Podcast appearances and mentions of Dan Falk

Welcome to Part 2 of our in-depth review of Grant Bosnick's 'Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership.' In this episode, we delve into the significance of hydration for brain health, discovering 'aha' moments through creative insights, and the influential power of expectations on our well-being and success. We also explore the neuroscience behind staying mentally strong and regulate emotions effectively through improved sleep patterns. Join us as we unravel these fascinating research-backed strategies to enhance your self-leadership skills. Welcome back to SEASON 13 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I'm Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 6 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to help us to APPLY this research in our daily lives. And we will now resume PART 2 of our 4-PART review, to sum up last year, 2024, and our entire year studying one book, Grant Bosnick's “Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership: A Bite Size Approach Using Psychology and Neuroscience” that we first dove into with our interview on EP #321[i] the end of January 2024. The goal was that each week, we focused on learning something new, (from Grant's book) tied to the most current neuroscience research, that builds off the prior week, to help take us to greater heights this year. It honestly shocked me that this series took the entire year.  Last week, we began with PART 1[ii] and the first 5 chapters of the book. Today we will review chapters 6-9 of Grant Bosnick's Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership. ((On today's EPISODE #356 PART 2 of our review of Grant Bosnick's Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership, we will cover)): ✔ EP 327 Chapter 6[iii] “The Hydrated Brain” ✔ EP 330 Chapter 7[iv]“Aha Moments, Creative Insights/the Brain” ✔ EP 333 Chapter 8[v] “Exploring the Power of Expectations” ✔ EP 335 Chapter 9[vi] “The Neuroscience Behind Staying Strong and Clear-Headed” If you have not yet taken the leadership self-assessment, or if you would like to re-take it to see if the results are different for you than last year, you can click the link here to find the quick test.   Self-Assessment Results 2024 vs 2025 I re-took the assessment for 2025, and did notice some similarities and some differences. See what you notice about yourself. I noticed that pathways 2 and 3 are my high areas of focus this year, and that I can drop pathway 6 from my focus. What about you? If you have a few minutes to spare, take this leadership self-assessment again, and see if you notice any changes in yourself for 2025. Did any of your pathways of focus shift since last year? REMEMBER: We are either moving forward into growth, or backwards to safety. (Abraham Maslow). EP 327 Chapter 6 “The Hydrated Brain”   For this episode, I remember wondering how on the earth can we narrow the focus of this topic of health and wellness that Bosnick covers thoroughly in Chapter 6? Dr. Peter Attia[vii], a Canadian-American physician, known for his medical practice that focuses on the science of longevity, says that “exercise might be the most potent “drug” we have for extending the quality and perhaps quantity of our years of life.” He created a rule that he thought would help narrow this focus and it was called “Attia's Rule”[viii] where he suggests that can't even talk about this topic, unless you have reached a certain level of health yourself. I agree, as this is one area we have been focused on this podcast, and I notice that as I strengthen one area, I lose sight of another. It's an ongoing quest for balance, and I wouldn't say I've mastered the balance yet. We dove deep into Attia's Rule on our EP back in October 2022, “Using Neuroscience to Improve Fitness, Longevity and Overall Health.”[ix] Dr. Attia says that nutrition and health arguments are a waste of your time until you've completed a certain set of criteria. He says don't bother defending this topic unless you can: Dead hang for a minute (try this! I honestly thought I was going to die when I did this 2 years ago). I'm not sure I could do it today with the signs of osteoporosis showing up in my fingers (and noticeable when I type). Wall sit for two minutes. (This wasn't difficult for me the fact that I regularly hit the hiking trails). Have a VO2 max of at least 75th percentile for your age group. (Mine is showing 37 right now which was the same as it was in 2022. Interesting that I'm hiking less these days, but have kept the same VO2 max). I think it's important to notice just how vast this topic of health and wellness really is. We mentioned the Top 6 Health Staples[x] on our last episode, that we created back in 2020 when our podcast took a turn towards mental and physical health and wellness, (that we just can't escape) and I wasn't surprised to see Stanford Professor Dr. Andrew Huberman post on Twitter/X that he would like to see a Superbowl Commercial promoting healthy habits. The time for mental and physical health is here, and we cannot deny the connection between the two. We met Dr. Bruce Perry on EP 168[xi] where we dove into his famous book What Happened to You, that he co-authored with Oprah, and the last Kindle book I purchased was Gabor Mate's When the Body Says No: The Hidden Costs of Stress[xii] When I look back at why I chose to highlight “The Hydrated Brain” I honestly think it was because this topic is so vast. Hydration is something that might be emphasized with athletes, but it wasn't something anyone had emphasized with me (unless they were connected to the sports world). To narrow this topic of health and wellness down a bit, did YOU know that keeping our brain hydrated helps us with: Improving concentration and cognition Helping to balance our mood and emotions Maintaining a good memory Boosting our brain's reaction time Increasing blood flow and oxygen to the brain Preventing and relieving headaches Reducing stress Grant Bosnick shared with us in this chapter: “That our brain is 75% water and when our brain is functioning on a full reserve of water, we will be able to think faster, be more focused and experience greater clarity and creativity?” (Chapter 6, Bosnick). Grant reminds us that “everyone is unique and needs different amounts of water per day (but suggests) an adequate intake for men is roughly around 3 liters (100 fluid ounces) a day, (and) for women it's about 2.2 liters (74 fluid ounces) a day. What do you think? Could you improve your water intake? Just by thinking about ways to improve our brain health, we will over time begin to move the needle in the direction of physical health and wellness, which was the concept that Grant wanted us to uncover in Chapter 6. This is just one small idea, (in this HUGE topic) but if we can tackle one idea at a time, we will move in the direction of health and wellness. REVISIT THIS EPISODE TO REVIEW THIS CONCEPT IN DEPTH EP 330 Chapter 7 “Aha Moments, Creative Insights/the Brain” This pathway #3 came out as MEDIUM importance (orange score) for me, alongside mindfulness and flow last year, but this year, this is my second highest pathway of focus. Look to see where pathway 3 showed up for you last  year, and if it's different for you this year. What I loved about Grant Bosnick's book is that he opens up chapter 7 with a story of how insight was used by an organization to help solve the problem with the high number of babies that were dying within a month of their birth, specifically in developing countries.  This organization he wrote about, solved this specific problem using a thought process that took insight using “materials and human resources that could be used to address this issue” (Chapter 7, Bosnick) by building incubators made out of Toyota cars that were readily available in these developing areas. Instead of using their analytical mind and thinking “how do we get more incubators to these areas” someone on their team used insight and creativity to come up with the best solution to use the resources they had readily available to them, locally. So how do we think up these creative ideas? Grant asks us to ponder where we have our best ideas. In the shower? While exercising? At your desk while doing work? Just before falling asleep or waking up? While walking or hiking? While taking with a friend? Grant suggests that few people will come back with “at their desk while working” since this type of creativity involves breaking away from the analytical, thinking mind, and tapping into our “nonconscious” (Chapter 7, Bosnick) part of our brain. It was here I had to look deeper into how this type of thinking happens, and I found the fascinating book, The Eureka Factor: AHA Moments, Creative Insight and the Brain by John Kounios and Mark Beeman. If you want to dive deeper into the science behind insight and creativity, I highly suggest reading this book. I wanted to know HOW to create these “AHA” Moments at will, not by chance and this is what these two cognitive neuroscientists who wrote this book, set out to do. Their goal of writing this book was to “explain how these Eureka experiences happen—and how to have more of them to enrich our lives and empower personal and professional success.” (The Eureka Factor). In the very beginning pages of The Eureka Factor, we learn that “insight is creative” (Page 9, The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman) and when the authors went on to define “what creativity is” they suggest to not define it (yet) since “everyone intuitively recognizes creativity when he or she sees it” (Page 9, The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman). I thought back to when we covered “Improving Creativity” on PART 4 of The Silva Method[xiii] on ((“Improving Creativity and Innovation in our Schools, Sports and Modern Workplaces”)) and we tapped into Dr. Andrew Huberman's research on creativity here. Dr. Huberman explains that “when we see something that's truly creative, it reveals something to us about the natural world and about how our brains work….It must reveal something that surprises us” for it to be truly creative. So, going back to The Eureka Factor, John Kounios suggests that “creative insight is not an exotic type of thought reserved for the few. In fact, (he says) it's one of the few abilities that define our species….most humans—have insights. It's a basic human ability.” (Page 11, The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman). While reading further into The Eureka Factor, I came across an image that helped to explain this idea so we can ALL improve our ability to generate new and creative insights that will empower our personal and professional lives. IMAGE CREDIT: The Eureka Factor (Kounios, Beeman) Page 24 If someone were to ask me “Where do I begin to improve my ability to create NEW insights in my life?” I would say, start here: STEP 1: Go somewhere quiet and think.  We've mentioned a few times on this podcast that “Every man has the natural and inherent power to think what he wants to think, but it requires more effort to do so”[xiv] (Wallace D. Wattles). I recently heard Professor Hod Lipson[xv] from Columbia University, speaking about the future with AI, and while his whole presentation was forward-thinking, eye opening and brilliant, what caught my attention the most was when he mentioned that while working with students with AI and robotics, the hardest part for them was to come up with a name for their robot, because he said “it takes a lot of effort to be creative.” Take the time needed for this process. STEP 2: You might think you are stuck, and like the image suggests in the show notes, you might see a brick wall in front of you, metaphorically speaking, but know that there is always a solution to every problem. You just haven't figured it out yet. It's here that I share ways I've moved past where I'm stuck, and that's by using The Silva Method. I'm reminded daily that many of our current listeners found us from the first episode we did with this 4-part series that ended with an episode on “How to Be More Creative and Innovative”. When you feel stuck, take a break. STEP 3: Keeping your mood positive, break away from where you feel stuck, and do something that makes you happy. It could be going for a walk, or a hike, or playing tennis like the image from The Eureka Factor. Just break away and divert your attention away from the problem. If you are in a meditative state, just be sure to have positive, elevated emotions flowing through you. Looking at the image in the show notes from The Eureka Factor, we see a person playing tennis. You can use whatever method you want here (The Silva Method of Meditation, your own mindfulness practice, going for a walk) or whatever it is for YOU where you access those feelings of calmness and peace. STEP 4: Be open to new ideas that might pop into your head. Be prepared for ideas that might be completely opposite to how you were originally thinking of solving the problem. We are all different here. Think back to the beginning of this episode, when Grant Bosnick asked us to consider where our creative ideas flow into our minds. Mine come in that time just before I go to sleep, or just as I'm waking up. Others might come in the shower, or while exercising. Be open to NEW ideas coming into your mind, and be ready to write them down. STEP 5: Know that there is much work going on from your unconscious mind. You'll will become more self-aware in this process. Grant Bosnick lists a few inventions that were developed this way, in chapter 7 on Insight, and I found an article that lists “Great Eureka Moments in History: From Issac Netwon to Sir Paul McCartney, (where) inspiration arrived suddenly”[xvi] to help these inventors move forward with their famous AHA Moments. I personally think it's amazing how we acquire wisdom. When we suddenly “see” something that escaped us for so long. I can only imagine the room from Grant Bosnick's opening story when that one person said “why don't we make incubators out of Toyota cars?” completely shifting what EVERYONE was thinking. We ended this EP with one of my favorite poems from Stewart Edward White who explains how AHA Moments of Learning can change us forever. He writes: “Curious how we acquire wisdom! Over and over again, the same truth is thrust under our very noses. We encounter it in action; we are admonished of it; we read it in the written word. We suffer the experience; we gradually assent to the advice; we approve, intellectually, the written word. But nothing happens inside us. Then, one day, some trivial experience or word or encounter stops us short. A gleam of illumination penetrates the depth of our consciousness. We see! Usually it is but a glimpse; but on rare occasions a brilliant flash reveals truth fully formed. And we marvel that this understanding has escaped us so long.” REVISIT THIS EPISODE TO REVIEW THIS CONCEPT IN DEPTH EP 333 Chapter 8 “Exploring the Power of Expectations” where we will dive into a topic that I mark as high importance in my life, right up with breathing. When I took my self-assessment last year, the topic of expectations showed up as low priority for me to focus. Not because it's not important to me, but because I've already made this topic of high importance. Expectations came out for me in the RED category, with a low score of 8% (last year) along with goals and time management, that I also put high importance with on a daily basis.  