How to Be a Genius

How to be a YOUR BRAIN AND HOW TO TRAIN IT

How to be a

GENIUS Written by John Woodward Consultants Dr. David Hardman and Phil Chambers Illustrated by Serge Seidlitz and Andy Smith

CONTENTS 6 Your amazing brain

MEET YOUR BRAIN

HOW MEMORY WORKS

10 Mapping the brain

60 How you think

12 Left brain, right brain

62 What is memory?

14 Taking sides

64 Improve your memory

16 Nerves and neurons

66 Do you remember?

18 Brain waves

68 Paying attention

20 What is a genius?

70 Making associations 72 Albert Einstein

COME TO YOUR SENSES

PROBLEM SOLVING

24 Brain and eyes

76 How you learn

26 Tricky pictures

78 Mastering mazes

28 How you see

80 Puzzling patterns

30 Simple illusions

82 Intelligence types

32 Impossible illusions

84 George Washington Carve er

34 How you hear

86 Logic

36 Sounds like?

88 Illogical thinking

38 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartt

90 Brainteasers

40 Taste and smell

92 Thinking inside the box

42 Sensitive senses

94 Mathematical thinking

44 How you feel and touch

96 Think of a number

46 Touch and tel tell 48 Tricking the e mind 50 Magic tricks 52 2 Sensing your body

4

98 The magic of math 100 Spatial awareness areness 102 Seeing in 2-D 104 Thinking in 3-D

54 Body illusions

106 Invention

56 Intuition io

108 Wernher vo on Braun

A WAY WITH WORDS

YOUR BRAIN AND YOU

112 Learning to speak

138 Sense of self

114 Having a word

140 Personality types

116 Using language

142 What about you?

118 Words aloud

144 What makes you tick?

120 Reading and writing

146 Mary Anning

122 Jean Franςois Champollion

148 The unconscious 150 Dreams 152 Emotions 154 Mahatma Gandhi 156 Fear 158 Reading emotions 160 Body talk 162 Good and bad habits 164 Winning and losing

THE CREATIVE MIND

THE EVOLVING BRAIN

126 What is creativity?

168 How we got our brains

128 Are you a creative spark?

170 Charles Darwin

130 Boost your creativity

172 How the brain grows

132 Creative exercises

174 Brain surgery

134 Leonardo da Vinci

176 Animal intelligence 178 Train your pet 180 Can machines think? 182 Program your friend 184 Glossary 186 Answers 190 Index

5

Do you remembe remember? Put your brain’s memory skills sk to the e test. Study the picture shown n inside this boy’s busy head forr 45 seconds, then cover it up and try ry to answer the following questions. No peeking! 1. W Where does he like to sing? 2. Name ame three sports that we see the boy do doing. 3. One picture e shows show us inside his body. Which part rt do we see?

4. What color is the terrifying terrifyi monster he e is scared of? 5. Who iss the love of his life? lif 6. What food does the boy really, really hate? 7. How many candles andles are there on the birthday cak cake? 8 Name three different 8. animals that we see. 9. What is the delicious ou smell that we see the boy ssniff? 10. What injury makes m him cry?

How did you do? Turn to page 186 to find out.

Emo

t

Fear, ions an and o ger, joy, lov th seem er emoti e, o resp like auto ns might onse mati c me s, bu our b n t emo rains to c we can u tal tions ontro se if we l want our .

Aut actomat i You ivit c r br y

even ain is It al when y always con so kee ou are active, p t tem rolling s you a asleep . p y live e ou ra and dige ture, b r heart by b r stio eath e n. ing, at,

The brain is the most astonishing part of your body. Its billions of cells control everything you think and do, including on re your actions, senses, emotions, ti ses a in, als p e en ra n memory, and language. The more rc your s your b he sig you e P l of into in t ows e, you use it, the better it works. Al red akes d all tast wi ich t d an ell, This book is all about how to wh y sen ar, sm ld. the e, he e wor get your brain cells buzzing and, e h to s feel t d maybe, become a genius. an B

Perfect pair This puzzle tests your spatial awareness—your sense of space. Which two pieces on the far right will fit together to create this hexagon shape?

A E C

D

F

6

Check the puzzle answers on page 186.

g

lvin

ng s so ki lway ng

in is a cti Th brain conne n when n w y r e

You ems b s—ev your o s f ea bl an pro ent id part o hum r y t l e o diff are n ce. On y n is. e e i h t er h exp n do t ca

A human brain bra rain is the most complex ex structure str tru ruct cture re on EEarth. art rth. rt Memory Every event or fact that grabs your attention may be stored in your memory—an amazingly efficient library of information that never runs out of space.

Lang

Your b uage ability rain gives y under to commu ou the nicate stand using and comp lex spe learn ech. You c ideas an als by rea o din were writte g words th n long at ago.

Mo

Yo ve o ur m so rgan brain en an you izes trig t de ra yo g ha ffici ction ur m ers a en pp nd o s thi ens t. Mo are s veme nk wit s m ing ho t of o nts, ab ut y this oth ou t it ou .

Feel lost? Life is full of puzzling problems—such as how to get to the middle of this tricky maze. It’s your a-maze-ing brain that helps you find the answers. 7

Fish

Bird

Human

Origin of genius Compared to other animals, the human brain has a much bigger cerebrum (shown in orange above). This is what makes uss intelligent, because we use the cerebrum for consscious thought.

Meninges Mening Me ess Th hese ese layers lay ers cu cushion n the th brain ag br aga aga ainst shock.

B

Your bra ain is the most complex organ in your body—a a spongy pink mass made up of billions of micro oscopic nerve cells linked togethe er in an electron nic network. Each part has its own n job, but it is the biggest part, the cerebrum, that is responssible for your thoughts and actions. Pituitary glan nd

mun f Perga Galen o n named Galen of reek surgeo t people

AG the firs was one of Pergamun in was an ra b e that th ntrolled to suspect and that it co an g or t n ta impor Galen lived d emotions. an s ie or mem , in what is 9 and 200 CE between 12 treated the , where he . now Turkey of gladiators gory injuries

This releases chemicals calle ed hormones into your blood. The ey control many functions, includin ng growth and body development.

Hy ypothala amus Thiis is the part of your brain tha at regulates ssleep, hunger, and body tempe erature.

Thal lamus The thalam mus relays sensoryy signals from your your body to your ce cerebrum, rebrum where they are decoded and analyzed.

Your Yo ur bra raiin iis 77 percent rain perc per errcentt water water. wat w wate aater terr.

Brain stem Connected to the spinal cord, the brain stem links the rest of the body to the brain and controls heartbeat and breathing.

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Skull Forms a protective p casing around the brain

Cerebrum The biggest part of the brain controls all our conscious actions and thoughts, analyzes sensory data, and stores memories.

U ttoo 2 pints Up pints ts (1 litre) litre litr tre re) e) of o bloodd flflows blood ows ws thro thr through rough ugh you your your bbrrrain bra aain in eve every ver ery ry minute. minute minutee. Cor orpuss ca ccallo ll sum A band and of ner ervve er ve fibe fibers rs tha thatt link lin nk the the two si sides des of th the e cere cere reb re ebru brum

Sub bara ra achn c oid space sp ce This is fille led d with sho ock-absorb or ing fluid. fluid.

Blood

sup

ply The brain needs a c onstant su of oxygen pply to fuel its activities. This is de livered in the blood the body’s via circulatory system of arteries, ve ins, and c apillaries Around on . e fifth of th e body’s entire quo ta of oxyg enated blood is re served for the brain.

Cerebellum This complex folded structure helps control balance and movement.

Parietal lobe Processes inform mation from the senses, especcially from the skin, muscles, and joints

Th outer The T t b brain T cerebrum is heavilly The folded in order to increase the total surface area, w which iss packed with brain cells. It iss divided into halves, th he left and right hemispheres, and ea ach consists of four lob bes tha at have different functiions.

Frontal lobe Vital to thought, h h personalli lity, speech, and emotion

Temporal lobe Mostly concerned d with the recognition n of sound Occipittal lobe Receives nerve signalss from the eyes and interprrets visual information Spinal al cord cord d

Cerebellum

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LEFT EFT

eld l fi ch ua f ea left d vis o ft de the el Le ht si ees ual fi g s s Ri eye vi

The cerebrum m is divided into o two halves, halve connected by a bridge of nerve rve fibers. For some functions, ns, each half is wired to the opposite side of the body, but other skills and thought processes are controlled d by only one half of the brain. n n.

BRA

LEFT BRAIN IN SKILLS The left side de of your brain is responsible b for the more logical, rational a aspects of your thinking, as well ass yyour verbal skills.

Language e Yo Your ability to express yourself in words is usually controlled by the frontal lobe of the left cerebral hemisphere. ce

Sci ientific t thought Logical scientific e ific thinking is the job o of the left sside of the brain, altho ough most science also involvves being creative.

Left op ptic tract Carries data from right vissual field

Rational thought Thinking and reacting acting in a rational way appears ears to be mostly a leftleft-brain activity. It allows you to analyze activ ze a problem to find an answer.

Mathematical them skills Studies es show that the left side of the brain is much better at dealing with b numbers than the right side, and it is responsible for mathematical skills.

Writing skills Like spoken language, age, writing ski skills that involve organizing o ideas and expressing them in words are largely controlled by the left hemisphere.

ds? Two min l activities involve both

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ows brain This scan sh areas) in activity (redmisphere. the right he

is Many menta e side that brain, but th o tw se e h sides of the T . ed may vary o most involv activity of tw in ra b e th w e o h T sh s c. n si sca to mu e listening t h g ri ir people whil the left is using one on the , indicating re o m ch u m re e h p hemis , while the ive approach alytical. it tu in re o am ore an n may be m other perso

usician uses A trained misphere more. m he ft the le

Left visua al cortex Processes da ata from right visual field

R L igh ey eft s t vis e vis se ide ual ua es of fie l fi th ea ld eld e ch rig ht

RI RIGHT IG

BRAIN

RI IGHT BRAIN SKI ILLS S The e right side of your ou brain sseems to be the focus of you ur more creati t ve tthou ughts and a emotional, intuitive ressponses. It is also o important nt for spatial awareness.

