About the SA Blog Network  

  • Profile

    Ingrid Wickelgren Ingrid Wickelgren is an editor at Scientific American Mind, but this is her personal blog at which, at random intervals, she shares the latest reports, hearsay and speculation on the mind, brain and behavior. Follow on Twitter @iwickelgren.
  • How to Become More Resilient

    person rock climbing

    I clearly remember the day in the ninth grade that a classmate accosted me in the hallway of my junior high to recruit me for the high school debate team. I thought he was crazy. My heart would beat frantically at the prospect of answering a question in class. I could not talk in front [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    When Is Stress Good for You? [Video]

    Courtesy of Ashley Campbell Photography via Flickr.

    We hear a lot about the downsides of stress. Too much of it can impair thinking, harm our health and, more prosaically, put us in a bad mood. But anyone who pontificates about the risks of chronic stress would be remiss in not pointing out that some measure of psychological tension is an important (not [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Meeting Your Spouse Online May Lead to a Better Marriage

    Courtesy of lyubenov.com via Wikimedia Commons.

    I met my husband at a party in a bygone era. He had no online profile. Neither did I. We didn’t trade email addresses, as neither of us had one of those either. He seemed like a good guy–and a party was as good a venue as any for meeting a future spouse. He still [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Hear Me Talk about Social and Emotional Learning!

    On Monday, May 13, at 7pm, I’ll be moderating a panel at The New York Academy of Sciences. If you are in the area, please attend! Here a description of the event: Social and Emotional Learning: Preparing Our Children to Excel Monday, May 13, 2013 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM The New York Academy [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Can Doctors Diagnose MS from Blood?

    The spine of an individual afflicted with multiple sclerosis. Courtesy of NIH via Wikimedia Commons.

    I have seen the invisible arms of multiple sclerosis, a potentially devastating disease of the nervous system, touch friends, relatives and acquaintances. They perturbed the personality of a father of a close friend and left him unable to keep a job and support the family. They forced a young woman I met years ago to [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    How to Make Kids Smarter—and Ease Existential Terror

    A few months ago, I logged on to Lumosity.com to play my daily dose of brain games. The company had given me a free, temporary account so that I could try out their system as part of my research for an article I was writing on brain training. My then 11-year-old son wanted to play, [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Do Music Lessons Make You Smarter?

    Practice makes progress, if not perfection, for most things in life. Generally, practicing a skill—be it basketball, chess or the tuba—mostly makes you better at whatever it was you practiced. Even related areas do not benefit much. Doing intensive basketball drills does not usually make a person particularly good at football. Chess experts are not [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    A Surefire Way to Sharpen Your Focus

    peaceful scene, village by the water

    How many times have you arrived someplace but had no memory of the trip there? Have you ever been sitting in an auditorium daydreaming, not registering what the people on stage are saying or playing? We often spin through our days lost in mental time travel, thinking about something from the past, or future, leaving [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Learn to Live in the Now [Video]

    Being mindful means being acutely aware of what is happening now—rather than drifting into the past or musing about the future—without emotionally reacting to these ongoing events. Maintaining a focus on the present is associated with a variety of improvements to physical and mental health. Practicing mindfulness can also enhance key aspects of intellect—in particular, [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes: The Value of Creativity and Imagination [Excerpt]

    Mastermind book jacket

    By Maria Konnikova Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. Reprinted by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., Copyright © 2013 by Maria Konnikova. “It is surprising that people do not believe that there is imagination in science,” Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman once [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Search this blog:


    • Year:
    • Month:
    • Keyword:

    More from Scientific American

    Account Linking

    Welcome, . Do you have an existing ScientificAmerican.com account?

    Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.



    Forgot Password?

    No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.

    Create Account
    X