly some of the world’s greatest musical masterpieces were composed by musicians who struggled with mental illness. Was it a source of inspiration for their creativity, or did they turn to art to help them heal? R...
Visionary leaders question established patterns, work collaboratively across disciplines and hierarchies, and trek fearlessly into uncharted territory. By encouraging risk-tasking, nurturing creativity, and championing unconventional thinking, they push the boundaries of what’s possible. Hear from a panel of trailblazers in health about what is required in a century that h...
Making sure that everyone has access to safe, affordable, and healthy food, is a complex task. Consider the complicated production and distribution systems, both large and small, that need to balance environmental and labor concerns, with sometimes competing business priorities. Moving away from a system that incentivizes cheap, processed junk requires not only policy so...
Schools of nursing, medicine, and public health are attracting applicants in record numbers and admiration for these professionals has never been higher. At the same time, many workers—burned out, burdened by debt, and facing mental health challenges—are fleeing the field. Given the appeal, the stress, and the vital nature of healthcare jobs, we need to understand how best...
Amazing discoveries are happening in the garages and high school science classes of young pioneers. A 17-year-old invented color-changing stitches, dyed with beet juice, to provide early warning signs of infection. A Time Magazine “Kid of the Year” is building a device to detect contaminants in the water supply and using AI to call out cyberbullying. Another teenager devel...
Never before have we seen such an explosion of interest in our food--what's in it, who produced it, where it came from. Consumers are demanding purity and transparency. They want fresh food with limited processing—and convenience and creativity too. Fifty percent of us are eating alone, snacking is on the rise, and the family meal on the decline. And consumers are less loy...
As secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres led the global adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. But she was not always so hopeful, and recalls a turning point as she consciously shifted her attitude from despair to stubborn optimism. Jeff Goodell, author of The Water Will Come sits down with Figueres to reve...