This year, pathway 1 came out as an area of MEDIUM focus for me, and I can tell right now, that the area I need to work on is “time management.” If you've taken the self-assessment, look to see if Expectations (in pathway 1) are of a low, medium or high priority for you to focus on this year. Before looking at Grant Bosnick's thoughts about the topic of expectations, where he begins chapter 8 by asking us “what did you expect?” I had to do some research first, to see what is already out in the world, and there was a lot out there, on the science behind expectations. DID YOU KNOW: That when our expectations are met or exceeded, this “increases our dopamine levels, which leads to increased happiness and well-being, which helps maximize our performance by setting up the conditions of flow and insight, which leads to more productivity and increased confidence?” (Chapter 8, Grant Bosnick) Conversely, did you know that “if our expectations are not met, that it dramatically decreases our dopamine levels, we feel disappointment and stress, resulting in poor performance and decreased confidence?” (Chapter 8, Grant Bosnick, Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership, Page 84/85). On the EP we went deep into the Science of Expectation, and we looked at a book by David Robson called The Expectation Effect where this author showed us how “our beliefs, in themselves, shape your health and well-being in profound ways, and that learning to reset our expectations (about these issues) can have truly remarkable effects on our health, happiness and productivity.” (David Robson) SOME TIPS ON HOW TO USE THE NEUROSCIENCE OF EXPECTATIONS IN OUR DAILY LIFE: KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M EXPECTING (of myself and others): Understanding the science, helps me to keep my expectations tied to myself, and not others, to avoid disappointment and stress.  I expect to achieve my goals, (by putting in the necessary work) keep myself in good health (physical and mental) and will not just THINK about these expectations, but will do the hard work, take the action necessary to achieve them. This way, I'm not just “thinking” of what I expect to occur, I'm actually doing something with those thoughts. If I'm ever feeling “disappointed” with something in my life, a good question to ask is “what did you expect?” and see if I can backtrack to my thoughts. Was I using the science to flood my brain with dopamine, (with something within my control-that I could take action towards) or not. USE POSITIVE EXPECTATION TO BUILD RESILIENCE FOR A HEALTHIER VERSION OF MYSELF: Understanding the science behind our expectations, and especially David Robson's work, where we learned that “people with a more positive attitude towards their later years are less likely to develop (certain age-related diseases)” (David Robson, The Expectation Effect) making a strong case for expecting exceptional mental and physical health in the future. Again, it goes without saying that we can't just “think” ourselves into good health. We need to do the work here in order to expect results to occur. CONTINUE TO EXPECT GOOD THINGS (for myself and others) Knowing that “expectations and beliefs can influence—indeed are already influencing your life in many other surprising and powerful ways. (David Robson, The Expectation Effect) makes me believe in some of the rituals I've heard of over the years, like lucky charms. I learned from David Robson's The Expectation Effect, that “superstitions and rituals can boost perseverance and performance across a whole range of cognitive tasks, and (that) the advantages are often considerable.” (Page 198, The Expectation Effect). Whether you are a professional athlete, singer, public speaker, or someone like me who just wants improved results, there is a science to having a lucky charm, or something that brings you the promise of success, to help you to create a feeling of control during those high stress times we all face. Don't dismiss the power of a lucky rock with a goal written on it, or whatever it is that holds significance to you with your future goals, or something that has meaning to you, that you expect to occur in your future. REVISIT THIS EPISODE TO REVIEW THIS CONCEPT IN DEPTH EP 335 Chapter 9 “The Neuroscience Behind Staying Strong and Clear-Headed” Chapter 9, covering “The Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation” which showed up on my leadership self-assessment (in pathway 4 last year AND again this year) as a low, RED score, of 20%. This is not because it's not something I don't need to pay attention to, this is something I pay attention to daily, right up there with physical health that's also listed in Pathway Four of Grant's Self-Leadership Map. Look to see if Emotion Regulation (pathway 4) is of a low, medium or high priority for you to focus on this year. EMOTION REGULATION AND SLEEP: In a world where we are hit daily by external stimuli, how on the earth can we be proactive to stay mentally strong and clear-headed so we have improved executive control to manage our emotions and regulate them? This took me straight to the work of Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Dr. Matthew Walker who recorded an episode called “Improve Sleep to Boost Mood and Emotion Regulation.”[xvii] It was here where I learned just how important sleep is for keeping a strong, clear mind, so we can use this strength to acknowledge and regulate our emotions, like Bosnick suggested in chapter 9 of his book. Dr. Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and the host of The Matt Walker Podcast, gave example after example that proved that when you've NOT had a good night's sleep, things that wouldn't bother you (when you've slept well), begin to aggravate, or grate on you more. Here's what I found to be remarkable on this topic, something I had not ever heard before. DID YOU KNOW THAT “the greater amount of REM sleep you are getting, (where our dreams occur) the greater amount of emotional detox you will get the next day.” Matt Walker and Dr. Andrew Huberman. Dr. Walker went on to explain that “the brain chemical noradrenaline (that's responsible for our stress reaction) completely shuts off during REM sleep, and serotonin (that plays a role with our mood) decreases, while acetyl choline (that carries messages from our brain to our body through nerve cells) increases by up to 30% in some parts of the brain (and can be even more active than when we were awake).  Dr. Walker concluded that the decrease of stress related brain chemicals is what makes “REM sleep was the perfect condition for overnight therapy.” If we want to improve our emotion regulation, the science is pointing directly to improving our sleep. On this episode, we dove deep into the 4 stages of sleep and suggestions to improve our sleep is something I've been working on for the past 5 years. There is a lot to this, and I'm still working on improving ALL the macroingredients of a good sleep (suggested by Dr. Walker), that include QQRT, or knowing the quantity (amount of sleep), quality (fragmented vs continuous), regularity (sleeping/waking around the same time) and timing (sleeping in alignment with my chronotype).  Dr. Walker explains these areas with Dr. Huberman, and if you do wonder where you can improve, I highly suggest their 6-part series on sleep. TIPS FOR IMPROVING EMOTION REGULATION BY IMPROVING OUR SLEEP: Here are three tips that I took away from the neuroscience of self-regulation, that I've been working on, to see if improving my sleep in these areas, could possibly improve emotion regulation. 1. KNOW HOW MUCH DEEP RESTORATIVE SLEEP WE ARE GETTING EACH NIGHT:  We all know the importance of knowing how much sleep we are getting to be well-rested the next day, (how many hours or the quantity) but it's also important to keep an eye on the QUALITY or amount of DEEP RESTORATIVE sleep we are getting each night. When I looked at the graphic I included when I wrote this EP back in June 2024, using the WHOOP wearable tracker, I can tell you that with focus and effort in this area, I've been able to improve the number of hours of restorative sleep I was getting last year, to this year, by 14%, hitting most nights with sufficient restorative sleep. Do you know how many hours of restorative sleep you are getting each night? 2. KNOW HOW MUCH REM SLEEP WE ARE GETTING: Keeping an eye on how much REM sleep we getting, is my next tip, since we know it's important for consolidating new memories, learning and motor skills. We also just learned that the more REM sleep we are getting, we can say we are getting some good overnight therapy, restoring ourselves mentally. You can find sleep trackers that can help you to measure and track these important ingredients of a good sleep for yourself, and see how much REM sleep you are getting each night, while keeping in mind that “the greater amount of REM sleep you are getting, the greater amount of emotional detox you will get the next day.” (Dr. Walker) Remember, we are working on ways to help with our emotion regulation, and it seems to me, that an easy way to do this, would be to see how we can improve our REM sleep.   3. APPLY THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP TO IMPROVE EMOTION REGULATION: Since “during REM sleep the stress chemicals are turned off” helping us to “strip away the emotion from the memory” we can take this understanding a step further, and see if we are able to solve any of our problems during sleep. Dr. Huberman and Dr. Walker went into great detail about this concept[xviii] that I've actually witnessed first-hand. They described what happens in REM sleep to be like “Behavior-Desensitization” and I had the opportunity to see the stages of this process, done by someone skilled and trained in trauma and the brain, working with someone I know well, who has experiences significant trauma in their life, starting at an early age. Using a series of techniques, the trained therapist took the client safely from talking about a traumatic memory from their childhood, (with extreme emotion attached) to where they could say out loud that the memory had lost its emotional load and no longer gave them an emotional reaction. This is exactly what happens to our brain during REM sleep and why it's mentally restorative. Putting these tips all together, and knowing that improving the quality, and quantity of sleep is linked to improving emotion regulation, I'm working hard to improve restorative sleep and REM sleep, each month.  It's all just a balancing act, though, and working on one part of our health at a time. REVISIT THIS EPISODE TO REVIEW THIS CONCEPT IN DEPTH REVIEW and CONCLUSION: To review and conclude this week's episode #356 on PART 2 of our review of Grant Bosnick's Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership, we covered a review of the strategies that can help us to implement each concept, from chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9. ✔ EP 327 Chapter 6[xix] “The Hydrated Brain” ✔ EP 330 Chapter 7[xx]“Aha Moments, Creative Insights/the Brain” ✔ EP 333 Chapter 8[xxi] “Exploring the Power of Expectations” ✔ EP 335 Chapter 9[xxii] “The Neuroscience Behind Staying Strong and Clear-Headed” While listening to each episode can be a helpful review, so can revisiting your leadership self-assessment to see what might have changed for you this year from last. I hope this review of chapters 6-9 of Grant Bosnick's Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership have helped you to think of NEW ways of thinking and taking the necessary action, that will drive you towards whatever it is that you are working on this year. With that thought, I do want to thank you for tuning in, and we will see you next time, with a review of the next 4 chapters. See you next time. REFERENCES: [i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #321 with Grant ‘Upbeat' Bosnick  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/insights-from-grant-upbeat-bosnick/   [ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #355 Mastering Self-Leadership REVIEW PART 1 (Grant Bosnick) https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/mastering-self-leadership-with-neuroscience/   [iii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #327 “The Hydrated Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscience-meets-social-and-emotional-learning-podcast-episode-327-recap/   [iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #330 “AHA Moments, Creative Insights and the Brain”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-self-leadership-and-the-neuroscience-of-goals/   [v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #333 “Exploring the Power of Expectations” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/exploring-the-power-of-expectations-in-episode-333/   [vi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #335 “The Neuroscience Behind Being Strong and Clear Headed” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/mastering-emotion-regulation-the-neuroscience-behind-staying-strong-and-clear-headed/   [vii] Peter Attia https://peterattiamd.com/   [viii] Attia's Rule https://miloandthecalf.com/2023/02/08/the-attia-rule-some-tests-of-strength-for-longevity/#:~:text=Awhile%20back%20longevity%20expert%20Peter,a%20person%20fit%20for%20longevity.   [ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast “Using Neuroscience to Improve Fitness, Longevity and Overall Health.”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-on-using-neuroscience-to-improve-fitness-longevity-and-overall-health/   [x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE Recorded for Podbean's Wellness Week “The Top 5 Health Staples” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/   [xi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EP 168 “Dr. Bruce Perry and Steve Graner: What Happened to You?”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-bruce-perry-and-steve-graner-from-the-neurosequential-network-on-what-we-should-all-know-about-what-happened-to-you/   [xii] Gabor Mate When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection Published https://www.amazon.com/When-Body-Says-No-Hidden/dp/178504222X   [xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 264 “The Neuroscience Behind The Silva Method: Improving Creativity and Innovation in our Schools, Sports and Modern Workplaces”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-behind-the-silva-method-improving-creativity-and-innovation-in-our-schools-sports-and-modern-workplaces/   [xiv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 315 “Thinking and Acting in This Certain Way PART 2 Review of Wallace D. Wattles The Science of Getting Rich book https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/part-2-review-of-wallace-d-wattles-the-science-of-getting-rich-on-chapter-4-thinking-and-acting-in-a-certain-way/   [xv] https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/hod-lipson   [xvi] “Great Eureka Moments in History: From Issac Netwon to Sir Paul McCartney, inspiration arrived suddenly” by Dan Falk, Published September 2, 2005 https://magazine.utoronto.ca/research-ideas/culture-society/great-eureka-moments-in-history-famous-inspirational-moments/   [xvii] Dr. Matt Walker: Improve Sleep to Boost Mood & Emotional Regulation | Huberman Lab Guest Series  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_SrHS8FvMM   [xviii] Dr. Matt Walker: Improve Sleep to Boost Mood & Emotional Regulation | Huberman Lab Guest Series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_SrHS8FvMM   [xix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #327 “The Hydrated Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscience-meets-social-and-emotional-learning-podcast-episode-327-recap/   [xx] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #330 “AHA Moments, Creative Insights and the Brain”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-self-leadership-and-the-neuroscience-of-goals/   [xxi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #333 “Exploring the Power of Expectations” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/exploring-the-power-of-expectations-in-episode-333/   [xxii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #335 “The Neuroscience Behind Being Strong and Clear Headed” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/mastering-emotion-regulation-the-neuroscience-behind-staying-strong-and-clear-headed/  

