When you think back on your first crush, do you remember everything about that person perfectly? At the time, you probably knew the hair color down to the exact tint and the skin tone, the sound of the voice, and precisely what was said the first time you met. Now your brain recalls it all perfectly, right? Wrong. Recent findings…
John C. Havens is a regular contributor to Mashable.com, where he has written a number of viral articles about online privacy, augmented reality, and the importance of a “happiness” economy that measures the full measure of well-being and not just profits and loss. He is a popular speaker at TED forums and technology expos and a terrific harmonica player (click…
“Balance” is a word I use every day. Did you know we can achieve balance and the lives we want to live by changing how we think? I recently attended a workshop that helped me learn new ways to achieve balance, especially between my mind and my emotions. I flew to Carefree (yes, that’s a real place!), Arizona, to attend…
Sam is having a great day. Springtime: The earth smells dank and robust with thaw. The sun shines like an orange neon bulb in an endless blue sky. A bird sings from the high branches of a fully leafed oak tree. Sam feels good, positive, and confident as the soles of his new sneakers hit the pavement with purpose. He…
In my previous post about how your brain codes information in neural pathways, you learned that you can change your brain. Through a process of severing negative neural pathways and creating new ones with more positive associations, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can help reduce feelings of tension or disturbance. Getting ready for a job interview? Have to spend time with your…
Now in his seventies, Robert Trivers is no longer a prodigy but still acts the enfant terrible. He taught himself calculus when he was 14 and wrote and published a series of papers that revolutionized evolutionary theory when he was still a graduate student at Harvard. He was awarded the Crafoord Prize in Biosciences by the Royal Swedish Academy of…
You most likely know people who claim to have predicted a future event or experienced a connection with a departed loved one. Scientists dislike such claims because they’re impossible to prove—but not for lack of trying. Scores of scientific investigations have been conducted in parapsychology—the study of phenomena such as psychokinesis (using the mind to move objects), telepathy (mind reading),…
Today’s dizzying pace of new technology is quickly leading people to question whether most tech headlines are science fiction or fact. The list of startling advances goes on and on. I’ve selected nine of them that will dramatically affect our daily lives: 1. Nanobots. The wind-up toy with flashing lights I had as a kid was primitive compared to the super-miniaturized robots…
For almost as long as I can remember, bedtime was the time of day when I felt the least sleepy. As a small child, I would read by flashlight or listen to my transistor radio until the small hours of the morning. As a college student, I would stay up all night several times a week. Needless to say, this…
