testing, and about what I want for my children will never be the same after this conversation I had with the neuroscientist Adele Diamond. What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain is turning some of our most modern ideas about education on their heads. What nourishes the human spirit, the whole person, also hones our minds. I’m Krista Tippett, and this is On Being. MS. TIPPETT: American born and Harvard trained, Adele Diamond is a professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. She's a formative figure in innovative networks in British Columbia and beyond that are bringing the fruits of unfolding science into classrooms and ... posted on Dec 6 2014 (26,359 reads)

been covering the science of human goodness, off and on, for almost 10 years. In that time, I’ve seen a dramatic transformation in the way scientists understand how and why we love, thank, empathize, cooperate, and care for each other. This essay originally appeared (in slightly different form) in the May 2015 issue of Shambhala Sun.  Of course, “goodness” doesn’t seem like a very scientific concept. It sounds downright squishy to many people, and thus unworthy of study. But you can count acts of goodness—and all science begins with counting. It’s the counting that has started to change our understanding of human life. For example,... posted on Oct 24 2015 (14,760 reads)

I would say we probably felt the most spiritual when we’d go river rafting, which we did quite often. MS. TIPPETT: I think it was in your Connection film that you talked about — you grew up with your father, who was your version of Einstein. You called him “Dad.” MS. SHLAIN: Mm-hmm. MS. TIPPETT: But I’m really intrigued by how it seems your father was always making these fascinating connections between breakthroughs in art and breakthroughs in science, and that space. And that’s also something — you’ve kind of moved into that lineage, as well. MS. SHLAIN: Yeah. I think a lot of my — the apple doesn’t fall to... posted on Apr 11 2016 (10,134 reads)

is the transcript of an interview between On Being's Krista Tippett and Frank Wilczek MS. KRISTA TIPPETT, HOST: “Having tasted beauty at the heart of the world, we hunger for more.” These are words of the Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek in his book A Beautiful Question. It’s a winsome, joyful meditation on the question “Does the world embody beautiful ideas?” — probing the world, by way of science, as a work of art. Frank Wilczek is the unusual scientist willing to analogize his discoveries about the deep structure of reality with deep meaning in the human everyday. My experience of how his mind makes connections took off as we bantere... posted on Jul 25 2016 (11,680 reads)

science, nothing can be taken for granted; even the most seemingly settled notion is a candidate for further testing and exploration. That’s part of what makes our work at Greater Good so exciting: We’re constantly uncovering research that looks at humanity in new ways, helping us all learn to be happier, more compassionate, and more resilient. This year’s top insights are a tribute to that spirit. They debunk things we thought we knew, like how many human emotions there are. They inject some questions into the popular discussion of mindfulness, which can at times be overenthusiastic. And they open up new horizons for us to consider, like the possibility of ... posted on Jun 21 2018 (18,669 reads)

eradicating our wounds and weaknesses but understanding how they complete our identity and equip us to help others. The way we deal with losses, large and small, shapes our capacity to be present to all of our experiences. There’s a difference, she says, between curing and healing. RACHEL NAOMI REMEN: We thought we could cure everything, but it turns out that we can only cure a small amount of human suffering. The rest of it needs to be healed, and that's different. I think science defines life in its own way, but life is larger than science. Life is filled with mystery, courage, heroism, and love — all these things that we can witness but not measure or even under... posted on Jan 15 2019 (13,930 reads)

of financial, social, or physical challenges. The Sounds True Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to providing these transformational tools to communities in need, including at risk youth, prisoners, veterans, and those in developing countries. If you’d like to learn more or feel inspired to become a supporter, please visit soundstruefoundation.org. You’re listening to Insights at the Edge. Today, my guest is Dan Goleman. Dan is an internationally known psychologist and science journalist. He is the author of the book Emotional Intelligence, a book that has more than 5 million copies in print worldwide, in 40 languages. And recently, has been released as a speci... posted on Jun 28 2021 (5,340 reads)

an awakening where the Chinese are trying to realize that they can rise as the industrial nation. Getting into WTO, hosting the Olympics… these are very significant symbolic indicators through which the Chinese are saying, “We can make it”. The question is, “What is our contribution? How can China bring something into the world that the world really needs? The world doesn’t just need more computers. That is going to happen regardless.  I also think that science and spirituality both are important. I can’t remember his name but there is this Chinese Nobel Laureate who actually gave a press conference in which he said he thought Chinese tradition... posted on Aug 28 2011 (11,514 reads)

than a decade after Greater Good first started reporting on the science of compassion, generosity, happiness—what we call “the science of a meaningful life”—the research in our field is acquiring ever more nuance and sophistication. New studies build on and even re-interpret findings from previous years, particularly as their authors use more exacting methods, with bigger and broader data sets, and consider additional factors to explain prior results. These nuances are clearly reflected in this year’s list of our Top 10 Insights from the Science of a Meaningful Life—the fourth such list compiled by Greater Good’s editors. Indeed, many of this... posted on Jan 7 2016 (18,351 reads)

you asked how I got back into the Ivory Tower? I was happy with what I was doing, I was going places, I was getting into lists - in the Baltimore Sun I was in a list of [the] most promising figures in Maryland. I ran for the State Senate and I almost won, when I was still in my twenties. But that other part of the soul was not being fed. So I thought to myself I'll find a compromise route - and I went back to grad school in Political Science, which got me to MIT and got my PhD in political science, thinking that would be a compromise between the contemplative and the active. But I found that it was actually neither - rather than both, it was neither. I neither could get to the depth of ... posted on Dec 28 2019 (6,802 reads)