I was recently reading the December 9, 2024 issue of “Smithsonian” magazine. In this issue, I read an article entitles, “The Ten Best Science Books of 2024,” written by Joe Spring, Riley Black, Shi En Kim, Dan Falk, Christian Elliott, and Benjamin Cassidy. The book review that I enjoyed the most was “Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold On to What Matters,” written by Charan Ranganath.  Ranganath draws on 25 years of experience studying the mechanisms of human memory to explain how remarkable it is that we remember anything at all.

How ancient artifacts emerge from melting iceAs Earth's glaciers and ice sheets melt due to global warming, they are revealing rare archaeological treasures released from a frozen time capsule. These objects are often made of organic material – human and animal remains and wooden tools that only survive in ice. In her book, The Age of Melt: What glaciers, ice mummies, and ancient artifacts teach us about climate, culture, and a future without ice, Lisa Baril tells the story of the archaeologists searching for these valuable artifacts, and what they're finding. Baril is an ecologist and science communicator based out of Yellowstone National Park.Easily influenced: Why and how the human mind is built to be suggestibleAs a teenager, Amir Raz began to perform as an amateur magician and mentalist, and learned the power of stage hypnosis. It ultimately led him to a career as a neuroscientist studying the science of psychological suggestibility, and how powerful the power of suggestion can be. He explores this science in his new book The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds. Dr Raz taught and practiced for many years at McGill University and is the Founding Director of the Brain Institute at Chapman University in Orange, California.What alien life will really look likeWe're just beginning to have the ability to look for signs of life elsewhere in our solar system or around other stars. But even so, Arizona State University physicist Sara Walker thinks we might be doing it wrong — imagining that life elsewhere will look like life on Earth. She's advocating a broader perspective to imagine how we'd recognize life as a reflection of different versions of chemical complexity. Her new book about this is Life As No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence. Dan Falk, science writer and co-host of the Booklab podcast reviews: The Language Puzzle: How We Talked Our Way Out of the Stone Age by Steven MithenPlaying Possum: How Animals Understand Death by Susana MonsóThe Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience by Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser and Evan Thompson

Dan Falk is an award winning freelance writer and broadcaster specializing in science stories, and was a 2011/12 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.

Eclipses have been a subject of fascination throughout human history, and the fact that we now have a clearer understanding of what they actually are—at least in the celestial mechanics sense—than we did in centuries past has not made them any less exciting. With the North American total solar eclipse just days away as we're releasing this episode, and the next one visible from the contiguous United States not due until 2044, we'll learn about the eclipses from astronomy obsessive (and Smithsonian science correspondent) Dan Falk and hear from Indigenous astronomer Samantha Doxtator about how the Haudenosaunee people have observed and interpreted these mysterious daylight darkenings of the skies over many centuries. You can read Dan's Smithsonian story about how ancient civilizations responded to eclipses here. Find prior episodes of our show here. There's More to That is a production of Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions. From the magazine, our team is Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Adriana Rosas Rivera, Genevieve Sponsler, Rye Dorsey, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Fact-checking by Stephanie Abramson. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