Spatial skills s Optic nerve Sends visual signals to brain

Your ability to visualize and work with three-dimensional shapes is strongly linked to the right side of your brain. th

Art Vissual art is related to spatial skills, an nd the right side of your brain is prrobably more active when you are drrawing, painting, or looking at art.

Imaginatio agination Right optic tract Carries data a from left visual fi field

Your creative imagination imag is mostlyy directed by the right hemisphere, dir although expressing that imagination n involves left-brain skills. s

Insight h Those moments mom of insight when you connect nne two very different iideas probably ably come from fr the right half of your brain.

Music c Right h visual co ortex Processes data a from left visual field

Like visual art, music involves olves a lot of right-brain activity—but trained ained musicians also use their left brains nss to master musical theory. ry. y.

Right-

ha

Cro ossed os d wires wi The he le left side s o of each eye is connected nnected to the left side of your brain, but ut it p picks up data a from the right side of your head—the —th right visual field. —the fi Each side of the brain processes ess im iimages from the oth her side of the head. Each side als also so controls the muscless of the opposite hand.

nded w The left b orld rain contr ols the rig hand, and ht since mos t people a right-han re ded, this s uggests that the le ft brain is usually dominant. So do left -handers use their right-brain skills more? Th ere is no p roof of this and many , left-hande rs have no trouble us ing langua ge and log ic. 13

BRAIN GAMES

TAKING SIDES Most people are either left- or right-handed, but did you know that you can also have a dominant foot and a preferred eye? In both physical and mental tasks, the left and right sides of your brain are far from equal, and it is very rare for someone to be able to use both hands or feet equally well. Try the following tests to find which side you are on. on

Best foot forward

Eye-motion

The easiest way of finding which of your feet is dominant is to kicck a soccer ball, but you usually ta ake the first step of a flight of stairss with your stronger foot, too. You ur preferred foot may not be on the same side as your dominan nt hand—you y can be left-footed an nd right-handed or vice versa.

Look straight at the nose of the girl in each of these pictures. In which one do you think she looks happier? Most people find that she looks happier in the bottom image, which shows her smiling on the left side of the picture. This is because information from your left visual field gets processed in your brain’s right hemisphere, which is also dominant for interpreting emotions.

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Tr oppo y doing t s switc ite hand hings wit hing h t the h o normal the your , a suc f n o d r watc h on k with or that you h as pu ho your the oth er ar tting you ld brain m. r of do t ing t o learn n This forc h es ew w more ings the t connecti and crea ays wo s ides ons betw tes of yo e ur br en ain.

Eye see you

Trick your brain

To o discove er which is your dominant eye, hold up your index finger tto eye level and look past it into the distance. Then close ea ach eye, one at a time. You will see that with your weaker eyye, your finger will appear to ju ump, whereas with your stronger eye, it will stay in place. Your sttronger eye figures out the position n of things, while the weaker eye help ps with depth perception.

This exercise reveals how your brain sometimes tricks you into taking shortcuts. First, draw this upside-down picture of a face. Then turn the face the right way up and draw it again. When you compare the two pictures, you may be surprised to find that the upside-down version is the most accurate.

Havi Having ving one hand as strong str tro rong as the other er can give ve you an adva advantage vantag age in some sports. sport rtts. In baseball, rts baseb eball, fo for example, ex e, an ambidextrous ambidex ext xtr tro rous hitter hitt tter tt er can switch hands ds to str strike tri rike the ball fr fro from rom the best bes est side. es e. Handy test Ambidexterity is the ability to use both hands equally well. To see if you are ambidextrous try the exercise below. Take a pencil in your right hand and ask a friend to time you for 15 seconds. Starting top right, work your way along the line, putting as many dots as you can in the white circles. Then do the same on the other side with your left hand and compare the results.

The left side of your brain assigns simple shapes to common objects—for example, an almond shape for an eye. So if you draw a face the right way up, you probably draw the features based on what you think they look like rather than what you see. When you look at a face upside down, however, the right side of your brain works harder to understand the unfamiliar image and you draw the shapes and lines you actually see.

Left hand start Right hand start

You will get the farthest along the line with your dominant hand, but you may surprise yourself by just how well you did with your weaker hand. If you found that you got just as far with each hand, you are probably ambidextrous.

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Child prodigy Determination Born in Poland in 1867, Marie Curie was determined to be a scientist, even though such a career was not considered suitable for a woman in the 1800s. She fought poverty and prejudice to win two Nobel Prizes for her pioneering work on radioactivity.

Broad view Some geniuses do one thing extremely well, but others excel at many things. Thomas Jefferson—the main author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776—was a philosopher, archaeologist, architect, and inventor, as well as a politician who became president of the United States.

Some people just seem to be born geniuses. Garry Kasparov was only 13 when he won the Russian junior chess championship in 1976, and he became the youngest-ever world champion in 1985. He had a natural talent, but he worked hard to make the most of it.

Encouragement American sistterrs Venus and Serena Williams are am mong the greatest of all tennis players. They showed amazing talent from a young age, but they owe a lot of their success to their h i parents, who coached and encouraged them to build on their skills.

Come to Your

Senses

Eye muscle One of six muscles that rotate the eye in its socket Choroid A network of blood vessels spreads through this middle layer of the eye.

Retina The inner lining is a sheet of light-sensitive cells.

We are visual creatures. We identify most things by sight and we think mainly in visual terms. So for most of us, sight is our dominant sense. This means that a lot of the information we commit to memory is in the form of visual images. But how do the brain and eyes work together to create these images? wo Pupil The opening P in the iris alllows llight into the eye.

Image convertor Your eye is a ball of transparent jelly lined with light-sensitive cells. Light rays enter your eye through lenses that focus an upside-down image on the cells. These cells respond by generating tiny electrical signals that pass down a bundle of nerve fibers to your brain. The cells exposed to parts of the image that are light generate bigger signals than cells exposed to dark parts, just like the pixels in a digital camera ra sensor. The cells turn the image into an electronic code that your brain can process.

Lens The ellastic lens L cchanges sha ape to fine-focus the image. fi

ew r vi m Cleareflected fro is focused Reflected light Visible objects reflect refle ect light into o your eyes..

u see lens to Light ing yo anyth cornea and l image. a by the lear optic ide c a ps u m d r e fo ye. roject p f the e o is k is c h a T b on the down Iris Muscles in n the e iris change c the he si size ze of the centr tral al pupil. upil

Cornea The “wind “ dow” at the front of the e eye e partly focuses th t image. the

rol Automatic cont. The cornea at the

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Dilated pupil

Contracted pupil

Each eye has two lenses hind this is another front forms one lens. Be nt jelly, suspended lens made of transpare cally change its ati by muscles that autom distant objects. or se clo shape to focus on ls the light entering The colored iris contro ly dilating (widening) the eye by automatical at the centre. or contracting the pupil

Sclera The white of the eye forms a tough outer layer.

Seeing

Men

The tal c con ells of imag vert th e ligh e retin sign t int a a l s visu . Th oe whi al cor ese pa lectric t c al e ss h x t upr ight urns th of the b to the e me nta m into rain, l im age an .

in c The cone cells in th olor e retina re different strength s of basic spond to as red, g color ree send to th n, and blue. The s s such ign e brain re present m als they dots of th ese color illions of s. The br the dots ain to create all the oth combines the spec e trum, as in this sim r colors of plified dia gram. Visual cortex The part of the brain that processes visual data

Dark adaptation When you turn the light off in your room at night, you can’t see much. However, as the minutes tick by, you yo u ar are e ab able le tto o se see e mo more re a and nd m mor ore e. This is because the sensory cells in your eyes can adapt to the low light level—but it takes time. If you turn the light back on, you get dazzled because your eyes have adapted to the dark. They must readapt to the light, but they do this much more quickly.

Opt p ic nerve Bundle of nerve fibers linked to the sensory cells

S

T e s he n ca hee im so ce lled t of age ry lls li is t to (ro he r ght- foc ce dim ds eti se us l (co li ) ar na. nsi ed ls ne gh e v So tive on a s) t, w ery m e ce de h tec ile sen of t lls t c oth siti he olo er ve r. s

There There Ther erre are re around aro round 126 million sensory sen ensory ry cells cel ells ls in ea each ey eye— e— 120 million ro rods ds and six million co cones. cones es. es

Strange effects Bright lights and contrasting patterns can cause strange optical effects. For example, if you stare at something for a minute and then close your eyes, you see a negative afterimage. Each color is replaced by its opposite, so the yellow and red flowers shown below appear blue and cyan. This is a side effect of the way your brain processes color.

Blind spot The point where the optic nerve leaves the eye cannot detect light, but your brain invents information to fill the gap. You can test this using the diagram above. Hold the book at arm’s length, close your right eye, and focus on the cross. Slowly move the book toward you. The center of the wheel will disappear when it falls on your blind spot— but your brain will fill the gap with spokes of the wheel. 25

BRAIN GAMES

TRICKY

PICTURES

The optical illusions in this gallery all play tricks on what your eyes and brain think they are seeing. They stimulate the eyes in such a way that still images seem to move, colors change, and things appear where they shouldn’t.

Is it straight? The horizontal lines in this illusion appear to be wavy, but they are all perfectly straight—use a ruler and see for yourself! Our brains interpret the lines as being wavy owing to the disjointed black-and-white lines running from top to bottom, which can also make some horizontal bands look closer than others.

Did that move? The patterns in this picture appear to be moving, but not if you stare at any spot for a few seconds. This demonstrates what is called peripheral vision drift. Our brains perceive the colors and contrasts as moving when we are not looking directly at them, but the effect ends when we train our eyes on one spot.

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Ouch! If you move your eyes around d this pattern, called the Ouchi illusion, the circle in the middle seems to move or separate from the rectangular background, and even hovers in front of itt. This illusion is not fully understood, but it probably arises from the brain being unsure of where the ciircle ends when you are not looking directly at it.

Jumping goldfish Stare at the pink dot in the centre of the goldfish’s head for 15 seconds and then look at the black dot in the empty bowl. You should see the goldfish in its new home. This happens because an impression of the goldfish, called an afterimage, is still left on the back of your eye.