Tippett: Genetics describes DNA sequencing, but the new field of epigenetics sees that genes can be turned on and off and expressed differently, through changes in environment and behavior. And Rachel Yehuda is a pioneer in understanding how the effects of stress and trauma can transmit biologically, beyond cataclysmic events, to the next generation. She’s studied the children of Holocaust survivors and the children of pregnant women who survived the 9/11 attacks. But her science is a form of power for flourishing beyond the traumas, large and small, that mark each of our lives and those of our families and communities. I’m Krista Tippett, and this is On ... posted on Jul 25 2020 (6,782 reads)

clouds, before Georgia O’Keeffe extolled the beauty of the Southwest skies, before scientists figured out why cloudy days help us think more clearly, the great ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes wrote: “They are the celestial Clouds, the patron goddesses of the layabout. From them come our intelligence, our dialectic and our reason.” Indeed, there is a singular quality of prayerfulness to clouds — a certain secular reverence undergirding their allure to both art and science. No poetic titan was more enchanted by the prayerful art-science of clouds than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wrote: To find yourself in the infinite, You must distinguish and the... posted on Nov 5 2015 (15,961 reads)

been an avid hiker my whole life. From the time I first strapped on a backpack and headed into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I was hooked on the experience, loving the way being in nature cleared my mind and helped me to feel more grounded and peaceful. But, even though I’ve always believed that hiking in nature had many psychological benefits, I’ve never had much science to back me up…until now, that is. Scientists are beginning to find evidence that being in nature has a profound impact on our brains and our behavior, helping us to reduce anxiety, brooding, and stress, and increase our attention capacity, creativity, and our ability to connect with other peo... posted on Mar 20 2016 (27,036 reads)

stories and social media posts inundate us every day with tips for greater happiness, health, and general well-being. But who has time to fit them into our already packed schedules? Recently, though, my research has led me to believe that one simple prescription can have transformative effects: look for more daily experiences of awe. This doesn’t require a trek to the mountains. What the science of awe suggests is that opportunities for awe surround us, and their benefits are profound. Explore awe in depth at The Art & Science of Awe, an inspiring day-long event on June 4 at UC Berkeley or via webcast. Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast... posted on Jun 2 2016 (16,722 reads)

many ways, 2016 was a banner year for books related to our themes of compassion, kindness, empathy, happiness, and mindfulness. Judging from the number of books to arrive at our office, the science of a meaningful life is hitting its full stride, with more and more people recognizing how to apply new insights to our daily lives. Yet, while the number of books was encouraging, many of them seemed to repeat old themes and research, without offering much new in the way of insight. That’s why many of our favorite books of 2016 do something a little bit extra: They take our science to a new level, looking at how schools, organizations, and society at large can appl... posted on Dec 23 2016 (29,581 reads)

is the critical decade. This is the critical decade where it’s not game over.” In your language, “It’s game on.” In the previous podcast we recorded on Drawdown, those were the words you used—“Game on.” So where do you feel we are right now here in 2021 in terms of the timeline and the climate crisis? Paul Hawken: Good question. It’s lovely to be with you. Yes, it’s easy to be a doomsayer about where we are because the science is incredible. The rate of change surpasses earlier predictions—that is, what’s happening with warming, Arctic ice melting, temperature changes, fires, droughts, etc. All this is h... posted on Sep 29 2021 (2,901 reads)

to activate all their core childhood wounds, and they may act out those wounds on the patients, rather than expressing the empathy, compassion, and nurturing that helps suffering patients heal. Whenever inquiries stray in the direction of  phenomena that scientists can’t explain or understand, people tend to split into two polarized camps — the rational, skeptical, debunking-of-all-things paranormal, materialist scientist camp and the gung ho “woo woo” “science can’t keep up with us” New Age spirituality and anti-science camp. There are good and bad actors in science and there are good and bad actors in spiritual circles, alternative m... posted on Jul 7 2022 (7,113 reads)

practices for thousands of years independently. When you find a common ground across independent pursuits, E.O. Wilson, the sociobiologist, who passed recently, he names that “consilience.” So that’s a beautiful term from E.O. Wilson’s bringing back from the 1800s actually, that word, consilience. So the Indigenous teachings from millennia, from thousands of years ago, contemplative teachings, have taught about the oneness of things. Now, in modern times, in science, for example, modern Western-based science, we have the field of anthropology, which might say there’s an individualism within, for example, the United States. Then, there’s collec... posted on Mar 10 2023 (2,291 reads)

people I know, including Marc Lesser, CEO of ZBA Associates, a management consulting and coaching firm. It almost sounds like a joke: "A CEO and a Zen master walked into a room..." We got everyone together and we figured it out. Knowledge@Wharton: What tools and techniques did you use to teach emotional intelligence in your curriculum? Which ones worked best and why? Meng: If you want a strong curriculum for emotional intelligence, it is important to base it on neuroscience and data. It's important not to be fluffy; if you're fluffy, you lose people. For example, if everybody sits around in a circle, talking about emotions and bringing awareness to their ... posted on Jul 11 2012 (21,345 reads)

Bennett-Goleman and Daniel Goleman explain the science behind "mind whispering"—a technique for overcoming self-defeating habits of mind. Tara Bennett-Goleman and her husband Daniel Goleman form a kind of intellectual dream team—one almost exclusively preoccupied with emotions. In best-selling books like Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman has laid out the cognitive science and theories behind our emotions and social interactions. In her work as a psychotherapist and in her best-selling book Emotional Alchemy, Bennett-Goleman has applied those theories to overcoming self-defeating habits of mind and improving our relationships. ... posted on Oct 6 2013 (30,628 reads)