Welcome to Episode 330 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, a part of our 18-week series on self-leadership. Join host Andrea Samadi and author Grant Bosnick as they explore the neuroscience theory behind creating solid health habits, establishing goals, and increasing productivity for greater achievement and well-being. Tap into the power of the AHA moment, and learn how to foster these spontaneous occurrences for instant performance improvement. Bosnick shares insights from his book "Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership" and offers strategies for organizations to solve problems creatively using innovative thought processes. Uncover the crucial role physical and mental health play, particularly the significance of adequate hydration for brain health and daily water intake recommendations. Learn about the concept of neuroplasticity and see examples of creative problem solving applied in real-life situations. Listen as we bring to light interesting perspectives from Professor Hod Lipson from Columbia University on AI and innovation, discuss the Silva Method, and recall our first series on creativity and innovation. Take inspiration from figures like Albert Einstein and learn about hypnosis from the work of Dr. David Spiegel. Cultivate self-awareness and personally tailored plans using our practical five-step method to foster more 'aha' moments. Experience the magic of wisdom acquisitions drawn from a poignant poem by Stuart Edward White. Ready to supercharge your personal and professional growth? Listen to our exciting and educational podcast that delves deep into the interaction of neuroscience and social and emotional learning. Don't forget to subscribe for more insightful episodes. On today's episode #330 we continue with our 18-Week Self-Leadership Series based on Grant Bosnick's “Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership: A Bite Size Approach Using Psychology and Neuroscience” that we first dove into with our interview on EP #321[i] a few weeks ago.  Now that we have started this series, I hope you can see how practicing and strengthening the skills we are learning each week, is cumulative. Each week, we are learning something new, that builds off the prior week, to help take us to greater heights in 2024. We can even map out our “Journey of the Mind” as we go along the way. REVIEW Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 It's here I'm hoping we will take the information we are learning, connect the dots to form knowledge and then apply this knowledge to our daily life. This is where we go from theory to practice with this podcast and it's the application of what we are learning that contains the magic. REFLECT Back to Chapter 2 on The Neuroscience of Goals (and Kurt Lewin's Force Field Theory): What are you doing today to gain the momentum needed to reach NEW and HEIGHTENED levels of performance this year? How are you improving your mental and physical health to gain the momentum we talked about in this chapter? REFLECT Back to Chapter 3 on The Neuroscience of Inspiration: How are you using people or places that inspire you, to take your results to greater heights? Think about this as it relates to your physical and mental health. What else can you do to take more action in this area? REFLECT Back to Chapter 4 on The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: Where are you in your Mindfulness Journey? Mindfulness, and breathing was listed often in Chapter 4.  How is mindfulness helping you with your physical health? REFLECT Back to Chapter 5 on The Neuroscience Behind Peak Performance: How are you practicing “getting into flow?” When do you notice it the most?  Is it during physical exercise, or meditation? Are you practicing this state to gain 5x more productivity in this state? REFLECT BACK to Chapter 6 on The Science Behind our Physical Health: Where we narrowed our focus from a wide and complex field, to something we can implement immediately with “The Hydrated Brain for Improving Our Cognitive Performance.” Are you keeping your brain hydrated? Do you know how much water you are drinking every day? Grant reminds us that “everyone is unique and needs different amounts of water per day (but suggests) an adequate intake for men is roughly around 3 liters (100 fluid ounces) a day, (and) for women it's about 2.2 liters (74 fluid ounces) a day. This is one area I know I can do better with, especially living in the desert, I know I can improve this one with some focused effort. We will cover the remaining 6 chapters (Agility, Resilience, Relationships and Authenticity, Biases, Trust and Presence) after we take a break for me to navigate a new work schedule in my personal life. As soon as I have my footing here, and Dr. Shane Creado from EP 72[ii] reminded me the other day of our brain's neuroplasticity, so I should be able to find the balance in a few weeks, and once I'm in the groove, and I'll be back to finish this series. In the meantime, this will be a perfect time to put some serious thought into where we began this year, and where we are going. Think about the areas where we know we can improve, and get to work on these areas. I'll be using this time to strengthen my own mindset and be sure I'm applying each of these episodes that guarantees the strongest version of myself this year. REMINDER: In this 18-week Series that we began in the beginning of February, we are covering: ✔ Powerful tactics from this Grant Bosnick's award-winning book that illustrates how change and achievement are truly achievable both from internal ('inside out') and external ('outside in') perspectives. ✔Listeners will grasp the immense power of self-leadership and its transformative effect on personal growth and success by applying the neuroscience Grant has uncovered in each chapter. ✔Explore practical strategies for habit formation and the impact of a self-assessment system. ✔Gain insights from Grant's expert advice on maintaining a balance between strengths and weaknesses while chasing after your goals. ✔Embark on an intellectual journey that has the power to elevate personal achievement and self-awareness to uncharted levels while we map out our journey over this 18-week course. There is great power and self-awareness that comes along with mapping out a plan designed specifically for YOU and I do encourage everyone to take Grant Bosnick's Leadership Self-Assessment[iii] so you can see the areas for you that score a high, medium of low level of importance for you to focus on this year. For Today, EPISODE #330, we cover Chapter 7, “AHA Moments, Creative Insight and the Brain” we will look at what Grant Bosnick covers on this topic, as well as a deeper dive into John Kounios and Mark Beeman's fascinating book The Eureka Factor[iv] so we can all have a clear understanding of how these AHA Moments occur in the brain, and how exactly we can foster our own creative insights for unique and immediate improved performance. ✔ Tap into the power of the AHA moment, and learn how to foster these spontaneous occurrences for instant performance improvement. ✔ 5 Simple Steps for Illuminating our Personal and Professional Life with AHA Moments of Creativity. ✔ What Does Neuroscience Say About These AHA Moments of Creativity? Today we dive into Chapter 7 of Grant Bosnick's book as we cover “The Science Behind Insight” which came out as MEDIUM importance (orange score) for me, alongside mindfulness and flow.  If you have taken the self-assessment, you'll know it's how you answer the questions, based on what's of high priority for you, that determines the lessons that are important to begin now, or ones that you might think you have a handle on, so they show up as lower priority, or medium,  like this topic did for for me. I do block out time every day for mindfulness, and am working on getting into “flow” with my work, but insight is a new skill for me. I've never sat down to see “what insight” will come into my mind today, as these types of moments happen spontaneously, like Alexis Samuels mentioned on EP 328[v] when he made the connection with financial literacy and gamification, in the shower. What I loved about Grant Bosnick's book Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership is that he opens up chapter 7 with a story of how insight was used by an organization to help solve the problem with the high number of babies that die within a month of their birth, specifically in developing countries.  This organization solved this specific problem using a thought process that took insight using “materials and human resources that could be used to address this issue” (Chapter 7, Bosnick) by building incubators made out of Toyota cars that were readily available in these developing areas. Instead of using their analytical mind and thinking “how do we get more incubators to these areas” someone on their team used insight and creativity to come up with the best solution. So how do we think up these creative ideas? Grant asks us to ponder where we have our best ideas. In the shower (like Alexis Samuels)? While exercising? At your desk while doing work? Just before falling asleep or waking up? While walking or hiking? While taking with a friend? Grant suggests that few people will come back with “at their desk while working” since this type of creativity involves breaking away from the analytical, thinking mind, and tapping into our “nonconscious” (Chapter 7, Bosnick) part of our brain. It was here I had to look deeper into how this type of thinking happens, and I found the fascinating book, The Eureka Factor: AHA Moments, Creative Insight and the Brain by John Kounios and Mark Beeman that Alexis Samuels mentioned during our interview, and I mentioned I had just started to read it. If you want to dive deeper into the science behind insight and creativity, I highly recommend this book. I wanted to know HOW to create these “AHA” Moments at will, not by chance and this is what these two cognitive neuroscientists who wrote this book, set out to do. Their goal of writing this book was to “explain how these Eureka experiences happen—and how to have more of them to enrich our lives and empower personal and professional success.” (The Eureka Factor). In the very beginning pages of The Eureka Factor, we learn that “insight is creative” (Page 9, The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman) and when the authors went on to define “what creativity is” they suggest to not define it (yet) since “everyone intuitively recognizes creativity when he or she sees it” (Page 9, The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman). I thought back to when we covered “Improving Creativity” on PART 4 of The Silva Method[vi] on “Improving Creativity and Innovation in our Schools, Sports and Modern Workplaces” and we tapped into Dr. Andrew Huberman's research on creativity here. Dr. Huberman explains that “when we see something that's truly creative, it reveals something to us about the natural world and about how our brains work….It must reveal something that surprises us” for it to be truly creative. So, going back to The Eureka Factor, John Kounios suggests that “creative insight is not an exotic type of thought reserved for the few. In fact, (he says) it's one of the few abilities that define our species….most humans—have insights. It's a basic human ability.” (Page 11, The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman). HOW CAN WE BE MORE CREATIVE TO HAVE MORE INSIGHT? So now I want to know how we can we all have MORE insight to solve problems in our personal and work lives? How can we be more creative on purpose? Grant Bosnick has an exercise in his book to help foster this ability, and it begins with quieting the mind, and letting it drift.  Next, he suggests having a positive mood, and then be open to pattern completion, allowing new connections to form. Finally, he reminds us to NOT directly focus on the problem. In The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman cover this concept of “pattern completion” and explained that we be open to unique solutions to our problems, letting the brain do what it was designed to do. They reminded us with a few fascinating discoveries in health, as well as an Oscar Winning Character that was created while the film writer was at a baseball game, that sometimes the answer we are looking for is opposite to what we commonly think to be true. I remember the advice that the Legendary speaker Bob Proctor[vii] would give to people every time they would have a problem they were looking to solve. He would say “go somewhere quiet and think” which covers Grant Bosnick's first suggestion. I remember people coming to me when I worked with Proctor, saying “OK, I did that” I went somewhere quiet, and I'm still stuck” and I always wondered what else I could suggest to someone who really was stuck in this process. After reading Grant's book, I can now connect the understanding of neuroscience to this equation. Having a positive mood is important, while you are quietly thinking, and also understanding that the brain doesn't like incompleteness. When you are quiet, thinking of a solution, your brain will do the work to make the connections where you might never have thought before.   While reading The Eureka Factor, I came across an image that helped to explain this idea so we can ALL improve our ability to generate new and creative insights that will empower our personal and professional lives. IMAGE CREDIT: The Eureka Factor (Kounios, Beeman) Page 24 If someone were to ask me “Where do I begin to improve my ability to create NEW insights in my life?” I would say, start here: STEP 1: Go somewhere quiet and think.  We've mentioned a few times on this podcast that “Every man has the natural and inherent power to think what he wants to think, but it requires more effort to do so”[viii] (Wallace D. Wattles). I recently heard Professor Hod Lipson[ix] from Columbia University, speaking about the future with AI, and while his whole presentation was forward-thinking, eye opening and brilliant, what caught my attention the most was when he mentioned that while working with students with AI and robotics, the hardest part for them was to come up with a name for their robot, because he said “it takes a lot of effort to be creative.” Take the time needed for this process. STEP 2: You might think you are stuck, and might see a brick wall in front of you, metaphorically speaking, but know that there is always a solution to every problem. You just haven't figured it out yet. It's here that I share ways I've moved past where I'm stuck, and that's by using The Silva Method. I'm reminded daily that many of our current listeners found us from the first episode we did in this 4-part series[x] that ended with an episode on “How to Be More Creative and Innovative”. I just heard from Fatima Kahedi this weekend that she found our podcast through Spotify, just by searching for The Silva Method. Then, this weekend, I was listening to a recent episode Dr. Andrew Huberman did an “Ask Me Anything[xi]” Episode from Melbourne, Australia. On this episode he reminded us of the work of Dr. David Spiegl on Hypnosis[xii] saying that there is a simple way to tell if someone is hypnotizable or not. It has to do with what Dr. Spiegl called an “eye roll” at the beginning of the test where he asked Dr. Huberman to look up, and then close his eyes. If the whites of his eyes showed for a certain amount of time, as his eyes were closing, (which they did) he would score a 4/4 on this test and be highly hypnotizable. I heard this and thought “That's the Silva Method!” Jose Silva gets us to relax somewhere quiet by going to the alpha state (by counting backwards) and then by rolling our eyes upwards in our head while relaxed. It's here he asks us to practice seeing things on the screen of our mind. Now that I've heard the science connected to this practice, I can see that by using The Silva Method, we are relaxing ourselves deeply enough to begin to “see” things more clearly. Or in essence, we are practicing self-hypnosis. STEP 3: Keeping your mood positive, break away, and do something that makes you happy. It could be going for a walk, or a hike, or playing tennis like the image from The Eureka Factor. Just break away and divert your attention away from the problem. If you are in a meditative state, just be sure to have positive, elevated emotions flowing through you. Looking at the image in the show notes from The Eureka Factor, we see a person playing tennis. You can use whatever method you want here (The Silva Method of Meditation, your own mindfulness practice, going for a walk or hike) whatever it is for YOU where you feel calm, rested and at peace. STEP 4: Be open to new ideas that might pop into your head. Be prepared for ideas that might be completely opposite to how you were originally thinking of solving the problem. We are all different here. Think back to the beginning of this episode, when Grant Bosnick asked us to consider where our creative ideas flow into our minds. Mine come in that time just before I go to sleep, or just before I wake up. Others might come in the shower, or while exercising. Be open to NEW ideas coming into your mind, and be ready to write them down. STEP 5: Know that there is much work going on from your unconscious mind. You'll will become more self-aware in this process. Grant Bosnick lists a few inventions that were developed this way, in chapter 7 on Insight, and I found an article that lists “Great Eureka Moments in History: From Issac Netwon to Sir Paul McCartney, (where) inspiration arrived suddenly”[xiii] to help them with their famous AHA Moments. DID YOU KNOW that when Albert Einstein created his masterwork on the theory of relativity that he was “taken aback” when his breakthrough came suddenly? His mind kept wandering as he pondered the thought “if a man falls freely, he would not feel his weight.” It was “by linking accelerated motion and gravity (where) Einstein eventually created his theory of relativity.” (Dan Falk) John Kounios also lists some “concrete examples that illustrate the steps and features of the insight experience itself—in particular, their expanded perspective, sudden occurrence, reinterpretation of the familiar, awareness of the unforeseen relationships, subjective certainty, and emotional thrill.” (Page 18, The Eureka Factor). REVIEW AND CONCLUSION To review and conclude this week's episode #330 on “The Neuroscience of Insight” DID YOU KNOW that “the moment a solution pops into someone's awareness as an insight, a sudden burst of high-frequency EEG activity known as “gamma waves” can be picked up by (EEG) electrodes just above the right ear?” (Page 70, The Eureka Factor). “Gamma waves represent cognitive processing in the brain, such as paying attention to something or linking together different pieces of information.” (Page 70, The Eureka Factor). John Kounios recalled in Chapter 5 of The Eureka Factor with excitement after years of work that they “had found a neural signature of the aha moment: a burst of activity in the brain's right hemisphere. Almost literally (he says) this is the spark of insight” but he did add to this conclusion that “in the world outside the lab, insights may need to be evaluated, verified, refined and applied, and this requires contributions from the more analytic left hemisphere” (Page 82, The Eureka Factor). Just like when Einstein came up with his famous AHA Moment of The Theory of Relativity, “it took him 8 years (using the analytical left hemisphere of his brain) to work through the mathematical details.”[xiv] So while we need both the left and right hemispheres of our brain to come up with these insightful AHA moments, there was another important key finding that they discovered with a patient who had a stroke that damaged the right part of his brain more than the left. The stroke didn't interfere with this particular patient's ability to speak and understand the spoken language, but the patient himself knew he was missing something important. This discovery led to an important finding that takes place in the right hemisphere of the brain, and is important “for filling in the gaps to make sense of things” (page 75) and that is the ability to “read between the lines” (Page 76, The Eureka Factor). Which is essentially what the brain is doing when it's “filling in the gaps” and solving our problems with our AHA Moments. We covered 5 STEPS for How to Have MORE AHA Moments to Enrich our Personal and Professional Lives: STEP 1: RELAX: Go somewhere quiet and think.  STEP 2: LOOK PAST THE BRICK WALL: You might think you are stuck, and might see a brick wall in front of you, but know that there is always a solution to every problem. You just haven't figured it out yet. STEP 3: KEEP POSITIVE: Keeping your mood positive, break away, and do something that makes you happy. It could be going for a walk, or a hike, sit somewhere quiet and meditate, or play tennis like the image in the show notes illustrates from The Eureka Factor. Just break away and divert your attention away from the problem. STEP 4: THE MAGIC HAPPENS HERE! Be open to new ideas that might pop into your head. Be prepared for NEW ideas that might be completely opposite to how you were originally thinking. If you decide to read The Eureka Factor, on top of the suggestions that Grant Bosnick suggests, you will learn how the left hemisphere of your brain and right must work together to “fill in the gaps.” This is where we open up our minds to NEW creative ideas. This concept is exactly like when someone tells you a joke, or uses sarcasm, or irony. Our brain that doesn't like “gaps or incompleteness” taps into the right hemisphere to interpret language in this way. This is a prime example that demonstrates just as our “ability to use language requires two intact hemispheres, so does effective, practical, creative performance” (Page 82, The Eureka Factor) and it's within “the right hemisphere (of our brain that) where the spark that ignites the creative fire” begins.  (Page 82, The Eureka Factor).  The magic happens when we can relax, with a positive mindset, close our eyes, and see what messages come “in-between” the lines. STEP 5: Know that there is much work going on from your unconscious mind. EPISODE #295 on “Unleashing the Power of our Subconscious Mind” is a good place to revisit as we peel back the layers and uncover who we truly are. Self-awareness is at the root of this process. To close out this episode, I'll end with a poem that reminds me of how the AHA Moment is formed that we covered recently.[xv]   Isn't it amazing how we acquire wisdom? When we suddenly “see” something that escaped us for so long. Stewart Edward White explains how AHA Moments of Learning can change us, in his poem where he writes: “Curious how we acquire wisdom! Over and over again, the same truth is thrust under our very noses. We encounter it in action; we are admonished of it; we read it in the written word. We suffer the experience; we gradually assent to the advice; we approve, intellectually, the written word. But nothing happens inside us. Then, one day, some trivial experience or word or encounter stops us short. A gleam of illumination penetrates the depth of our consciousness. We see! Usually it is but a glimpse; but on rare occasions a brilliant flash reveals truth fully formed. And we marvel that this understanding has escaped us so long.”   I hope you've enjoyed a deeper dive into the Neuroscience of Insights. We have one last interview to release this weekend, and we'll see you in a few weeks (once I've got my footing) when we return to finish our review of the final chapters of Grants Bosnick's Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership.         REFERENCES:   [i]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #321 with Grant ‘Upbeat' Bosnick  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/insights-from-grant-upbeat-bosnick/   [ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #72 with De. Shane Creado on “Sleep Strategies That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/   [iii] Self-Assessment for Grant Bosnick's book https://www.selfleadershipassessment.com/   [iv] The Eureka Factor: AHA Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain by John Kounios and Mark Beeman Published April 14, 2015 https://www.amazon.com/Eureka-Factor-Moments-Creative-Insight/dp/1400068541   [v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #328 with D. Alexis Samuels  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/exploring-neuroscience-and-gamification-in-financial-literacy-education-with-d-alexis-samuels/     [vi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 264 “The Neuroscience Behind The Silva Method: Improving Creativity and Innovation in our Schools, Sports and Modern Workplaces”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-behind-the-silva-method-improving-creativity-and-innovation-in-our-schools-sports-and-modern-workplaces/   [vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 66 with The Legendary Bob Proctor https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on/   [viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 315 “Thinking and Acting in This Certain Way PART 2 Review of Wallace D. Wattles The Science of Getting Rich book https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/part-2-review-of-wallace-d-wattles-the-science-of-getting-rich-on-chapter-4-thinking-and-acting-in-a-certain-way/   [ix] https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/hod-lipson   [x]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 261 PART 1 of our Deep Dive into Applying The Silva Method https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/a-deep-dive-with-andrea-samadi-into-applying-the-silva-method-for-improved-intuition-creativity-and-focus-part-1/   [xi] Dr. Andrew Huberman “Ask Me Anything” Melbourne, Australia  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-event-q-a-dr-andrew-huberman-question-answer/id1545953110?i=1000650096634   [xii] Dr. Andrew Huberman is Hynpotized by Dr. Spiegl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlTzVB6TGT0   [xiii] “Great Eureka Moments in History: From Issac Netwon to Sir Paul McCartney, inspiration arrived suddenly” by Dan Falk, Published September 2, 2005 https://magazine.utoronto.ca/research-ideas/culture-society/great-eureka-moments-in-history-famous-inspirational-moments/ [xiv] IBID [xv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 314 PART 1 of our Review of The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D Wattles https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/part-1-review-of-wallace-d-wattles-the-science-of-getting-rich-on-prosperity-consciousness/    

