The Happiness Epidemic: Catching a Habit
What do behavioral traits and infectious diseases have in common? According to researchers James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis, quite a...
Jonesing for a Soda? Here's Why
When we think of addiction, we might think of the heroin junkie lying on a dirty mattress with a needle in his arm, or a sweaty rockstar...
The Reptile Brain Fights Back: Extinction Bursts
Let’s suppose that you’ve got a habit you want to break. You’ve followed the following five habit-breaking rules: 1. Tell a friend you’re...
Straws, Steps, and the Importance of Thinking Small
There is a famous Arabic proverb where a camel loaded beyond capacity collapses after a single straw too many, hence, ‘the straw that...
The Anatomy of Fear
By the time our ancestors were roaming the great savannas, alternating between chasing prey and being prey, their systems had already...
Want a Brain Boost? Try a Jog—or a Curry
Exercise: you know you should, and yet for many, vanity might not be enough to get you on the old treadmill first thing in the morning....
Are You Brainwashed? Hopefully Yes.
When you think of brainwashing, the name Patty Hearst might come to mind. Daughter of the late newspaper tycoon Randolph Hearst, in 1974,...
Wisdom, Socrates, and the McRibb (not necessarily in that order)
Information is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom. This simple truth is often ignored. Maybe it's not surprising. After all, it...
How to Run Your Company Like Da Vinci
It's hard to overestimate the power of whole-brain thinking. Sometimes defined as "systems thinking", it occurs when your creative right...
Cheating the Ten Thousand Hour Rule
The 10,000 hour rule helped to make Malcom Gladwell’s book, Outliers a smashing success. Gladwell got the idea from the work done by Dr....
