Maybe it’s because we’re still relatively early in a new school year, which always puts me in mind of learning new things. Or maybe I’m just in a rut and really need a chance to do something different. But whatever it is, I found Matthew Cutts’ TEDTak  on “Trying Something New for 30 Days” just the right thing this morning. I’ve had three experiences like this that were incredibly energizing. First, when my oldest child started Suzuki violin lessons 10 years ago, I took lessons, too. At first this was a requirement of the method of instruction – Suzuki parents normally take 4 or 5 lessons to familiarize them with what will...

I love brain research. That may seem an odd thing to say, but I find recent advances in brain imaging and what it reveals about our brains fascinating. I also love brain research because I’m a parent, and one of the interesting things that brain imaging and research has revealed is how much longer the brain takes to develop than we’d imagined. In particular, the prefrontal cortex – the place where decision making lies – develops far more slowly than we’d thought in general and develops even more slowly in boys than girls in particular. Which helps to explain a lot about the behavior of our adolescent...

Have you ever wondered why most news headlines are dire? Or why almost all news shows lead with tragedies? Or why so much of our idle conversation turns toward the difficult and dour rather than the hopeful and happy? I know I have, and I learned why in the following TedTalk by tech guru Peter Diamandis. We are by nature, he argues, programmed to pay attention to threats. While this made evolutionary sense at an earlier point in history when our species was beset by dangers, today it can cloud our view of the world so that we miss the incredible abundance and potential that surrounds us. Diamandis founded and now runs the X Prize, which...