I was recently reading the December 7, 2023 issue of “Smithsonian” magazine. In this issue, I read the article “The Ten Best Science Books of 2023” written by Bridget Alex, Riley Black, Dan Falk, Shi En Kim, Carlyn Kranking, and Joe Spring.  In the article they shared their top nonfiction science titles from the past year, selected by “Smithsonian” magazine's editors and frequent contributors. In our last podcast, I shared the reviews of two of the top ten books.  In today's podcast, we will look at the reviews of two more books from the list: Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb Starborn: How the Stars Made Us (and Who We Would Be Without Them) by Roberto Trotta

I was recently reading the December 7, 2023 issue of “Smithsonian” magazine. In this issue, I read the article “The Ten Best Science Books of 2023” written by Bridget Alex, Riley Black, Dan Falk, Shi En Kim, Carlyn Kranking, and Joe Spring.  In the article they shared their top nonfiction science titles from the past year, selected by “Smithsonian” magazine's editors and frequent contributors.  In this podcast, we look at two of their selections: “Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World” by John Vaillant “Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell” by Sy Montgomery

You believe in a lot of things. But what do you believe in the most?Go into the quiet security of your mind, and you will know that you value one of these more highly than the other four.GovernmentBusinessScienceFamilyDeity“American rates of religious affiliation have plummeted to their lowest point in the past 73 years. And nowhere are they lower than in knowledge-industry hubs like Silicon Valley, where high-skilled jobs are growing the fastest. If religion is in decline, I wondered, then what are Americans worshiping now? What has become our new religion? For many professionals, the answer is work. Work provides the identity, belonging, meaning and purpose that faith traditions once did.”– Carolyn Chen, NY Times, June 4, 2022“For thousands of years, our ancestors gazed at the world around us—the people and animals, the mountains and seas, the sun, moon and stars—and saw the divine. As the 19th Psalm puts it, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.' Even Isaac Newton saw a universe filled with purpose. In his masterwork, the Principia, he wrote: ‘This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.' Science advanced by leaps and bounds in the centuries following Newton, and scientists dialed back much of the God-talk. Many thinkers suggested that the universe runs like a mighty clockwork. Perhaps a creator was needed at the beginning, to set it going, but surely it now runs on its own. Einstein, who often spoke of God metaphorically, took a different tack. He rejected a personal deity, but saw a kind of pantheism—roughly, the identification of God with nature—as plausible.”– Dan Falk, Scientific American, July 27, 20211. Where do you place your highest confidence? Is it government?At one end of this spectrum, Communism believes that citizens should collectively own the means of production, distribution, and exchange which allocates products to everyone in the society. Karl Marx proposed a classless society in which everything would be shared by everyone.At the other end of the spectrum, Libertarianism says, “We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.” [LP.org) Ayn Rand famously proposed, “If government would just get out of the way, individual self-interest would create a better society!”To have confidence in government – or in the absence of government – is to believe in people. To have faith in people is Humanism. Is that where you have put your faith?2. Where do you place your highest confidence? Is it business, capitalism, free enterprise?“People create value and do good things when they have a profit motive.”“Capitalism creates jobs and provides a better lifestyle for everyone who participates. It is a virtuous cycle.”“Business people are problem solvers.”3. Where do you place your highest confidence? Is it science, medicine, technology?J.G. Ballard was enthusiastic about living in a technological society. He said, “Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”Napoleon Hill echoed J.G. Ballard. “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”But Thomas Schelling, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, disagreed with Napoleon Hill, saying, “The one thing a person cannot do, however brilliant they are, is write up a list of things that would never occur to them.”I like Thomas Schelling.Perhaps I am oversimplifying this, but my general feeling is that when we do a thing intuitively, we call it

Award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author Dan Falk discusses the connections between the great bard, William Shakespeare, and the Scientific Revolution, as detailed in his book, The Science of Shakespeare.

Are we living in a simulation? You may find it surprising, but all signs point to: PROBABLY. Let's discuss (and shatter your existence).  Show notes & references: - ‘Confirmed! We Live in a Simulation.' Article by Fouad Khan: scientificamerican.com/article/confirmed-we-live-in-a-simulation/ - 'Are we living in a simulated universe? Here's what scientists say.' Article by Dan Falk: nbcnews.com/mach/science/are-we-living-simulated-universe-here-s-what-scientists-say-ncna1026916 - Maria Korolov on Quora: qr.ae/pvMMYj - ▶️ Is Reality Real? The Simulation Argument: youtube.com/watch?v=tlTKTTt47WE Don't forget to subscribe to our show to be the first to hear our latest episodes! To follow Two Flat Whites on your favourite social media platform or to support our podcast with a donation, click here: linktr.ee/twoflatwhitespodcast. We love hearing from you! Send us a DM on socials to interact with us. For all enquiries email us at twoflatwhitespodcast@gmail.com

Dalton Higgins is a journalist and festival and music concert producer in Toronto. He talks about how the entertainment business is being affected by fear of COVID-19; Lauren Ravon Of Oxfam Canada tells us about their 'feminist scorecard' that rate how the government has done in advancing women's rights and gender equality; Bill Rusk is a retired police officer in Owen Sound who was diagnosed with PTSD. He's the executive director of Badge of Life Canada, an organization that connects police officers with mental-health care.He offers his reaction to a new report that found that the O.P.P. is in the midst of a 'mental health crisis'; the provincial Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry John Yakabuski tells us about the government's new strategy for dealing with floods; Writer and podcaster Dan Falk recommends some reading with a scientific slant; Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, Medical Officer of Health for Peterborough Public Health talks about what to consider in terms of travel and public gatherings as the number of people infected with COVID-19 continues to rise; John Gerretsen, the former Mayor of Kingston, is one of the passengers aboard the Grand Princess cruise who now find themselves in quarantine at CFB Trenton.

Feature Guest: Dan Falk Scientists are finding themselves increasingly squeezed between academics sounding the limits of science and a public increasingly taken in by pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Today we conclude our review of science under attack with science writer Dan Falk. Current in Space NASA is looking to make space exploration a little greener, and Joseph and Tony report on their latest invention: an environmentally-friendly spacecraft fuel that may eventually replace hydrazine, the toxic industry standard for decades. Then Simon terrifies us with the fact that mere days ago, an asteroid nearly hit Earth. Finally Amelia and Tony explain a strange feature found around lakes on Titan.   About Our Guest Dan Falk is an award winning science journalist and broadcaster. He has been published very broadly, including Smithsonian, The Walrus, Cosmos magazine, Scientific American, NBCnews.com, Slate and New Scientist. Dan Falk is also the author of three books, including In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension, Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything, and The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright’s Universe. He co-hosts the BookLab podcast. In spring 2019 he was the Science Communicator in Residence at York University in Toronto.