Seeing spots This picture is called a scintillating grid because when you look at it, dark spots seem to flash (scintillate) in the intersections between the squares. The reason for this is yet to be explained, but if you tilt your head to either side, it seems to lessen the effect.

Color contrasts Which of these green crosses is lighter? Most people would say the cross on the right. It might seem strange, but there is actually no difference between them. This illusion is known as simultaneous contrast, and it shows that the way we perceive colors is based on their surroundings.

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HOW YOU

SEE

Binocular vision Each eye sees a slightly different image of the world. Try closing one eye and framing a distant object with your hands. Then open that eye and close the other. You will find that your hands are framing a different view. The images below show the different views of the same setting seen by each eye. eye The left eye can see the palm trees behind the boat, while the right eye sees the flowering trees. You might expect this to confuse your brain, but it combines the images to create a 3-D view.

Your eyes turn visual images into o an electronic code that can be processed and stored in your brain. It is thiss mental processing that determines how w you see the world. Without it, you could not make sense of all the shapess and colors. Your brain also responds to some visual effects by translating them into other types of information. This enable es you to judge things like depth, shape, and distance.

Perspective

Parallax If you close one eye and look at a scene without moving your head, it looks flat like a picture. But if you move your head from side to side, you get an impression of depth. This is because objects that are closer to your eye seem to move more than objects that are farther away, and your brain translates the difference into a perception of depth. This parallax effect is obvious if you look out of the side window of a moving car—nearby objects like these pillars zip past, but distant objects like the trees move hardly at all.

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A oth An ther way your brain jud ges distance is by decod ing perspective. This is the effect you ge t when you look up at a tall building and the walls seem to lean toward one another—eve n though you know they are vertical. Your brain makes an autom atic calculation based on this knowledge and turns it into a percepti on of height.

ive Aerial perspect another clue ws, your brain can use g vie In landscapes with lon describes the d aerial perspective, it lle Ca ce. to assess distan moisture or dust t objects is affected by way the color of distan in this picture, n in hilly regions, as see in the air. It is obvious n those closer tha er blu look paler and where the distant hills on, which has ronauts visited the Mo to the camera. When ast that distant effect made them think this ef no air, the absence of re. we than they actually hills were much closer

nt n dififfere e t o t p u istance We use giing dis d u j ju f o s way i g how showin , h t p e d us. and t it is to mportan iim

Light and s ha

de Objects are usually lit from above, casting sh a adows that vary according to their a shape. Your brain uses this to b judge shapes, enabling you to te e ll the difference between a ball an b d a flat disk. The reaction is so T instinctive that it even works with 2-D images. Th hese shapes look like a dent su urrounded by bum ps, but if yo ou turn the page upside down, they look like a sin gle bump su urrounded by de nts.

llusions u make sense ou l s yo Optical ied in your memory help plying or st rmation use you by ap Info so conf e blue e. But it can al sert mirage, th of what you se les. In this de ru e wrong of t th se in s ng ar ro the w sky. It appe e th t of rt pa ly layer of very ho “water” is real distorted by a is e ew m vi e su th as e u yo place becaus n’t be the sky, know that it ca er. at w of ol air. Since you po a n of the sky in it is a reflectio

An ave average ver errage era ag per person errson can tel ers tell ell the difference diff fffer ffe ere rence en bet between etwe wee een en 200 co colors colors, rs,s, all forming form fo rming part rt of the visible vi light lig ight spectrum spec ect cttrum ctr ru from fro fr rom red reed to t vi violet violet. et. t. 29

BRAIN GAMES

Big and sm

all Psychologist Edward Bradf ord Titchener our judgment discovered th about the size at of something the size of othe is affected by r things around it. The red circ picture here an le ess in the d the one belo l w are the sa one here look me size, but th s biggerr beca e use it is surrou circles. Movie nded by smal makers use th ler is simple effe monsters appe ct to make ar mucch bigg er than they ac tually are.

Wro

The ng di M into üller-Ly rect ion er ill think us in on th e lef g that th ion misl t is l This eads e mi on is d beyo becaus ger than dle sect the brain io e n of le d the lin the ope the one n of the n arr on th ngth e, pl li a o e rig ne and dept ying with wheads ht. h. ex our p erce tend ption

Some of the most effective optical illusions can be produced with simple lines and shapes. Such illusions play with our perceptions off angles, size, and shape, causing us to make unconsccious assumptions about what we see. Even when we e know how they work, the illusions are difficult to shake off. 30

Is it square? The concentric circles in this picture trick our brains into thinking that the image has depth. It also makes the perfectlyy straight p g lines of the blue square appear to bend inward.

nes ed li s s o r C ion was

s This illu erman ed by G r e v o disc ohann J ysicist h p o tr s a llner. drich Zö Karl Frie rallel r pa The fou pear lines ap l a c ti r ve cannot ts cientis S . d e lt ti see why we explain they es when ht! tilted lin ig a tr ctly s are perfe

A little bit t dotty Dots appear to join the crosses in this image, but the dots don’t actually exist—they’re simply gaps in the lines. Scientists disagree on an explanation. Do we see dots because the brain figures out the boundaries of shapes from little bits of information? Or do we see the illusio on before the brain has processed exactly whatt it is we are looking at?

The ns. tching o i s e u o ill , str n s tw pective illusio e n i n a t d s o n r n o e o e in mage c se of p s a sec rs to b Twosimple i ive a senis createop appeahey are, This lines g nce. Th at the t ttom. T k a o blac he dist red line t the b t a e o e t h t in on the hich e. in w r than me siz e a g s n he lo ct, t in fa

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The water cycle

American illustrator Charles Allan Gilbert created this famous optical illusion. What do you ou see s in the picture? A pretty woman admiring herself lf in a mirror or a scary grinning skull?

Deathly beauty

The Dutch artist M. C. Escher was inspired by optical illusions. This picture shows a circuit of water that seems to flow impossibly uphill before tumbling down to start its journey all over again. If you look closely, you can see that the technique used is the same as that in the Penrose triangle, below.

BRAIN GAMES

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Face-to-face?

This illusion was crreated by matthematician Roger Penrosse. All three straigh ht beam ms of the tria angle appear in fron nt and behind d one another at the same time, and they me eet at right an ngles to one anothe er. It would be imposssible fo or this object to exisst in 3--D.

Tric cky triangle

When the eyes and brain focus on an object, they separate it from its background, but it’s not clear which is the object in this illusion. Some people see a white vase on a black background, while others see two black people looking at each other on a white background.

Like e Penro ose’s triangle e, this object cannott be created d in 3-D. You see tw wo diffe erent perrspectivves at once, yet it’s imposssible to fit them m togetther. Th hree ro ound prongs at one end d become a rectang gular shape at the other. Nob body iss reallyy sure who first creatted thiss illusion—it’’s a puzzle from m startt to finish!

Tw wo or three e?

Look at these pictures and objects. What do you see? Is there one image or two? Is the water really flowing uphill? Illusions are not always as they seem at first glance. The brain can flip between two options as it tries to make sense of the impossible.

ILLUSIONS

MPOSSIBLE

You u can see th his sha ape in n two ways— —as a small cube sitting g on th he inside of a bigger cube or as a sing gle larrge cu ube with a sm mall cube-ssize ch hunk missin ng from its bottom m corner. This de esign first app peared d in a floor mosaic found in the anccient Roman ruin ns of Pompe eii, Italy.

Cr razy y cu ube

Can you hear something? From whispering voices to a phone ringing, yours ears pick up all sorts of sounds. Try the following activities and find out how much information we process through our ears.

What was that? Test your hearing ability by identifying these challenging sounds.

You will need: ǩ3DSHU ǩ7DSH ǩ6FLVVRUV ǩ7KUHHHPSW\ERWWOHV ǩ8QFRRNHGULFH ǩ'ULHGEHDQV ǩ8QFRRNHGSDVWD ǩ(PSW\EDJ ǩ)ULHQGVWRSDUWLFLSDWH

Yo cannot hear You hea ear any sounds ds in space. space e. Th This is because bec ecause sound needs need eds ds a med medium edium to tr tra travel ravvel through, thro rough, such as air or w water. ater er.r.

Noisy bottles ([SHULPHQWZLWK high- and lowpitched sounds when you do this activity.

You will need: ǩ7KUHHHPSW\ glass bottles ǩ3LWFKHURIZDWHU

ep 1 Ste Fill each bottle with a diffferent amount of water, le eaving one empty. If you blow across the top of the empty bottle, it makes a low-pitched m ound. If you add a little so quid and then blow, the liq pitcch is higher—the more liquid, the higher the pitch. liquid

ep 1 Ste Filll each bottle with a different material—the d uncooked rice, dried beans, and uncooked pasta. Let the participants hear each shaken bottle once. Then wrap them in paper before placing tthem in the bag.

Step 2 Step 2 Ask your volunteerss to close their eyes and pick the bottles out, ey one by one. Can the identify what is inside the bottles by shaking them?

How good is your sense of hearing? Throughout your life, your brain stores information it encounters, enabling you to identify the sounds you come across.

If you tap the sides of the same bottles, you get the opposite effect: the empty bottle has the highest pitch, while the fullest bottle has the lowest pitch.

There is less air when the bottle is half full, so the air vibrates faster, with higher pitch. When the bottle is empty, the vibration is slower and the pitch lower. But when you tap the bottle, it is the glass and water that are vibrating to create the sound. The greater the amount of water, the lower the pitch.

