March 2001

In this issue:

* Tapping into Genius
* Music Brain Research
* How to think like Leonardo da Vinci
* Traces of Thought: creating EEG patterns in sand
* Genius in the lab
* What is the recipe for Nobel prize winning science?

Tapping into Genius

Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker assert that

Creativity has become the most universally endangered species in the Twenty First Century. Never has the need for creativity been so compelling and never has genuine creativity been in such short supply. From boy bands to barbeque sauces the problem is the same – instead of experiencing the refreshing spray of authentic originals we risk drowning in a sea of iterations on imitations. We have built a broadband culture but not the creative content to supply it. Our ability to communicate the potentially creative far outstrips actual creative input. In the absence of creativity life becomes predictable, repetitious and boring. We live in a world of echoes and shadows like the inhabitants of Plato’s cave.

Ahh, but there is hope…

From a recent BBC documentary:
Scientists think they have identified the part of the brain, which if switched off, can stimulate artistic genius. The discovery was made after studying people with autism and dementia, but an Australian scientist believes ordinary people may one day be able to "tap in" and allow them at least a moment of genius.

Improve your brain function

Dr. Daniel G. Amen, a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain-imaging expert, offers 7 ways to enhance the functioning of your own brain and enhance your life.

How to think like Leonardo da Vinci

Develop your genius by cultivating these 7 thought processes:

Curiosita
An insatiably curious approach to live and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.

Dimonstrazione
A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.

Sensazione
The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.

Sfumato
(literally "going up in smoke") a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.

Arte/Scienza
The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination, "whole-brain" thinking.

Corporalita
The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise.

Connessione
A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnections of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking.

From How to think like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb

Genius in the lab
What is the recipe for Nobel prize winning science?

According to Rogers Hollingsworth, who studies Nobel (and other major prize) winners at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the key is interaction and cross-fertilization.

He noticed a record number of major breakthroughs occur time and again at a very tiny place — Rockefeller University, in New York City. There is no required curriculum at Rockefeller, and with fewer than 125 graduate students, it resembles a research institute more than a university. Nonetheless, Rockefeller University has in recent years, garnered four major awards, including two Nobels. "In two years, they've won more than Yale or Princeton had in the entire 20th century," Hollingsworth says.

"Science is changing very rapidly , and if an organization is going to have major breakthroughs, it has to have flexibility to adapt quickly to changes taking place in the larger environment of science," Hollingsworth says.

"Everything is organized around the lab, so when the lab head retires or resigns, that gives the organization an opportunity to stand back and ask 'What do we do next?'"

Another prize-winning institution, the California Institute of Technology, has six large divisions, but no departments. The loose organizational structure encourages "lunchroom yakkity-yak leaps hallowed boundaries between disciplines."

The first gene sequencing machine, developed by Leroy Hood while at Caltech, was hatched by multi-disciplinary cross fertilization. "Hood needed the cooperation and assistance of computer scientists and electrical engineers," says Hollingsworth. This kind of innovation is less likely to occur at a typical university where different departments don't communicate with each other.

Related links

Read about the genius of Yoshiro Nakamats, the most prolific inventor of the 21st century.

Happy Creating,
Linda Naiman