Feature Guest: Dan Falk Today we’re joined here at The Star Spot by science writer Dan Falk. We’ll start today’s interview with a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the landing of humans on the moon and the internationalism of that critical moment. But then, 50 years after this triumph of science, we’re going to confront head on a set of old and new challenges to the scientific enterprise itself. All the fascinating research and discoveries we share at The Star Spot rests on basic assumptions about the primacy, scope and universality of science. In this two episode series, we take a step back and wrestle with some uncomfortable questions. What if the fundamental reality we probe is merely a simulation? Does science harbour blind spots that will forever limit its ability to build a theory of everything? And even if science is supreme, can it contend with conspiracy theories and pseudoscience - like the moon landing hoax belief - that undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of the wider public. Current in Space Tony explain a remarkable finding from the Curiosity rover on Mars: it's detected the biggest emission of methane on the red planet yet. Then Simon delves into the subject of a black hole so unusual that it shouldn't exist at all! And Amelia and Tony report on a new instrument that's being used to hunt for exoplanets in the Alpha Centauri system.  About Our Guest Dan Falk is an award winning science journalist and broadcaster. He has been published very broadly, including Smithsonian, The Walrus, Cosmos magazine, Scientific American, NBCnews.com, Slate and New Scientist. Dan Falk is also the author of three books, including In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension, Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything, and The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright’s Universe. He co-hosts the BookLab podcast. In spring 2019 he was the Science Communicator in Residence at York University in Toronto.

The scene is movie legend: Morpheus sits with Neo beside a fireplace while a storm rages outside, and tells him that the world he calls reality—what he sees when he looks out the window or turns on the television, when he goes to work—it's all an illusion. If he takes the blue pill, Neo can remain comfortably in the illusion—you know, “The Matrix.” But if he takes the red pill, he will wake up to a very uncomfortable real world. It's a cool movie, but some scientists are entertaining an idea almost exactly like its premise. The “simulation hypothesis” proposes that the world around us, our bodies, and even our own minds might not be real. Instead, they could be the illusions of a sophisticated computer program created by a super-intelligent being or beings. In fact, writing at NBC, Dan Falk quotes top scientists and philosophers who think that it's not just possible, it's likely. They think we could exist in some version of the Matrix. “If we are living in a simulation,” writes Oxford philosopher Nick Bostram, “then the cosmos we are observing is just a tiny piece of the totality of physical existence.” The world we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell, may not be “located at the fundamental level of reality.” Before you laugh: This idea is surprisingly hard to disprove—at least on secular assumptions. One M.I.T. scientist and author of the book, “The Simulation Hypothesis,” recalls playing a virtual reality game and forgetting he was alone “in an empty room with a headset on.” The game was just so realistic, it became his reality. If it's that easy to get lost in a simulation we've designed with our limited technology—or so goes the thinking—what must it be like in a simulation designed by an advanced race? We could live our entire lives in such a simulation, and never know it. And what would be the purpose of such a virtual-reality reality? The answer in the Matrix was sentient robotic overlords who kept us distracted so they could use humans to generate energy to survive. Believe it or not, some who seriously argue for the simulation hypothesis have similarly outlandish guesses as to the identity and intent of the programmers. Some suggest a race of extraterrestrial beings running a kind of experiment on us. Rich Terrile of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory thinks the programmers could be us—that is, future, highly-advanced (read: further evolved) humans who have decided to create a simulation of an earlier stage of their own civilization. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that these advanced beings controlling our reality quickly get deified. If the simulation hypothesis turns out to be true, says Terrile, that means “there's a creator, an architect—someone who designed the world.” He even recognizes he's wrapping ancient religious ideas—specifically Eastern Monism—in “mathematics and science rather than just faith.” But he's fine with that. Taking the simulation hypothesis seriously forces us to deal with serious questions. For instance, could our own minds and everything we know and love be mere created computer code designed to trick itself into believing it can think? And if all of this is a simulation, does anything matter at all? According to Harvard astronomer Abraham Loeb, such thinking could lead to massive social unrest. After all, if the world is just a computer program, it would “relieve us from being accountable for any of our actions.” And if our world is the creation of an advanced race, where did they come from? Much like the theory that says life on earth was seeded by extraterrestrials, the simulation hypothesis just moves the origin of intelligent life back a step. But it doesn't ever explain it. Of course, there's a much more direct way of answering these ultimate questions. What if the improbable design of the universe, our planet, bodies, and minds were, in fact, created by an advanced Being, who instead of programming a supercomputer, called everything into existence by His Word. What if this Creator is a moral being, and so we are morally accountable to Him? Apparently, for a few of the world's top scientists, that's just too much of a stretch… too unlikely, and who wants to be morally accountable anyway? And, so instead, they prefer The Matrix.

Dan Falk is the author of The Science of Shakespeare which delves into the history of science's relationship with Shakespeare's work. He is also a broadcaster and science journalist whose writing credits include Scientific American, New Scientist, Smithsonian, NBC, The LA Times, the Boston Globe, Sky News and Nature, just to name a few. For more information about Dan, his ‘Book Lab' podcast, or his published works, check him out on Twitter (@DanFalk) or at danfalk.ca. "It is so often the case in science that first you have an argument, then people call you crazy, and then eventually it just becomes the established truth." Today, Konner and Dan discuss a lot about his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare, which examines how Shakespeare's work was influenced by the science of his time. As well as how other great writers were altered by the science of their time too, like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, for example. They discuss greatness and whether it comes from the time you were born, or something else. Lastly, the guys chat about why we all should get out of our comfort zones a little, by crossing into other subject matters, whether it be scientific or artistic, and how that might benefit us.

Andy and Dave begin with an AI-generated podcast, using the “dumbed down” GPT-2 with the repository of podcast notes; GPT-2 ends the faux podcast with a video called “The World Ends with Robots” and Dave later discovers that a Google search on the title brings up zero hits. Ominous! Andy and Dave continue with a discussion of the Boeing 737 MAX crashes and the implications for autonomous systems. Stanford University launches the Stanford Institute for Human-centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), which seeks to advance AI research to improve the human condition. Ahead of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in Geneva, Japan announces its intention to submit a plan for maintaining control over lethal autonomous weapons systems. A new report from Hal Hodson at the Economist reveals that, should DeepMind successfully create artificial general intelligence, its Ethics Board will have legal “control” of the entity. And Steve Walker and Vint Cerf discuss other US Department of Defense projects that Google is working on, including the identification of deep fakes, and exploring new architectures to create more computing power. NVidia announces a $99 AI development kit, the AI Playground, and the GauGAN. In research topics, Google explores whether neural networks show gestalt phenomena, looking specifically at the law of closure. Researchers with IBM Watson and Oxford examine supervised learning with quantum-enhanced feature spaces. Shashu and co-workers explore quantum entanglement in deep learning architectures. Dan Falk takes a look at how AI is changing science. And researchers at Facebook AI and Google AI examine the pitfalls of measuring emergent communication between agents. The World Intellectual Property Organization releases its 2019 trends in AI. A report takes a survey of the European Union’s AI ecosystem. While another paper surveys the field of robotic construction. Kiernan Healy releases a book on Data Visualization. Allen Downey publishes Think Bayes: Bayesian Statistics Made Simple. The Defense Innovation Board releases a video from its public listening session on AI ethics at CMU from 14 March. The 2019 Human-Centered AI Institute Symposium releases a video. And Irina Raicu compiles a list of readings about AI ethics.

William Shakespeare’s life overlapped some of the most extraordinary scientific discoveries in human history. Modern thought was developing the idea of a round Earth, the sun being the center of the universe, and scientific minds like Galileo, Thomas Digges, and Tycho Brahe, were utilizing then cutting edge technology like the telescope to transform the way we thought about the universe and our place in it. This swirl of scientific thought, imagination, and theory was buzzing around William Shakespeare right at the same time he was penning some of the plays so famous for asking many of the same human questions scientists were raising about the universe, and in the case of Thomas Digges, these questions were being raised literally right down the street from William Shakespeare himself as Digges lived in Shakespeare’s own neighborhood. Here to help us unpack some of the realities about scientific thought in the 16th century, and what an understanding of that culture can help us learn about William Shakespeare, is the man who literally wrote the book on The Science of Shakespeare, our special guest Dan Falk. Dan Falk is an award winning freelance writer and broadcaster specializing in science stories  He was the 2011/12 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. His has written numerous publications for Smithsonian, New Scientist, Scientific American, the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, Quanta, Nautilus, NBCnews.com, Mental Floss, and many other newspapers, magazines, and websites. In addition to being an accomplished science writer, Dan is also a successful science radio broadcaster, having  written and produced dozens of radio documentaries, primarily for the CBC Radio program Ideas. Several of these documentaries have won prestigious international awards. He is the co-host a podcast called BookLab with science journalist Amanda Gefter. The podcast reviews the latest in popular science books. Dan he joins us today to discuss his most recent book, The Science of Shakespeare, which was published in April 2014 by St. Martin's Press in the U.S. and by Goose Lane in Canada. His book explores the time period of Shakespeare’s life and specifically massive upheaval of scientific thought that was happening in the very same neighborhood where Shakespeare lived and worked. We are delighted to have Dan here with us today to take us behind the curtain and into the science life of William Shakespeare.

Feature Guest: Dan Falk What if everything we see in our universe is not all that there is. The concept of the multiverse has captured the imagination of both physicists and cosmologists, but for very different reasons. According to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, every quantum event triggers the creation of new parallel universes. Meanwhile many cosmologists studying the beginning of the universe have come to believe that inflation is an eternal process forever creating new universes. The quantum mechanical wave-function and cosmological inflation seem worlds apart. But what if these two dramatically different models were pointing to one and the same multiverse? In this second of our two part conversation, science reporter Dan Falk rejoins us here at The Star Spot to discuss this startling possibility. Current in Space Today Tony and Dave treat us to a special black hole double bill. First up, black holes were recently tested to determine if they really are every bit as exotic as we thought. And then, what happens to the supermassive black hole at the centres of merging galaxies? About Our Guest Dan Falk is an award winning science journalist and broadcaster. He’s been published very broadly, including in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, The Walrus, Cosmos magazine, and New Scientist, and has contributed to CBC and TV Ontario science programming. Dan Falk is also the author of three books, including In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension, Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything, and The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright’s Universe. He co-hosts the BookLab podcast

Feature Guest: Dan Falk  They once portended the collapse of civilization. Well the solar eclipse visiting North America this summer probably won’t spell the end of days. But as our guest Dan Falk will explain astronomers and lay people alike are in for an unforgettable experience on August 21st, when day literally turns to night. Current in Space Data dump? Oh yes just another 200 or so alien worlds discovered by Kepler. About Our Guest Dan Falk is an award winning science journalist and broadcaster. He’s been published very broadly, including in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, The Walrus, Cosmos magazine, and New Scientist, and has contributed to CBC and TV Ontario science programming. Dan Falk is also the author of three books, including In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension, Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything, and The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright’s Universe. He co-hosts the BookLab podcast  

