I appreciate your comment. In the quote, Beaty simply asks us to place “a .01 percent belief in crazy things.”

Until recently, the proponents of the brain’s plasticity were criticized for being “unscientific.” Now, we know more about the brain and that its structure can indeed change or improve.

Hal…

She also recommended olive oil on the skin with just a puff of powder for make up. “I could never wear mascara,” she once joked. “I cried too often when I laughed.”

Olive oil and a sense of humor. And, what does the science say about the link to longevity?

The Great Man theory explains history from the point of view of highly influential people who were charismatic or intellectual heroes (internal attribution).

Social history, on the other hand, proposes study based on developing social trends or norms (external attribution). The point of view most reliably comes from the grassroots—everyday people and how they contributed to history.

Our bias makes influential people responsible for most of the history that is recorded. Do they actually want that much responsibility?

Here’s some great info from the American Social History Project: http://www.ashp.cuny.edu/

I emailed Carol Dweck last summer and she indicated that her program, Brainology, was currently in development.

Here is more on a pilot test: http://www.edutopia.org/tell-students-feed-their-brains/

This is her homepage: http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~dweck/