37

Wolfgang Amadeus

Mozart Wolfgang at th sister, Nanner e age of six, performing wi their first trip i, and their father, Leopol th his d, to Paris, Fran ce, in 1762. during

Child prodigy zart was the son of rn in Austria in 1756, Mo

Bo , so he was in the right a professional musician He could read music family to learn his art. rds, and began playing before he could read wo at the age of five. His and composing music g ian, and when Wolfgan sister was also a music e rop Eu d un aro m k the was six, their father too prodigies. ld chi as off m the w to sho

Some people seem to have a genius for music and can play it superbly when they are very young. A few are even able to compose complex orchestral music when they are only children— something that most people would find impossible. The most celebrated of these musical geniuses is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

ent g taling n i s i m t drea prov

Im

rific a heme was ter usical t m a Mozart g n o tions ccordin up varia as playing. A perform im ew while h ss who saw h ise e improv n ld it u w o w e with to a h r, enager, e than an hou ed as a te r h o s li m for omp like this that even acc d. But to ill de l astoun such sk s were fitting musica n ia ic s r mu fo y t t talen t a par him this ther was jus o e g e was t , o g t ideas hallen c sic l u a m e r g in he trick. T original, excit er. se compo k a little long o o t which This portrait of Mozart at the age of around 26 shows his love for fine clothing.

young w, the ick pillohis skill at the th a n s . do Perche demonstrate tic audience Mozartto an aristocra organ

In 1787, Emperor Emper Em ero rorr Josep JJoseph eph II of Austr Austria tri ria made Moz Mozart ozart rt his court rt composer. composer er.r. 38

Fun and games Despite his musical genius, Mozart did not have a one-track mind. He enjoyed horse riding, dancing, and billiards. When he started earning serious money in Vienna, he bought a billiard table as well as a new piano. He was well known for his sense of humor, partly because he enjoyed practical jokes. He also liked showy clothes and was once decribed as appearing onstage “with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat.”

Cerebral cortex Analyzes and relates smells and tastes

Olffactory bulb Ga athers scent signals and passes them to the brain

Your senses of taste and smell are closely connected, and they both help you enjoy your food. But yourr sense e of smell is vital in other ways. It alerts you to danger and helps you recognize familiar places, things, and evven ven people. Your brain reacts surprisingly strongly to smelll, especially smells that you memorized long ago.

Taste bud

Most of the re Taste pore ceptor cells th at detect tast concentrated e are on the tongue in clusters ca taste buds. Th lled ere are around 10,000 of thes each containi e, ng 50 to 100 ba nana-shaped cells with tiny “taste hairs” at the top. Whe you eat, saliva n and dissolved food seep into each taste bu d through a tin y pore. The ce react to chem lls icals in the fo od by sending nerve impuls es to the brai n.

Taste hair

Olfactory receptors Detect scent molecu mol molecules ecules les in the air

Nerve fiber Taste receptor cell

Nasal chamber

Simple tastes

SALTY

Your taste buds can distinguish between only five taste sensations: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, and umani (savory). This combination is too limited to account for all the different li tastes that you experience, and this is because your sense of smell also plays an important role in “tasting” your food. Infections such as colds and the flu can make you temporarily lose your sense of smell— l and then you find that you cannot taste much either.

SOUR R

SWEET BITT TER 40

UMANI

Tongue

Nerve fibers Gather data from taste buds

Scent si ignals The hum man sense of smell is poor compared to that of many animals, but it is much more refined tth than you ur sense of taste, enabling you to detect thousands of sscents. Scent molecules are carried in the air, and when yo ou breatthe in, they are detected by two patches of recep ptor cellls located high up in your nasal cavity. Nerve fi fibers frrom these cells pass through the skull to the olfactorry bulb, where more nerve cells transfer th he coded d scent signals to the brain.

Wee all hav W have ve our own unique smell smel ell identity. This Th is determined det eter erm rmined ed by factors fact fa cto tors rs such as genes, genes ess, diet, diet ett, and skin type. typee. tion tinctive reac limbic system at Inst the of rt pa is actory bulb

The olf tem is an stem. The limbic sys the top of the brain role in nt rta po im an t plays area of the brain tha ents sc . This explains why memoryy and emotion m rmant do en ak s and aw ger powerful emotion an trigg cortex ca the to es ss pa o mation als es emoriess. Scent infor me tak this zed consciously, but t brain to be analy of the instinctive reaction. a lot longer than the

Thalamus Receives taste signa als from the medulla and sends them to the cortex Medulla Receives taste signa als and relays them to the thalamus Brain n stem

Professional senses Some people earn a living by their noses. They include the makers of perfumes and, not so obviously, wine tasters and tea blenders. The blenders of fine teas, for example, m may “taste” the teas, but their taste buds can barely identify them. Theyy use th heir refined sense of smell to decide w which combinations have the best fla avor.

41

BRAIN GAMES

SENSITIVE SEN

SENSES ENSES Unlike the other senses, smell and taste function by detecting chemical substances. Our sense of smell enables us to distinguish up to 10,000 different scents, and there are people who have an extra-sensitive sense of smell and taste. Try these activities and find out more about your senses of smell and taste.

A blocked nose Can a blocked nose affect your sense of taste? Follow the steps below and find out.

You will need: ǩ6HOHFWLRQRIIRRGV with varying degrees of taste and flavor ǩ*ODVVRIZDWHU ǩ7ZRIULHQGV

In th the we wei weightless eig ightltles ess es enviro environment envi ronmen ent of space, e, food aromas fo aro romas as don’t do often oft ftten fte ten re rea reach eachh th the nose, e, so astronauts astr as trronauts tro ts mis miss iss out on a lot of food flavo fo flavors. vors rss. rs.

Seeing is believing! You will need: How good are you at ǩ6HOHFWLRQRIȍDYRUHG identifying what you Jell-O are eating? ǩ6RPHSODWHVDQGVSRRQV ǩ%OLQGIROG ǩ7ZRIULHQGV ǩ3HQDQGSDSHU

Step 1 Ask the first volunteer to o sample the food, rinsing his or her mouth out with water in between tastes. Record the responses.

Step 2 Repeat Step 1 with the second volunteer, but this time ask your friend to hold his or her nose closed.. Who had a better sense of ta aste?

When you can’t sme ell what you are eating, it is harrder to recognize food flavors s. So if your nose is blocked be ecause you have a cold, for exa ample, food often tastes bla and.

42

Step 1

Step 2

Ask an adult to help you make the Jell-O. When they have set, place them on a plate.

Put a blindfold on the first person, making sure he or she does not see the Jell-O beforehand. Then ask your f i d to taste and friend d identify id if the h flavors. Record the results.

Smell S Try this test and find out how good your sense of smell is.

Step 1 For each item, put two samples of it in two different bowls. Mix the bowls around.

Step 2 %OLQGIROG\RXUIULHQG and ask him or her to identify which two items smell the same. How good was your friend’s sense of smell?

You will need: ǩ%OLQGIROG ǩ$WOHDVWVL[ERZOVDQG three items with strong smells such as a banana, coffee grounds, flowers, or soap ǩ$IULHQG

T The chemical factor You will need: Find out if saliva ǩ3DSHUWRZHO helps you when ǩ6HOHFWLRQRIGU\IRRGV it comes to such as cookies, cakes, tasting food. or crackers ǩ7ZRIULHQGV

Our sense of smell is much more sensitive than our sense of taste—around 10,000 times more sensitive. It alerts us to danger by detecting poisonous odors and we can even identify whether food is ripe p or rotten byy smell alone.

Step 3 Ask the second person to identify the flavors. This volunteer should not be blindfolded. Record his or her answers, too.

Step 1

Step 2

Pat the tongue of one of your volunteers dry with the paper towel so that no part of the tongue’s top side has saliva on it. The second person can taste the food as normal.

Ask the two subjects to taste the dry food and then record their responses as t h to how much h flavor fl th they can taste.

Step 4 Compare the differences between the two experiments. Did the blindfolded person make any mistakes or take longer in identifying the flavors?

We are used to seeing foods in certain colors, and this helps identify their flavors.

Chemicals from food can reach your taste buds only if they have been dissolved in saliva.

A child has around aro round 10,000 taste buds, buds ds,s, while wh an adult may have ve only 5,000.

43 3

H

Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It ha as many functions, including acting as a protective e barrier against infection, but it also provides yo ou with vital information about your environment. It does this by using millions of sensory recepto or cells that detect different types of stimuli—from m the most delicate tap to the sharp shock of pain n.

Free nerve endings Sense touch, pressure, pain, and tem mperature Thalamus

Sensitive e skin Human skin has at leastt six types of sensory receptors. Some arre branched nerve endings, while others are nerve fibers that end in tiny disks or cap psules that psules detect different types of pressure, vibration, stretching, temp perature change, and physical damag ge. Some nerve endings are wrapped aro ound the roots of hairs and sense their response to touch and air mo ovement. Merkell’s disk Responds to light touch and pre essure

There There Ther re are re aro around round 18 million skin sensors rs altogether, alto tog oget ether er,r, constantly constanttly sending information info form rmation to the brain. bra rain. Signal network Sensoryy signals from the skin are sent through the bran nching nerves of the peripheral nervous system to the spinal cord and then to the thalamus. The thalamus passes them on to the somatic ssensory cortex, which is located in the brain. The thalamus acts as a relay station, as it does forr all sensory information except smell. 44

Hair i root sensors Detect hair movement

Finger

tip

contro Some part l s of your s kin are m more sen uch sitive than others. If somethin g touches your leg, you can ce rtainly fee l it, but th sensation e is not very precise. By contra st, your fin gertips are highly sen sit sense of to ive, giving you the uch that a llows you to feel tex tures and , in the ca of blind pe se ople, to re ad Braille .

Sensory map

Hair shaft Proje ects above skin surfface and reacts to to ouch and air moveme ent

This odd-looking figure shows how your brain reacts to touch on various parts of your body. It looks strange because the size of each body part is related to the num mber of touch sensors that it has ratther than its physical size. Your han nds are shown much bigger than your feet because they are much more sensitive.

Epidermis Outer layer of skin

Thhe le T The least lea leas ea t sensit east sens en ittive ivvee iv part aart rt of rt of yyooour ur bo ur boody dy dy is the is the mi miiddle ddle of ddle of your baack. your ckk.

Habituation Dermis Containss blood vessels, glands, and nerve endings

Meissner’s corpu uscle A touch receptor found in sensitive e areas of skin

Although your brain reacts strongly to new sensory information from your skin, it adapts to some constant or repetitive messages to make them less distracting. This effect happens with all the senses but is most easily tested using touch. If you put a pencil in the palm of your hand, for example, you get an instant sensation, but within seconds this wears off to leave just a low-key awareness. This is because some skin sensors soon stop sending signals, but others don’t.