Lors du dernier épisode (non hors-série) de LisezLaScience, j’avais parlé du livre d’Étienne Klein “Le Temps (qui parle?)” où il tentait de répondre aux questions d’enfants sur le temps, la manière dont il s’écoule et celle avec laquelle il fuit entre les doigts, avec ce regard de physicien et philosophe spécialiste du sujet qu’on lui connait.Comme l’explique Étienne Klein dans ses différents ouvrages, l’évolution de la conception du temps a accompagné la science, et ses révolutions, depuis que l’Homme s’intéresse au monde qui l’entoure. Ces révolutions, leur fonctionnement et leur structuration, ont été théorisées et Thomas Kuhn a apporté sa pierre à ces réflexions via son livre “La Structure Des Révolutions Scientifiques” dont nous allons parler aujourd’hui. L’auteur va ainsi aborder dans cet ouvrage comment ces révolutions scientifiques se sont construites et comment les paradigmes évoluent bien différemment de ce que l’on pourrait penser de prime abord. Sommaire Quelques mots sur Thomas Kuhn Le livre “La Structure Des Révolutions Scientifiques” Un livre qui n’a rien à voir Un livre que j’aimerais lire PlugsUn auteurThomas Kuhn est un philosophe des sciences américain du XXème siècle. Issu d’Harvard où il étudia la physique, il obtient son doctorat en 1949 et enseigna notamment l’histoire des sciences que ce fut à Harvard, à Berkeley ou encore à Princeton et au MIT.Au cours de sa carrière il reçu diverses distinctions comme le prix Howard Behrman en 1977, la médaille Sarton (décernée par la History of Science Society) en 1982 ainsi que le prix de la Society for social Studies of Science en 1983.Le livre pour lequel il reste le plus connu est “La Structure des Révolutions Scientifiques” qui fut écrit du temps où il était à Harvard en 1962.Le propos que Thomas Kuhn défend dans cet ouvrage, et qui fut assurément ce pour quoi il est le plus connu, est celui de changement de paradigmes scientifiques qui est selon lui à la base des notions de révolution scientifique. Selon lui les domaines scientifiques n’évoluent pas d’une manière linéaire et continue, mais d’une manière discontinue. Les discontinuités seront ces fameux changements de paradigmes.Ce concept de changement de paradigme a été tellement important pour l’histoire des sciences, qu’un prix nommé “Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award” a été créé. Ce prix vise à récompenser les scientifiques présentants des théories originales, et dont la nouveauté de point de vue pourraient avoir des impacts importants si ces théories étaient acceptées largement.En dehors de “La structure des révolutions scientifiques”, voici quelques-uns des ouvrages les plus connus de Thomas Kuhn : “The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought” paru en 1957, “The Function of Measurement in Modern Physical Science” paru en 1961, “The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change” paru en 1977 ou encore “Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894-1912” paru en 1978.Un livreAvant-proposCe livre, “La structure des révolutions scientifiques”, a été traduit en seize langues et vendu à plus d’un million d’exemplaires. Ce n’est pas rien quand même ! À vrai dire ce livre est même une référence pour un grand nombre de personne, notamment parce ce qu’il a remis en cause une vision de l’évolution de la science qui finalement ne collait pas à la réalité de son histoire en introduisant des concepts qui sont aujourd’hui des bases pour l’étude des sciences : théorie, paradigme, crise, révolution, etc.Avant d’aborder le livre en lui-même je voulais aussi mentionner quelque chose qui est apparu lorsque j’ai fait quelques recherches sur la vie de Thomas Kuhn. Il semblerait, mais je ne suis pas un spécialiste du sujet et donc je mentionne cela pour rester complet sur la question, que les idées qu’il défend dans ses thèses sur la structure des révolutions scientifiques (pour paraphraser le titre du livre d’aujourd’hui) ou sur la manière dont les sciences sont construites, aient été proposées, avec un autre vocabulaire peut-être, par un certain Michael Polanyi, plusieurs années avant lui. Vous pouvez jeter un coup d’oeil sur la section dédiée de la page Wikipédia de Thomas Kuhn (en anglais) pour en savoir plus sur le sujet.La revueThomas Kuhn va tout d’abord décrire dans l’introduction la problématique qui est, d’une certaine manière, sous-jacente au travail qu’il réalise à travers ce livre : certaines découvertes, certaines nouvelles théories posent problèmes aux historiens des sciences. En effet, elles ne s’inscrivent pas dans une évolution de la science par accumulation de découvertes, d’informations ou de précisions dans les expériences.L’opinion de Thomas Kuhn est que la vision de la science, de ses concepts et de son évolution doit évoluer. Selon lui, les façons de la décrire jusqu’ici ne permettent pas de considérer de manière pertinente la jeunesse de nouvelles théories, la façon de considérer les expériences qui les font apparaître et les évènements qui les font remplacer les anciennes et devenir les standards pour les années suivantes.Il faut bien noter que ce livre date des années soixante et que certains de ces concepts vous sont peut-être devenus familiers. Mais à l’époque ceci n’était pas le cas et le livre permet d’en prendre toute la mesure.Pour structurer son propos, Thomas Kuhn commence tout d’abord par présenter la notion de science “normale”. Ceci lui permet ainsi de clarifier ce que l’on entend par là : le corpus de théories acceptées à l’instant présent et qui forment les modèles sur lesquels la science se base pour ses prédictions, auxquels adhèrent des groupes suffisamment grands pour former un consensus au sein de la communauté scientifique et définir des problèmes restants à résoudre, etc.Arriver à cette science normale et établie n’est pas chose aisée, et Thomas Kuhn donne un grand nombre d’exemples pour expliquer qu’une jeune théorie est souvent accompagnée de nombreuses théories opposées desquelles elle va s’extraire. La théorie de l’électricité au XVIIIème siècle est un bon cas qui fait apparaître une variété assez grande de points de vue sur ce qu’était le phénomène avant que l’une d’entre elle ne fasse consensus et que les autres disparaissent, la plupart du temps, irrémédiablement.Une fois établie de manière générale ce qu’il entend par “science normale” et la manière qu’elle a d’émerger, Thomas Kuhn déroule son raisonnement sur la manière dont les théories scientifiques se structurent avec notamment le concept, central pour lui, de paradigme. Ce paradigme va ainsi définir plusieurs choses: dans un premier temps “l’ensemble des principes et méthodes partagés par un groupe ou une communauté scientifique” (sic). Ce paradigme va aussi, et de manière plus générale, représenter des lois scientifiques, un ensemble d’expériences validant ce paradigme et structurant une certaine vision du monde, ainsi qu’un ensemble de croyances qui vont y être associées.Une description un peu plus longue de la notion de paradigme peut d’ailleurs être retrouvée chez philosciences.comDe manière corollaire, un paradigme va définir un certain nombre d’expériences permettant de le mettre en évidence. À côté de celles-ci d’autres vont soulever des problèmes car elles ne pourront pas être intégrées à la théorie associée au paradigme. Ces expériences, seront potentiellement plus tard la graine qui amenera à l’apparition “d’anomalies et de découvertes scientifiques” comme le dit Kuhn. Il donne ainsi l’exemple de diverses expériences réalisées durant le XVIIIème siècle qui ont conduit à la découverte, au même moment et par plusieurs scientifiques en même temps, du fait que l’oxygène était un gaz qui ne collait pas avec la théorie chimique des gaz de l’époque, celle du phlogistique. Priestley et Lavoisier ont ainsi été les scientifiques à l’oeuvre pour amener un nouveau paradigme dans le domaine. Ces diverses découvertes, à partir du moment où elles sont admises vont remettre en cause le paradigme et faire naître une crise dans la science en question.Des crises plus profondes peuvent aussi naître de changement plus massifs. Changements qui ne sont finalement que l’aboutissement de petites craquelures tout au long de l’existence du paradigme. Et à force d’accumulation, ces changements vont pousser à la création d’un nouveau paradigme basé sur une théorie structurellement différente. Le genre de paradigme que Kuhn cite pour illustrer son propos serait ceux des diverses théories de mécanique célestre de Ptolémée, Galillé et ensuite Newton. L’apparition d’une crise résulte finalement d’une incapacité du paradigme “mourant” à permettre par exemple un certain niveau de précision dans les applications concrètes, la résolution de problèmes et la science expérimentale.Selon Thomas Kuhn ce sont ces énigmes, érigées en tant que source de crise, qui permettent l’apparition de nouveaux paradigmes. Nées de problèmes rencontrés par le paradigme actuel, elles vont devenir des éléments centraux pour le nouveau paradigme entrant, malgré les ajouts ad hoc que les résistants de l’ancien paradigme seront amenés à tenter d’apporter pour le conserver.C’est ce changement nécessaire de paradigme, perçu par une communauté toujours plus croissante, qui impose la mise en place d’un nouveau paradigme (ce fameux paradigm shift dont on peut parfois entendre parler) pour répondre aux problèmes, énigmes, etc qui sont posés, par l’environnement et les expériences, à l’ancien paradigme qui ne saurait y trouver des réponses. Il est bon de noter que l’on parle aussi de révolution, car c’est ce que l’on a aussi tendance à dire pour ce paradigme shift, lors que “une connaissance nouvelle remplace l’ignorance, au lieu de remplacer une connaissance différente et incompatible” pour citer Kuhn.Un point que Kuhn ne cesse de répéter, et qui est central dans cette notion de changement de paradigme, c’est que “les différences entre paradigmes successifs sont nécessaires et irréconciliables”. Est-ce d’ailleurs à cause de ces différences fondamentales ou des nouveaux problèmes que le nouveau paradigme peut résoudre que ce shift se produit ? Toujours est-il que la vision du monde qui se trouve révélée change totalement. En effet, le prisme à travers nous étudions le monde, nous le classifions, se transforme et peut donner une image nouvelle. Les scientifiques ne voyaient que des trajectoires irrémédiables dans un temps et un espace fixes, et maintenant ceux-ci s’influent mutuellement de manière dynamique. L’atome n’est plus un système planétaire, mais un système dont les électrons ont des probabilités définies de se trouver à un endroit ou à un autre.Un point qui pourrait être remonté par certains d’entre vous serait : il est ici question de révolution, mais elle nous semblait invisible : comment cela se fait-il ? De là d’ailleurs proviendrait peut-être, selon Kuhn, l’idée fausse que la science se serait construite de manière accumulative.Comment cette invisibilité a-t-elle pu exister ? Selon Kuhn cela provient du fait que chaque paradigme produit, une fois la révolution intégrée, son corpus de manuels, de source d’informations sur les lois, le cadre, etc que le paradigme défini. Et les éléments associés toujours valables ou pertinent dans l’histoire des anciens paradigmes, ses scientifiques renommés et de référence, se retrouvent intégrés et cités dans les manuels des nouveaux paradigmes. L’Histoire de l’évolution de la science se trouvant souvent reléguée aux introductions et références obscures, se retrouve la plupart du temps réécrite à l’aune du nouveau paradigme en vigueur.Pour finir Thomas Kuhn revient sur la manière dont il y a passage d’un paradigme à l’autre. Il lui semble complexe de dire que la “conversion” des scientifiques de l’un à l’autre se fasse de manière naturelle. Après tout, chacun des paradigmes, l’ancien et le nouveau, exprime une vision du monde différente, un ensemble de règles et de lois distinctes. Les scientifiques qui vont être des défenseurs de l’un ou de l’autre ne sauraient être convaincus par la logique de changer, car leurs arguments seraient exprimés dans leur propre système de référence. Selon Kuhn, seules les performances supérieures dans la résolution des problèmes d’un paradigme pourraient être une base pour permettre cette conversion. Et cependant ce n’est parfois d’ailleurs pas suffisant : la théorie copernicienne n’amenait par exemple pas une précision incommensurablent meilleure quand elle fut avancée. Il est souvent nécessaire de pouvoir, en plus, résoudre ou amener une lumière sur d’autres éléments qui n’étaient pas considérés par le paradigme précédent. Tout ceci sans parler de l’esthétique qui joue aussi un grand rôle dans l’acceptation des nouveaux paradigme.En conclusionLe livre de Thomas Kuhn, “La Structure des Révolutions Scientifiques” est un ouvrage qui fait référence sur la manière d’aborder les changements de paradigme dans les sciences. Même ce mot de paradigme est devenu maintenant un incontournable de la science quand il est question de résultat d’expérience ou de percée théorique amenant un regard (véritablement ou non) nouveau sur le champ étudié.On pourra, à titre de dérive, citer la communication, limite marketing de marque de lessive, de certains média grands publics à vouloir parler de révolution pour tout et n’importe quoi. Mais il s’agit plus de cette fameuse dérive que d’une réalité du point de vue des chercheurs je pense.Il est d’ailleurs étonnant de voir avec quelles précautions Thomas Kuhn débute son livre. Comme si il avait peur que son point de vue soit trop “révolutionnaire” et ne remette trop en cause le système de pensée de l’époque. Est-ce peut-être plutôt une grande humilité de sa part plutôt qu’une crainte de se voir rabrouer par la communauté scientifique de l’époque? Je ne saurais le dire ne connaissant pas assez le personnage.La première partie du livre est un peu difficile à aborder. Il est vrai qu’il s’agit de la mise en place des termes et concepts de base. Mais ceci permet de fixer les bases des développements suivant et les exemples données, tout au long du livre, en font un objet de réflexions intenses sur la structure de la science. Ceci me fait d’ailleurs dire que, pouvoir comprendre la construction des concepts et des éléments sous-jacents qui ont amené les révolutions scientifiques, permet de mieux se figurer le fonctionnement de la science. Parfois, redonner du sens à ce qui est enseigner peut, peut-être, aider les étudiants à mieux comprendre et prendre du plaisir d'apprendre et faire la science.En tout cas un livre que je recommande pour qui souhaite comprendre comment la science se construit et avance.Un livre qui n’a rien à voirAujourd’hui, comme livre qui n’a rien à voir, je vous propose “Science minute” de Hazel Muir. Ce livre se place dans une collection de livres visant à fournir en deux pages (une de texte et une autre d’illustration du concept associé) de l’information sur un sujet en particulier. Celui-ci est sur la science en général et aborde divers thèmes : Géologie, Biologie, Physique des particules, etc. Dans cette collection on retrouve notamment “Mathématiques minute” de Paul Glendinning, “Philosophy in Minutes” de Marcus Weeks ou encore “Economics in Minutes” de Niall Kishtainy. C’est un petit livre (en taille), mais pas en nombre de page, et je trouve que c’est plutôt bien mené ! Cet objectif est plus difficilement réalisé dans “Mathématiques minutes” je trouve, où l’on se retrouve rapidement avec des concepts plutôt complexe à intégrer en peu de lignes. La spécifité du domaine considéré dans ce dernier est peut-être la raison première de cette différence. De mon côté j’ai lu la version anglaise, mais apparemment des traductions commencent à apparaître pour certains des livres. En tout cas, si vous lisez l’anglais (ou que vous achetez la version française) et que vous voulez avoir une description rapide des concepts scientifiques définis comme les plus importants par Hazel Muir, allez-y!Un livre que j’aimerais lire Aujourd’hui, le livre que j’aimerais lire est “The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood” de James Gleick. Je vous ai déjà parlé de lui dans un précédent épisode à propos de son livre sur la théorie du Chaos et je suis un grand fan : cet homme-là est fantastique !Ici il présente, en un ouvrage, ce qu’il est important de savoir sur la notion d’information, la théorie associée et la façon dont elle a structurée l’Homme avec un grand H. Au cours de ce livre il est censé aborder les divers femmes et hommes qui ont fait partie de cette histoire de l’information comme Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage ou encore Claude Shannon.J’ai eu la chance d’échanger par mail avec James Gleick et il m’a dit qu’une version française de ce livre devait sortir, mais je n’ai pas pu attendre et j’ai profité d’un voyage aux États-Unis pour l’acheter !Plugs et liens évoquésSi vous souhaitez en savoir plus sur Thomas Kuhn, je vous propose de jeter un coup d’oeil aux pages Wikipédia associées sur la version française : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Samuel_Kuhn et anglaise : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn Lors de l’épisode #272 de Scepticisme Scientifique, Jean-Michel Abrassart a donné quelques références de lectures de psychologie anomalistique et de parapsychologie. Si ce sont des sujets qui vous intéressent, je vous conseille grandement son écoute : http://pangolia.com/blog/?p=1808 Lors de l’épisode #17 d’Anthropodcast, Jonathan Maitrot nous présente 7 livres sur l’anthropologie. Si il s’agit de l’un des sujets à propos duquel nous souhaiteriez avoir plus d’infos, je ne peux que vous enjoindre à aller l’écouter : http://www.anthropodcast.fr/livres-a-lire-en-anthropologie-pour-debuter/ Pour ceux qui ne suivraient que le podcast, vous pouvez aussi retrouver un billet sur le site à propos de Booklabpodcast ici : Découvrez des livres de science en anglais avec Booklabpodcast. Il s’agit d’un podcast en anglais mené par Dan Falk (auteur d’ouvrages variés comme The Science of Shakespeare ou Universe on a T-Shirt ou encore journaliste pour le New Scientist, le Globe, le Mail) et Amanda Gefter (elle écrit sur la physique, la cosmologie, comme dans Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn et est une consultante pour le New Scientist ou encore Scientific American). C’est un podcast que m’a fait découvrir NicoTupe et pour ceux qui ne sont pas repoussés par l’anglais les épisodes sont de bonne qualité et on peut découvrir des livres de science qui ne sont pas (encore) abordés sur LisezLaScience! Pour avoir écouté tous les (4) épisodes, vous pouvez y aller les yeux fermés. Vous pouvez bien sûr suivre le podcast ainsi que ces deux co-créateurs sur les comptes twitter respectifs : @booklabpodcast @danfalk et @amandagefter Et n’oubliez pas, le 21/03 se déroulera l’évènement Lyon Science 2015 ! Ce sera un moment fun et décontracté où vous pourrez en apprendre beaucoup sur la science à la lyonnaise. Cela se déroulera sur Lyon en compagnie de membres de Podcastscience (Nico, Julie et Alan), du Café des Sciences (Taupo, Mr Pourquoi, Vincent ou encore Emilie Neveu), de membres de Strip Science comme Mel et des amateurs de sciences comme Swoog ou moi-même. Nous aurons enfin la chance d’accueil comme grand témoin Simon Meyer, le directeur du planétarium de Vaulx-en-Velin. Il nous parlera de lui, de la vulgarisation et du travail de gestion d’un lieu culturel et scientifique comme le planétarium. Pour plus d’infos vous pouvez suivre le compte twitter de Lyon Science : @LyonSciFr aller sur le site dédié lyon-science.fr ou vous rendre sur la page Facebook associée LyonScience. Description un peu plus longue de la notion de paradigme chez Kuhn : http://www.philosciences.com/General/Kuhn.htmlConclusionLes révolutions sont des phénomènes qui peuvent intervenir dans le monde, mais aussi en nous. Et que l’on aime cela ou pas, il est toujours important de pouvoir se positionner : à propos des révolutions comme à propos de ce podcast ! Alors n’hésitez pas : Envoyez-moi des e-mails, des commentaires sur la page iTunes (c’est une bonne façon de faire connaître le podcast), des likes sur la page Facebook, des tweets, des retweets, en me donnant un coupe-branche neuf pour tailler un arbre, ou en m’envoyant l’oeuvre complète de Jean-Pierre Luminet, si jamais vous vous préfériez vous en servir comme brouillon pour les dessins de vos enfants.Si vous cherchez LisezLaScience sur internet, vous pouvez retrouver le podcast sur son site web http://lisezlascience.wordpress.com ou vous pouvez me contacter sur twitter sur @LisezLaScience ou sur la page Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LisezLaScienceConcernant le flux, il est accessible sur podcloud http://lisezlascience.podcloud.fr/ (merci les gars!), et sur podcastpedia podcastpedia.org/LisezLaScienceVous pouvez aussi m’envoyer des e-mails à lisezlascience@gmail.comVous pouvez enfin retrouver l’ensemble des livres cités sur la liste goodreads associée à ce podcast sur le compte de LisezLaScience. Les livres seront placés sur des “étagères” spécifiques par épisode et ceux de celui-ci sont sur l’étagère “lls-11” : https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/30797714-lisezlascience?shelf=lls-11Prochain épisodePour ceux qui seront le 21/03 à Lyon, je vous retrouver pour l’évènement Lyon Science 2015, et pour les autres, on se retrouve le 29/03/2015 pour un nouvel épisode sur le livre “Abominable Science” de Luxton et Prothero dont je vous parlerai avec un invité spécial !D’ici là à bientôt à toutes et à tous.Les références des livres évoquésLa structure des révolutions scientifiquesISBN : 2081214857 (ISBN13 : 978-2081214859) Auteur : Thomas S. Kuhn Nombre de pages : 284 pages Date de parution : 14/05/2008 chez Flammarion Prix : 8,20€ chez Amazon et à la Fnac Science minute (anciennement Science in seconds)ISBN : 2849332984 (ISBN13 : 978-2849332986) Auteur : Hazel Muir Nombre de pages : 415 pages Date de parution : 10/03/2014 chez Editions Contre-dires Prix : 12,90€ chez Amazon et à la Fnac The Information: A History, A Theory, A FloodISBN : 0007225741 (ISBN13 : 978-0007225743) Auteur : James Gleick Nombre de pages : 544 pages Date de parution : 01/03/2012 chez Fourth Estate Prix : 9,18€ chez Amazon et à la Fnac

