Stanford University neuroscientist Kalanit Grill-Spector describes how the act of vision is much more complicated than we might naively assume, as 30% of our brains is dedicated to vision processing.

Princeton historian of science Michael Gordin reflects upon the so-called demarcation problem: how can we find a way to objectively distinguish science from pseudo-science? He relates how it’s a very old and surprisingly complex issue.

Jennifer Groh describes how neuroscientists have learned both that the hippocampus is vital for memory and that our precise location directly affects how well we remember, leading her to speculate on a link between space and the faculty...

Anthropologist Frans de Waal, Emory University, describes his distinction between so-called "one-on-one morality" and "community concern", and highlighting the differences, and similarities, between humans and other animals regarding the...

UC Berkeley sleep scientist Matthew Walker describes how the attitudes towards sleep science have evolved over the years, and how the impact of Sigmund Freud still strongly lingers.

Celebrated physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) relates why, for him, a basic appeal of science is how it is independent from people and culture.

Physics Nobel Laureate Anthony Leggett (Illinois) gives a brief overview of quantum information theory.

Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute of Advanced Study) describes why now is the perfect time to study fundamental physics.

Freeman Dyson, Institute of Advanced Study, describes how both making mistakes and encountering a wide variety of views is a necessary part of a vibrant scientific atmosphere, describing the welcoming reaction cognitive scientists had to...

USC legal scholar and author Elyn Saks gives her views on ways of straddling the ethical divide between respecting the autonomy of mental health patients while finding ways to provide appropriate treatment for their conditions.

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck describes how, while she believes that her work on mindsets is universally relevant, understanding distinct values and practices is essential to getting the message across diverse cultures.

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo (Stanford) describes how the official U.S. Government reaction to the horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib prison committed by American soldiers is an all-too-typical denial of the powerful situational effects on...

Nobel Laureate Anthony Leggett (Illinois) speculates on how we might re-interpret the famous EPR experiments by flipping the arrow of time.

Nobel Laureate in Physics Roger Penrose (Oxford) relates his longstanding bemusement at why the early universe was in such a peculiar low state of entropy.

Nobel Laureate in Physics Anthony Leggett (Illinois) describes the so-called Anthropic Principle that some invoke to answer the "fine tuning problem" of cosmology.

Anthropologist Frans de Waal, Emory University, describes how our understanding of altruism and prosocial tendencies have changed considerably over the past few years, both for humans and other primates.

Astrophysicist Scott Tremaine (Institute for Advanced Study) reflects upon the contemporary relationship between theory and experiment in fundamental physics.

Physicist Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University, describes his early experiences that led him on the road towards the discovery of so-called quasicrystals, a new state of matter.

Geneticist Stephen Scherer (University of Toronto) muses on the role of genetics on psychological disorders and the associated implications for the human condition.

UCL developmental psychologist Uta Frith describes how the hypothesis that childhood vaccines are linked to autism, while initially plausible, was subjected to rigorous scientific testing and found to be false.

Neuroscientist Kalanit Grill-Spector (Stanford) gives her view on how psychology has evolved due to the influence of modern neuroscience.

UCLA psychologist Martin Monti describes how he developed the hypothesis that language and mathematics might be linked to a certain syntactical structure in our brains and how he went about experimentally testing the idea using fMRI...

USC legal scholar and author Elyn Saks describes the many false stereotypes of mental illness that still pervade the public consciousness, explaining that there are many more accomplished people than we thought who suffer from various...

Legal scholars Nita Farahany (Duke) discusses the current societal preoccupation with neuroscience.