Pacinian corp puscle Sensitive to pressure and vibrations

Feeling g pain Nerve endings throughoutt your skin register pain by reacting to cchemicals called prostaglandins and histam mines that are released from damaged ce ells. There are two types of pain responsses. One is short and sharp to make you u jerk your hand away from a candle flame in a reflex action. The other is slower and d starts after the reflex, giving more persistent pain and warning us of possib ble long-term harm.

45

BRAIN GAMES

TOUCH

Grab bag +RZJRRGLV\RXUVHQVH of touch in helping you identify objects?

AND TELL

You will need: ǩ%R[ZLWKWZRKROHVFXWRXW RUDSLOORZFDVH ǩ6HOHFWLRQRILWHPVLQDOOVL]HVVXFK as a cup, spoon, ball, apple, sponge, rock, pinecone, and d feather ǩ6RFNVRUUXEEHUJORYHV ǩ$IULHQG

Step 2 1RZDVN\RXUIULHQG 1 to o put socks or rubber gloves on his or her hands and touch the LWHPV+RZGRHVWKLV ch hange the success rate?

Step 1

By covering your hands, itt is harde er to tell what you are touching. This iis because you are reducing the am mount of tactile informatio on being sent to your brain.

46

Step 1

Step 2

Have your friend place a hand inside the box DQGSLFNDQLWHP

With eyes closed, ask your friend to feel the object and then sketch WKHVKDSHDQGGLPHQVLRQV RIWKHLWHP$VNKLPRU her to describe the texture of the object, too.

&RPSDUHWKHȌQLVKHG GUDZLQJZLWKWKHRULJLQDO LW LWHP+RZDFFXUDWH + W ZDV\RXUIULHQG"

We have different types of receptors under our skin. These enable us to find out a lot about an object just by touch alone—whether an object is soft or hard, its shape, and how big it is.

an anywhere else on the body. gers th our fin

ǩ$IULHQG

Step 3

ptors in

Artist at work! You will need: Can you judge the ǩ%R[ZLWKDKROH size, texture, and shape of an object by ǩ6RPHREMHFWVVXFK as a feather, apple, touch alone? Try this ERRNDQGZDOOHW activity and find out. ǩ3HQFLODQGSDSHU

ce We have more touch re

3ODFHDIHZ LWHPVLQWKHE ER[ RUSLOORZFDVH H$VN your friend to o put his or her hands inside the boxx and try to identify the e objects IURPWRXFKDORQH


Sensitive e touch 7KLVDFWLYLW\G GHPRQVWUDWHV how some parts of your ERG\DUHPRUHVHQVLWLYH than others. You will need: ǩ$SDSHUFOLS

Step 1 S 6WUDLJKWHQRXWWKHSDSHUFOLS7KHQ bend it so that the tips are around 0.5 in (1 cm) ap part.

Step 2

Some animals have different ways of feeling. Cats, for examp

le, use t heir w hiske rs.

&ORVH\RXUH\H HVRUORRNDZD\7KHQUXQ the paper clip from the tip of your index ȌQJHUDORQJ\\RXUSDOPDQGXSWR\RXU forearm. Could you feel both the points of the paper clip on your forearm?

Hot or cold? Follow the steps of this experiment and see how your thermal receptors detect changes in temperature.

Your forearm m is not as sensitive as your fingers, so it feels as if the points of the paper clip are together—or you might feel onlyy one point.

You will need: ǩ7KUHHSODVWLFFXSV ǩ,FHFROGZDWHUZDUP ZDWHUDQGKRWZDWHUDW 104–122 °F (40–50 °C). Ask an adult to check the temperature with a thermometer. ǩ6WRSZDWFK

The finger that has been placed in cold water perceives the water as warm, while the finger placed in hot water perceives it as cool. This is because the receptors are not d t ti th detecting the water t ttemperature. t Instead, they are comparing it to the previous temperatures.

Step 1 Fill each of the cups w with the FROGZDUPDQGKRWZ ZDWHUU Place a finger from yo our le eft hand in the cold water and da finger from your rightt hand in WKHKRWZDWHU/HDYHWKHȌQ QJHUV immersed in the wate er forr around a minute.

Step 2 5HPRYHERWKȌQJHUVDQGGLS them in the cup of warm water. Does your body detect any changes in temperature?

47

e? Real or fak something that is l” ica ag “m ything An e laws of nature, seems to break th things disappear such as making ne’s mind. Some or reading someo ve in magic, just people really belie e ve in ghosts. Som as they may belie e ar ch as voodoo religious cults su t most of Bu ic. ag based on m magic is us recognize that ery, even some sort of trick it’s w ho if we can’t see is at th done—and part of the fun.

Illusion A magician tosses a ball in the air twice while following it with his eyes. But he fakes a third toss, moving his eyes as if watching the ball, and to you, the ball appears to vanish. This illusion works because there is a slight delay in visual data reaching your brain. The brain compensates by inventing some data to fill the gap—sometimes it’s incorrect.

Crimin

a

l tric We assoc ks iate mag ic tricks artists, b with perfo ut confid rmance ence tric use simil ksters an ar techniq d pickpock ues. If yo trick is d ets u can’t s one whe e e how a n y o you certa u are wa tching a inly won’t m recogniz distracts e it when agician, your atte someone ntion in th her partn es er steals your mon treet and his or ey. So wa tch out! 48

BRAIN GAMES

ce d for r a l need: c You wil FDUGV The RI u trick ǩ'HFN U Can yo GSDSH into 3HQDQ e ǩ n o e som ORSH ǩ(QYH a QG LH U picking ard ǩ$I c c ifi c e p s ke their but ma appear n decisio ? m o rand

Step 1 Secretly place the Queen of Diamonds so that it is the third card from the top in the deck of cards. Write down the name of the card on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope.

We rely on our senses to tell us about our surroundings. However, our senses can be fooled, and we can easily miss a trick if our brains are concentrating on something else. Magicians distract their audiences to take attention away from what is really going on. Try these tricks to find out if you, too, can fool the senses.

Step 3 Ask your friend to point to two cards. If the first two cards are chosen, remove them and go to Step 4. If the first and third cards are chosen, remove the middle one. If the second and third cards are chosen, remove the first one. Then ask your friend to choose another card—whichever one is chosen, make sure you remove the one that isn’t the Queen of Diamonds.

Step 4 S A your friend to turn over the Ask rremaining card and then open the envelope to reveal how your amazing prediction came true. a

Step 2 3UHWHQGWRVKXIȍHWKHFDUGV$VN your friend to deal out the top six cards into two rows of three. Watch to see where the Queen of Diamonds lands. Ask your friend to point to a row and confidently take away the row that doesn’t have the Queen of Diamonds.

50

If you perform in a confident manner, your friend will be convinced that you are doing what he or she has asked you to do. In fact, you are doing exactly what you need to do in order for the Queen of Diamonds to be picked.

The magic coin You will need: You need quick ǩ$FRLQ actions and plenty of practice to make ǩ$IULHQG this trick work.

Step 1 In front of your friend, place the coin in the p palm of yyour left hand,, near the thumb.

Step 3 Step 2

Ask your friend to say which hand the coin is under. Lift your hands to reveal the answer!

Quickly turn over both hands, flicking the coin from under the left hand to under the right hand. Because the coin was not seen to move, your friend is tricked into thinking that it is still under your left hand.

he cup? : Where’s t You will need ke a m u yo LQ Can ǩ$FR nish? ǩ7DEOH something va try ǩ&KDLU You’ll need to s e ǩ3DSHU m ti this a few ǩ3ODVWLFFXS k ic before the tr ǩ$IULHQG ly. works perfect

Step 4 Place the paper (which is still in the shape of the cup) back over the coin. Then smash your hand down on the paper to show that the cup has vanished. Say, “Oops, I’ve made the wrong thing disappear!” Only you know that you made the right object vanish after all.

Step 1

Step 2

Place the coin on the table and the cup over the coin. Tell your friend you will make the coin disappear.

Wrap the paper tightly around the cup so that you can see the shape of the cup underneath the paper.

Step 3 Lift up the cup and the paper to show that the coin is still there. While you and your friend are still looking at the coin, move the paper and cup over the edge of the table and drop the cup out of the paper into your lap.

Because you have directed all the attention to the coin, not the cup, your friend’s brain isn’t focusing on what is really happening.

51

Balance Your inner ear contains three bony tubes that form loops called semicircular canals. Each tube ends in a bulge, or ampulla, containing sensors that detect the movement of fluid in the loop—which depends on your body’s movement. Similar receptors called maculae detect how upright you are. Your brain uses these signals to correct your balance.

We normally think that we have five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. But we also feel things that do not seem related to a particular sense. They are like an awareness of your body. Most of these sensations affect your unconscious mind, but that doesn’t make them unimportant. Without your sense of balance, for example, you could not stand upright. Vestibular nerve Delivers balance sensor data to your brain

s cknes

nce n si tion of your bala o i t o M stimula g like a

Intense methin s by so n cause sensor aster ride ca e o is mad roller-c ickness. This ars s e motion our eyes and y ing if t e ic s fl wor on con r brain hing the horiz f u o y e c o giv t a e s W n . ke se ation inform e brain to ma . help s th d may enable ent, an m e v o the m Semicircular canals s Filled with fluid that moves when your body moves

Ampulla Contains sensors that detect body movement

Macula Has sensors that detect whether you are upright

Internal organs We are not usually aware of our internal organs, b we all but lll get sensations from our stomachs. Some are e vague feelings that mark the passage e of food, but hunger pangs are more useful. Digestive problems can cause pain, and other organs may also hurt if they are damage ed or diseased. A disorder releases chemica als that are detected by nerve endings and relayed to the brain as pain.

52

Now ask your frriend to put one foot on a low step (or a pile of books or magazines) and d repeat the test.

Step 2

Ask a friend to stretch an arm out straight. Then ask him or her to resist you as you press down on his or her wrist with two fingers— your friend will be able to resist the force you are exerting on his or her h arm.

Step 1

Hard to resist This test demonstrates one of the many ways the brain defends the body from possible harm—only in this case, there is no harm at all.

54

Sometimes your brain has a mind of its own. It can stop you from doing something that you want to do or make you feel things that are not actually there. Try the following experiments and witness for yourself the mysterious brain at work.