This week we're looking at the way science influenced the work of the greatest author in English, and what modern scholars think about its origins. We're joined by journalist and author Dan Falk, to talk about his book "The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe." And we'll speak to Shakespeare scholar and blogger Stanley Wells, for his perspective on the question of who actually wrote Shakespeare's works.

Dan Falk discusses his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe    

Dan Falk discusses his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe    

To celebrate our third season, we thought we'd make an episode no one was asking for: another book club!The books we talk about:The Science of Shakespeare by Dan FalkThe Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude MorganOphelia by Lisa KleinThe Book of William by Paul CollinsTo Be or Not To Be by Ryan NorthThe Horatio Hornblower series by CS ForesterThe October Daye series by Seanan McGuireIn future episodes we're going to debate the subject, "is Othello about race?" and talking about how to stage Hamlet. Please let us know what you think at shakespearepodcast@gmail.com Leave the subject name "Othello" or "Hamlet" in the email.

To celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, Everyday Einstein talks with Dan Falk, author of the fascinating new book "The Science of Shakespeare." Did the Bard of Avon infuse his plays with the scientific discoveries of the day? Find out.

Journalist and writer Dan Falk talks about his new book In Search of Time, about the cultural, physical and psychological aspects of the mysterious ticking clocks all around us. Plus, we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Web sites related to this episode include www.danfalk.ca