🎯 All Moments (25)
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Born Half-Baked: The Human Advantage
Learn why being born with a "half-baked" brain is actually the key to human adaptability and success.
The Secret of Life is Not Just DNA
While DNA is important, Dr. Eagleman argues that our environment and culture are the other half of the secret of life.
Why Humans Dominate the Earth
A deep dive into how human neuroplasticity allows us to build upon the discoveries of past generations.
Complexifying Relationships to Reduce Hate
Dr. Eagleman discusses 'complexification'—the idea that finding common ground on non-political topics first makes people more willing to listen to opposing views later.
The Pain Matrix and In-Group Bias
Dr. Eagleman describes a brain-scanning experiment showing how our neural empathic response is significantly higher for members of our own 'in-group' and diminished for 'out-groups'.
The Universal Language of the Brain
Discover why the brain's cortex is a "one-trick pony" that can be rewired to process almost any sensory input.
The Three Pillars of Creativity
A simple framework for creativity: bending, breaking, and blending existing knowledge.
The Brain's 86 Billion Crawling Creatures
A fascinating look at the dynamic nature of neurons as living creatures constantly reconfiguring our minds.
Debating AI: The Future of Critical Thinking
How AI-driven debates can help students escape ideological capture and master critical thinking.
The Software Kernel of Your Brain
Dr. David Eagleman uses a brilliant software analogy to explain why some parts of the brain remain flexible while others lock down early in life.
The Mr. Potato Head Theory of the Brain
Dr. Eagleman describes the brain as a 'plug-and-play' device that can learn to interpret data from any sensory peripheral, whether natural or artificial.
The Crossword Puzzle Trap
Dr. Eagleman explains why getting good at crosswords is actually a sign to stop doing them for brain health.
The Neuroscience of Dehumanization
An explanation of how propaganda across history uses specific language to turn off the brain's empathy circuits, making violence against others possible.
The Matrix Effect: Why Stress Feels Like Slow Motion
Dr. Eagleman explains that stressful events don't actually increase our visual frame rate, but rather create higher density memories that make time feel expanded in retrospect.
The Real Reason We Dream: Defensive Activation Theory
A fascinating evolutionary explanation for why we dream: to protect the visual cortex from being taken over by other senses during hours of darkness.
The Drift of Traumatic Memories
Dr. Eagleman explains that traumatic memories are not like video recordings; they drift and change over time just as much as mundane memories, which has massive implications for the legal system.
How to Plant a False Memory
A fascinating anecdote about a classroom experiment where a staged interruption and a leading question successfully plant a false memory of a facial feature in an entire class of students.
Why Total Brain Plasticity is Dangerous
A deep dive into why 'directed plasticity' is the real goal for personal growth, rather than seeking the hyper-flexible state of an infant.
The Supermax Prison for Your Phone
Andrew Huberman shares his extreme "supermax" method for breaking social media addiction and reclaiming focus.
The Pixar Paradox: Why Animators Can't Visualize
Dr. Eagleman reveals a shocking finding about Ed Catmull and the animators at Pixar regarding their inability to visualize images in their heads.
Does Time Slow Down During a Crisis?
Eagleman explains his famous experiment dropping people from a 150ft tower to prove that time 'slowing down' is actually a trick of memory, not perception.
How to Use the Ulysses Contract for Better Habits
Explaining the powerful psychological tool of the Ulysses Contract to prevent your future self from making poor decisions.
How to Slow Down Time and Feel Like You've Lived Longer
Practical advice on using novelty to increase memory density, which subjectively slows down the passage of time and makes life feel more expansive.
How Nuns Defeat Alzheimer's
The powerful story of how social connection and mental challenge can protect the brain from physical decay.
Why Time Speeds Up as We Get Older
A scientific explanation for why childhood summers felt endless while adult years seem to fly by, linked to memory density and novelty.