With one hand, reach around to tap and rub your friend’s nose. Exactly copy yo our movements with your other han nd on your own nose. After a short time, you u should start to o feel that your friend’s nose iss yours. That’s one long g nose!

Step 2

Blindfold yourrself and then stand behind a friend.

Step 1

Pinocchio nose Ever wondered what it would be like to have a nose as long as Pinocchio’s? Try this and find out.

BODY ILLUSIONS Your brain uses you ur sense of touch to figure out where your nose is. When the sensations s from touching your frien nd’s nose interfere with th he messages from touchin ng yyour own nose,, your y r brain begins to think yo our nose has grown to where your friend’s nose is!

Th Ari The Aristotle risto t tl to tle illusion is one of the oldes oldest est known es wn body illusions. Her Here erre’s ere how it works: work wo rks ks: cross cro cr ross your fingers finger errs ers and to ttouch uch a small round ro obj object, bjec ect ctt, like ct, a pea pea, ea, and it wi will fe fee feel eel el like you are re ttouching to uching two wo pea peas! eas!

BRAIN GAMES

INTUITION

We often believe things without having any idea why. You might get a feeling that you are being followed, or arrive at an inspired solution to a problem. We call this intuition, telepathy, or sometimes a “sixth sense.” These intuitive perceptions are probably the result of rapid unconscious mental processes— using either information gathered by your senses or data stored deep in your memory.

Sixth sense Have you ever felt that something was wrong without understanding how you knew it? This “sixth sense” effect can be quite creepy, but it is probably created by your brain picking up some clue from your other senses and alerting your alarm response without giving you the full picture.

What’s up? There’s something wrong! The house doesn’t feel right at all!

Telepathy Apparent telepathy is probably caused by a combination of sensory awareness and shared experience. Twins often seem telepathic because they share a the same history and thought patterns.

Female and male Women are usually thought to be more intuitive than men. But psychological tests show that this is not true, and men score just as well. It is simply that women like t appear more intuitive, to i t iti especially among friends.

56

thinking Inspired player may seem expert chess

An g ght move usin to make the ri ut this B c. gi lo an th intuition rather ely lik king” is more “inspired thin y ud st e lt of intens to be the resu s le ab en , which and experience ular cognize partic re to er the play eces pi s of the ches arrangements ly al ic at m This auto on the board. xt ne e th ory of triggers a mem t ually turns ou us ch hi w move, t one. to be the righ

Wait a minute! It smells like someone has been baking a cake. Why would they be doing that?

What? A balloon? I thought I was imagining it, but there’s definitely something going on!

Surprise!

Out of the blue Sometimes someone grappling with a problem finds that the solution seems to come “out of the blue” after working on something else for a while. This is probably because irrelevant details get forgotten, so the main elements of the problem come into sharper focus. The person may also come across new information that makes everything slot into place.

Woof!

Dream wor rk Occasionally people e may even dream the soluttion to a problem. In the winterr of 1861, German chemist August Kekulé was G ttrying to figure out the structure of a benzene molecule. Whille dozing in fro ontt off the th fire, fi he h dreame d ed d off a snake k biting its tail. According to Kekulé, this gave him the clue e that the molecule was a ring o of carbon and hydrogen ato oms.

Benzene molecule structure

57

Memory Works

HOW YOU

Peeople wh People Peo who go blind ndd often oft ften continue to ft “see”” things because bec ecause the bra brain rain is wired wire red ed to pro process roces ess visual es vi info information. form rmation.

Having paid attention, your brain n filters out irrelevant information and focuses cu on the important data. This is often an u unconscious process—for example, a flicker off movement in this pool catches hes your attention o and you instinctively nstinctively focus foc on the swimming g animal. a

Filter and focus fo ocus

Our senses are constantly receiving eiving information about the world around us. s. Mo Most is irrelevant, so our brains filter and sort ort it, leaving only the data that requires our close attention. tte The information that we gather in this way iss stored in our memories and is the basis of conscious u thought.

THINK NK

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Attention The data gathered by your senses passes s into your sensory memory. Visual data a is i held there for less than a second, bef before being erased if you do not pay attention entio to it. Attention is the vital first stage age in the mental processing of any sensory ensory input. If you don’t pay attention, ention, p perhaps because you are thinking about something else, the th information simply goes out of your head.

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Ste Stereotypes Labeling leads us to cre create mental models of all kinds of things things, ngs, s ffrom animals to people and social groups. grou These are called stereotypes. People ople ar are scared of snakes because they think all snakes conform to a venomous stereotype. In fact, this is a harmless grass snake, showing that the stereotype is often wrong. The brain’s habit of creating stereotypes can be destructive, leading to social problems such as racial prejudice.

When your brain registers sensory data as important, it instantly labels abels it as a particular pa type of experience erience or problem. pro This helps it devise a rapid response without getting bogged down in rap detail. So once you y realize that this is a snake, you don’t go through a mental al checklist to assure yourself that you are right. You label it, and take a step back. After all, some snakes are venomous.

Labeling

NOT VENOMOUS

HABITAT: TAT Rainforest

LATIN NAME: M Morelia spilota cheynei

NAME: Ju Jungle carpet python

NOT VENOMOUS

HABITAT: Semiaquatic

LATIN NAME: Natrix natrix

NAME: Grass snake

VENOMOUS

HABITAT: Terrestrial

LATIN NAME: Crotalus atrox

NAME: Western diamondback rattlesnake

Conscious thoug thought ught is only a fr fra fraction ract ction ct of wh what is going on inside your bra brain— rain— unconscious unco conscious thoug thought ught is co constantl constantly tly going on in the background, backkgro kground, d, influencing influen encing your behavior. beh ehavi vior.r.

Often you see only partt of the picture and have to fill fil in the rest using data stored in your memory. A few clues are often enough, because your brain is programmed to make sense o of sketchy information that might be important to your safety. In th this case, the animal’s head looks familiar, so you mentally ental fill in the rest of its body as that of a snake, which m might be dangerous. This happens before you get et a good go view of it.

Joining the dots

Your brrain processes your experiences and all the information gathered by your senses. Most of this data is discarded, but the imp portant perceptions, facts, and skills are stored in your memory. This enables you to think, learn, and be creative.

Ignored Any information in the sensory memory that you ignore is thrown out right away.

Sensorry memory This part of memory holds a lot of in nformation for a few seconds at most.

Input All the data from your senses enters your sensory memory store.

Memo Me mory ry s sto tore res s Your me emory is divided into three se ections—sensory, short terrm, and long term. Only the e most important informattion makes it into the finall section. All the rest is th h hrown out. t

Stimulus Nerve cell Attention If you pay attention to any items off inform it i f ation, ti they pass into your short-term memory.

WHAT IS

Electrical signal E

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Making memories Making connecttions When a nerve cell ll receives a stong enough stimulus, it fires an electrical signal onto a neighboring nerve cell.

Memories are formed by electrical signals i l making ki connections ti between b t nerve cells so that they form a network. The more often the network is activated, the stronger it gets, creating a long-term memory.

Permanent P b bond

Links form The more the linked cells are stimulated, the stronger the bond becomes.

Memory web The signals continue to fire until a web of nerve cells is formed. This represents a single memory.

Vivid

m

emorie When you s are feelin g very em changes in otiona your brain boost nerv l, chemical They stren e activity. gthen the memory-f creating vi orming pro vid long-t cess, erm mem why you o ories. This ften have is u n usually clear reca ll of events that you experi enc state of hig ed in a h emotion .

Prefrontal cortex Short-term memories

Amygdala Unconscious and emotional memories

Putam men Learned skills and prrocedures

Hippoccampus Spatiall memories

Cortex Memories of personal and life events

Temporal lobe Learned facts and details

Recognition and re ecall It is much easier to recognize a memoryy you are looking for than to recall it. Look at the picture of the girl below for five seconds and th hen cover her up. Now look for her in the photo o on the right. g Even though gh you’ve seen her for a verry short time, you should re ecognize her. But if you had to d h describe her, you would pro obably find it a lot harrder.

Where do we remem mber? The cortex and Th d hi hippocam mpus are e the main areas of the brain responsible for mem mory, but different parts of the brain store different types of memories.

Use it o or lose it If you d don’t think about tthe data in short-tterm memory, it is losst after around 20 seco onds.

VVery Ve Ver ery ryy ffew feew peo ppeeeople ople opl op can rremem can eeme mem em mbber ber er anythhing anyt anyth ing fr ing ffrom fro rroom om befor bbefo bef efor efor efo fforree the tthe ag age age of thre of reeee.. ree

Sh hort-term memory Th hiis has h h limited li i d space, an nd information is soon losst if you don’t think ab bout it enough to pass it on to long-term memory.

Long-term memory L m Any informattion that A enters your long-term memory is carefully m c file ed away so that you can easily recall it.

Involuntary recall Have you ever found yourself smelling something and suddenly remembering a certain time or place very strongly? This sensation is called involuntary recall, because your brain has retrieved the memory by itself, without any prompting from your conscious mind. Sounds and nd sights can also cause this, but smells are especially powerful, perhap ps because the part of your brrain that processes scent is clossely sely linked to your memory.

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Trip method

1.Tree

One way to memorize a list is to visualize a trip that you often take. Link each landmark on the trip with an item on your list—the stranger the result, the easier it is to remember! Then go through the trip in your head to remember the items.

The leaves of the tree are pages from a book. Find a good book to read on vacation.

This is a vacation to-do list, and here is how to picture each of the items with a landmark on a walk to school: 1. Find a book to read 2. Pack your sunglasses 3. Mail a letter 4. Buy some toothpaste 5. Hang your laundry 6. Remember your sun hat 7. Buy dog g food 8. Get a haircut

2.Sunflo ower A flower iss wearing your sungllasses. Remembe er to pack tthem in yo our bag.

3.Sign 3 Sign Si The sign has turned into an envelope re eminding you to mail a lletter.

4.Bridge There’s a tube of toothpaste floating under the bridge. You need to buy toothpaste.

SCH O

OL

6.Scarecrow The scarecrow has your sun hat on its head. Remember to take your hat on vacation with you.

5.Flags The flying flags have become socks. You need to hang your laundry.

8.Bush The bush is getting a haircut, and you need to get one, too!

7.Wall Imagine your dog running along the wall. Remember to buy dog food.

65

BRAIN GAMES

Memory span Your short-term memory can store a certain amount of information for a limited time. This game reveals your brain’s ability to remember numbers and words. You may be surprised at your own abilities.

Step 1 Starting at the top, read out loud each line of numbers, one at a time. Cover up the line and then try to repeat the numbers. Work your way down the list until you can’t remember them all. Most people can hold only seven numbers at a time in their short-term memory, so good job if you could remember more.

438 7209 18546 907513 2146307 50918243 480759162

These games test your capacity for storing numbers, words, and visual information in your memory. They also show the two different ways we remember—recall and recognition. Recall is finding information in your memory when you need it. Recognition is knowing something when you see it.

1728406395

DO YOU

REMEMBER?

Visual memory How good is your memory for visual images? Study these 16 pictures for 45 seconds. Then close the book and write down as many as you can. How well did you do?

You’ve done well if you have remembered more than half the objects. More than 12 is an excellent result.

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Bed, lamp, rug Fork, plate, glass, table

Step 2 Now read out these words, one line at a time. Cover up the line and try to repeat the words. Continue down the list until your memory fails.

Spider, tree, bird, flower, dog Pencil, scissors, chair, book, fish, clock Pond, moon, star, grass, worm, bike, stone

Most people are better at remembering words than numbers. If you can repeat a string of eight words you have done very well.

Drum, bell, ball, racket, rope, box, net, pole Eye, leg, arm, foot, head, ear, toe, hair, nose Bread, milk, cookie, plate, bowl, plum, spoon, apple, banana, orange

Recognition vs. recall This game clearly shows you the difference between recognizing and recalling information. Step 1

Step 1

First test your recognition skills. Below are ten countries and ten capital cities. In 30 seconds, see how many you can match up and then turn to page 186 to check your answers. COUNTRIES Israel France India Russia Czech Republic Germany Afghanistan Canada Denmark Argentina

An artistic eye Do you have a good memory for remembering visual detail? Try this test and see.

CAPITALS New Delhi Ottowa Berlin Prague Copenhagen Jerusalem Buenos Aires Kabul Paris Moscow

Step 2 Here are another ten countries, but this time you need to try to recall their capital cities in 30 seconds. Check your answers again and then compare your two scores. Spain Ireland China Sweden Iraq Netherlands s Japan Italy Egypt Greece Most people get a better score ffor recognition iti th than recall. This is because having a list of possible answers gives your brain a shortcut to finding the information stored in your memory.

Look at the picture right and closely study it for two minutes. You may find it helpful to draw it. Then cover up the picture and try to draw it from memory. When you think you’ve finished, compare your drawing to the picture and give yourself a point for every line you got right.

Step 2 Now do the same with this picture, left, but this time look for familiar shapes or patterns. For example, does it look like a kite? Again, after two minutes cover up the picture and try to draw it. Figure out your score again and compare it with the previous one.

You probably did better in the second test than the first because associating the lines with familiar shapes makes them easier to remember. 67

BRAIN GAMES

ATTENTION

PAYING

e differenc Spot the ok for detail? Lo e ey r u yo is w Ho e ictures and se at these two p s ce n t ten differe if you can spo . Turn to page between them . u got them all 186 to see if yo

Do you have a good memory for detail? These games will put your short-term memory to work, first testing how well you remember the detail of a story and then how sharp your eye and brain are at spotting visual differences. Remember, none of the information will go into your memory unless you really focus your attention on the exercise.

Important details How well do yo u focus on details when you read? To find out, re ad this story through carefu lly, but only once, then se e if you can answer the qu estions below .

At last the backyard looked perfect. Jenny admired the orange lanterns hanging from the trees as they glowed in the fading light and the pretty tables dotted around the yard, decorated with candles and pink roses. There was a table laden with champagne, a white chocolate cake, a whole salmon, and a tall pyramid of strawberries. Jenny began to feel excited. Her parents had no idea about the party. They thought they were just going to the movies. Suddenly, she heard a familiar noise that filled her with alarm—a dog panting. Chester! She had locked him in the kitchen. How had he gotten out? A big, muddy, wet, and very smelly dog raced up and proudly dropped a dead fish h at her feet. Jenny knew where that had co ome ome from—the Johnsons’ pond next doo or. She groaned and tried to grab Chester’ss collar, but he leaped away. Between two ta ables he ables shook his fur, splattering them both h with mud and grass. Then he spotted—o or probably smelled—the food table and raced up to it. Paws on the table, he e took a bite of the salmon as a hundred strawberries tumbled to the ground d.

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ssing? What’s mi kly veals how quic This game re om n disappear fr information ca . rm memory your short-te

Step 1 Study the 14 objects on the tray for 30 seconds, and then cover the picture.

Step 2 Now look at the tray below. Five items have been removed—but which ones? Uncover the picture above and see if you were right. Did you get them all?

Questions

1 2 3 4 5 6

What time of day is it?

How were the tables decorated?

What flav or was the cake?

Who was th e party for?

Where did Jenny thin k Chester wa s?

What is th e last na me of Jenny’ s neighbor s?

Look back at the story to ch eck your answers. If you got five right you’ve done w ell. A good w ay to help remembe r detail is to pi cture what’s happen ing in the stor y in your he ea ad d..

? Who’s who u at yo e How good ar fe if rences in spotting tiny d solving this patterns? Try e. problem and se Freddy, a much-loved pet tortoise, above right, has h gone missing g. A reward has bee en offered for his retu urn, and the four torrtoises below have be een handed in. But which one is Freddy?? Turn to page 186 to fi find out if you are righ ht.

A

B

C

D 69

70

1 1= crocodile

2 = swan

3 = worm

8 = doughnuts

9 = snail

8371

After Aft fter ft err just j one sighting, sig ighting, British Bri ritish mem memory emory ry maestro maes estr es tro ro Dominic O’Brien O’Bri rien en recalled rec re ecalled ed a sequence seq equen ence of 2,808 shuffl shuffled ffled ffl ed playing cards card rds ds wi with only ei eig eight ight errors. err er rrroors rr rs.

You can also use number pictures to help you with lists. Imagine you need to buy six eggs, three cartons of milk, two bananas, and eight stamps. Visualize the objects on the list with the number pictures—a rabbit eating an egg, a worm drinking milk, a swan with a banana in its beak, and a stamp with the picture of a doughnut on it, for example. The crazier the picture, the better, because it it’s s more likely to stick in your mind.

7 = giraffe

Step 3

6 = rabbit

Now study this number for 30 seconds and try to “see” it in pictures. Then cover up the number and try to write it down. Did you find it easy to remember using associations?

5 = face

Step 2

4 = arm

Study the number pictures we’ve created below and try to memorize them. Or invent your own number pictures and learn them.

Step 1

MAKING ASSOCIA ATIONS

Making links between objects— called association—is a useful way to remember things that you might otherwise forget. The following exercises show you how to make associations that match numbers to pictures, organize words into groups, or link a person with an image so that you never forget a name.

0 = mouth

s tures and pic aped picture h s s r re a b il m im u s N ith mbers, numbers w er phone nu b m e Associating m re adlock easier to used on a p r e b m can make it u n a o help you nt date, or res can als an importa tu ic p r e b m ue works. . Nu the techniq w for example o h is is h lists. T remember

BRAIN GAMES

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Castle Mouse Book Airplane

Greenhouse

Insect

Goldfish

Tractor

Carpet

Elephant

Button If there are no obvious groups, you could imagine items paired together. For example, you could remember a mouse with eyelashes or a ship carrying a banana.

Ship

Twig

Nail

Banana

Eyelash

Tree

Mountain

Pin

Here is a new list. This time, sort the items into smaller groups. One way would be to divide the list into two groups—big or small items. After 30 seconds, cover the list and try to write down all ten items. Was that easier?

Step 2

Pyramid

Study the list of ten items below for 30 seconds. Then cover it up and try to write down as many of the items as you can remember. Check the list and make a note of your score.

Step 1

Forming a group If you have a long list of words to remember, try breaking the list down into smaller groups.

John

Now look at the faces belo ow. Can you remember who’s who with h th he help of your associations?

Step 2

Look at the people above and make up your own associations for them, based on the ideas above.

Step 1

Mary

If you find it difficult to remember people’s names, try associating a name with a picture. If you meet a girl named Daisy, think of her holding the flower. Or link a person’s name with an object they might have (Doug with a dog) or make up a rhyme (Mike on a bike) to help you.

Names to faces

Louis

Doug

Th brain The bra rain has a built-in bbui uilt-iiin n ability ability to to recognize reco rec re eco ccoognize g ize faces. gniz faces fa es. es

Lucy

Mike

Ei ein’s fascination Einstein’s Einstei fa with with physics cs beg began egan at th the ag age of five, five ve, e, wh when en he wa watc watched tched ed th the twi twitching witc tching nee needle eed edle of a compa compass co and realized rea re ealiz ized ed that th space was wa full fu of unseen unsee een en force forces. forc fo rces es. es

Albert

Einstein

Einstein was the son of an born in Germany in 1879, engineer.

When you think of genius, you think of Einstein. This is partly because his ideas are beyond most people’s understanding—the bending of light and the distortion of space, for example. He is most famous for his theories of relativity, which explain how the universe works, and for the equation E=mc2, which has become an icon of inspired mathematical atical thinking. thin nking. Translating Transllating extraordinary e ideas into clear mathem matics was pa art of h his genius.

Bright

n 93 whe . in in 18 ath s Einstecinated by m w o h s rtrait dy fas This po 14 and alrea he was

id

ea At the age of only 16 , Ein be like to travel at th stein wondere ed what it e speed o would (300,000 k f light: 18 m) per sec 6,000 mile ond. He re t avelled a tr s alized tha way from t if you a clock at able to lo this speed ook ba , and were would neve ck and see it, the c lock’s han r move—b ds e cause the hands afte image of th r they mo e ve d would neve with you. r catch up Time wou ld seem to stand still It takes ge . niu i s to thin k like this .

Day job b Einstein stud died physics h i and nd mathematicss, and then got worrk in the p patent offi fice in Bern, Switze erland, decid ding whether other h r people le’ss inven ntions were worthw while. Meanwhile he wa as thinking hard ab bout physics and the nature of the universe iin hi his spare time, as a hobby rather than a job. The fact that he was not working at a university, where he would have had to focus on the ideas of the professors, meant that he was free to come up with his own theories. 72

vity e Relatiwas fascinated by th

ce, and Einstein light, spa nature of ns were conclusio time can time. His at th ggling— mind-bo curved, is e c a n, sp slow dow istortion of space ad gravity is g is fixed nd nothin a , e m ti and f light. e speed o except th the core d e as form e id e s e h T lativity. ries of re o e th is h of

HOW WE

LEARN

Find wallet

Learning is vital to survival. We often think it is all about skills like reading and writing, but it also involves developing life skills such as safely crossing the street, dealing with other people, and managing money. ey. We learn these things through a combination of conscious effort and unconscious reactions, and everything we learn becomes part of our long-term memory.

How much will it cost?

Take money

Conditioning

Learning curve When we are young, we all have to learn a huge amount about the world in a short time. We learn basic skills like walking, eating, and avoiding harm. We discover that everything we do makes other things happen, and we learn how to predict this— and maybe avoid it. We learn much more in our first few years than we do in all of the rest of our lives.

If an experience always follows a particularr event, or does so only once but is very upsetting, this can create such a strong link in the brain that you react automatically to the event if it happens again. So, for example, if you have been stung by a wasp, you get nervous when you see another one—or any insect with yellow and black stripes. This basic form of learning is called conditioning.

rcuits Memory ciing” of the brain is formed at The basic “wir something, n never you lear birth, but whe p of nerve ou gr A s. ge the wiring chan a network rm ther to fo ge to ks lin lls ce n peat the actio that lets you re u yo if ut B t. wan whenever you ork tw ne e th n, ai never use it ag . ly stop working may eventual

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Association You learn by making connections between different experiences and skills, creating a web of associated ideas in your brain. When one part of the web is activated, it fires up the rest. If you decide to buy a magazine, for example, this idea triggers an association with the store, the bicycle you will use to get there, the route, the money you will need, and so on. Association also allows you to link the abstract ideas you learn in your classes at school.

Which store?

Go to st sto s t re

Which route?

Travel by bike

Thhee we T The weight w weig weigh eight ig t off your urr bra brain brain in i trip tri tripl tr ttriples riples e es during duri uring ri g your ring yyou yo r fir fifirst firs rrst stt thre three th three ree ee years year years yea ars of of life lliffe as you as you ou lea learn earn arn more more ski skills. skills skillls.

Take lock

Remember helmet

ion d to Imitat gramme rs, n are pro

f othe Childre actions o e is th te a imit A lot of th , y adults. especiall n seem pointless a c y r ic mim doll to putting a is such as a lot in th n r we lea t te u a b u , d d a e r b eg ntually w actually way. Eve to y la p d ten from pre sks such ta m r fo r e p g in help ooking. ing and c n e rd a g as

Buy a magazine

Put in the practice If you keep repeating p something to yourself, you will remember it. This is because the repetition links brain cells into a memory circuit. You can learn a skill like playing the piano in the same way, creating circuits in your brain that enable you to play each tune. Repetitive practice can be dull, but its benefits last a long time. Musicians can stop playing for a year or more, yet quickly pick up the skills if they start playing again. 77

BRAIN GAMES

The one-hand rule To get through a maze where all the walls are connected to the outer boundary, you can use the “one-hand rule.” To do this, always keep a hand on one wall as you go—it doesn’t matter which hand, but don’t swap along the way. Try this method to make your way to the center of this maze—and back out again.

The Ancien The Th Ancient ent Egyptians Eg built mazes maz azes es 44,000 ,000 000 years yea ears rs ago ag ago. One pharaoh pharao phara ppharraoh ev even eve ven en bu bbuilt uilt u ilt lt a huge hug uge ge maze maz aze inside nside his pyra pyr pyrami pyramid pyram ramid t baffle to baffl ffle tomb ffl t mb ro to robber robbers. errs. ers

MASTERING

The brain’s ability to learn helps us solve all sorts of problems, including how to find our way out of a maze. Giant hedge mazes are popular attractions—it seems that people like the feeling of getting lost for a while, as long as they can eventually find their way to freedom, of course! See if you can make your way through this collection of miniature mazes. If you get lost, find the solutions on page 186.

Right or left? You can find your way through this more complicated maze using the one-hand rule, too. Once through, try again using your other hand—which route is quicker?

78

MAZES

Trial and error Mazes like this one, where some of the walls are not connected to the others, cannot be solved using the one-hand rule. Instead you’ll have to find your way through by learning from yyour mistakes. Find your way to the center of the maze and the en out the other side e.

Amazing mazes The bigger and more complicated a maze is, the more difficult it is to remember all the wrong turns. The challenge of this maze is to figure out the route to the dot.

Th world’s The worl wo rld’s largest larg rges est es maze maz aze is the Dole Plantation Pineapple Pl Pinea Pi eapple Garden Gard rden Maze Maz aze in Hawa Hawaii, aii, which covers wh cove ver ers rs an area are rea ea of 137,000 sq ft (12,746 sq m) and has nearly nea earl rly 2.5 miles es (4 km) of paths.

Over and under This 3-D cube maze couldn’t exist in real life—people would keep falling off it! The way the paths pass under and over one another can make it difficult to keep track of where you’re going—so you’ll have to pay attention. Using the one-hand rule will take you back out the way you came in, so to find the exit you’ll have to use trial and error.

79

BRAIN GAMES

PUZZ PU ZLI ZLI ING ING G

PAT TT TER TE ERN RN NS S A face in the crowd The more we learn, the better our brains become at spotting even the smallest differences between things. See if you can find these two musicians among the group of rock stars below.

All alone Without writing anything down or marking the puzzle in any way, see if you can find the one creature in the picture that doesn’t appear twice. To do this you will have to learn and remember which items form parts of a pair.

Thinking ahead This batch of colorful cupcakes is arranged in a specific pattern. Can you figure out what it is? If the sequence was to continue, what would be the color of the 49th and 100th cupcakes?

Thhe w T The world’s world wo oorl rrld’s llargest rld’s arges arg rrgges e t jjijigsaw est igsaaw igsaw ig w puzzle puzz puz uzz zzle le has has 244,000 ,000 ppieces. piec iec ecces. ece es. Itt tak es. es ta take taakes kes kes es ma m many aany ny mo ny m mont oonths nths to to co ccomplete ompl mpllete. lete eete et te te.

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

A between different things are important parts of the learning process. We use past experiences and solutions to previous problems, stored in our brains, to help us make sense of new ones. All of these perplexing puzzles require you to spot new w patterns. tt Turn T tto page 187 tto o find fi d the th answers.

B

C

D F

E G

H

I

J

K

L

Missing Mi i pieces i Putting a jigsaw puzzle together is a good example of pattern recognition. Your brain has to work out how each small piece fits together to make the big picture. To do this you need to study both the contents of the pieces and their shapes. Four pieces from this puzzle are mixed up with pieces from a different puzzle. Can you find the missing pieces?

Spot the sequence These flowers (left) may look randomly arranged, but in fact they have been laid out in a particular sequence. See if you can figure out the pattern. Which three colored flowers should finish off the sequence?

Polic Po olic oolice licee fo lice forces fforrrc rces ces ces e use u use co ccompute compu ompu uter ter ter er softw soft sof fftware ftw tw waare ware are re to to help help hel elp lp them tthe thhem track ttra rrack ra aack ck pat ck ppatterns paatt ttern tter erns er rns of of crime crim cri cr rim mee and and ca catch catch tch cr ccriminals. cri ri rimina minaals. alls lss.. Perfect pairs At first glance, these patterns look very similar. Give your brain time to study them, however, and you will begin to tell them apart. In fact, each pattern has an exact double, except for one. See if you can find the unique pattern among the seven pairs.

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Bodily intelligence The ability to effectively use your body is not normally associated with intelligence, but it does involve intellectual skills. You need certain mental abilites to coordinate the movements that are essential to sports and other physical activities.

Interpersonal intelligence

This covers the sympathetic understanding that is vital if you are to relate to the motivations and desires of other people. It enables you to give good advice to friends who may have problems but also allows you to work effectively with others.

1R1R *RRGE\H"

This type of intelligence involves a sensitivity to written and spoken language. It may enable people to easily learn languages, but it also includes the ability to use language to express yourself and communicate complex information.

This is a form of intelligence that gives a person the ability to appreciate, perform, and compose musical patterns. It involves recognizing and working with musical pitches, tones, and rhythms and is similar to linguistic intelligence.


Linguistic intelligence

Musical intelligence

Anyone yone with the ability to navigate accurately and visualize things in three dimensions is using their spatial intelligence. It also covers the skills involved in sports like tennis and many forms of art, such as architecture and sculpture.

Sp patial intelligence

This is when someone has the ability to logically analyze problems, detect patterns, and carry out mathematical calculations. It covers both scientific and mathematical thinking, so it may also apply to people who rarely use mathematics.

Mathematical h ti l intelligence i t lli

One aspect of intelligence is the ability to understand yourself and appreciate your own feelings, fears, and motives. It could be described as knowing how you “tick” and being able to use that information to regulate your life.

Intrapersonal intelligence

W usually rate people’s intelligence We by their ability to explain or use b ccomplex ideas. Intelligence can also be described as the ability to a experience, learn, think, and adapt e tto the world. According to psychologist Howard Gardner, you can be intelligent H in eight ways, combining different degrees of each. However, this idea d of “multiple intelligences” is only one o of many theories about intelligence. o

A of us have different abilities, and multiple intelligences All iss just one way of describing them. Most people combine many skills in varying degrees, while some perform very m well in only a few. Looking at the intelligence types above, w how would you describe yourself? h

What about you? W

This type of intelligence enables you to recognize, understand, and use various features of your environment. It covers your ability to make sense of the natural world, but it may also affect how you respond to any environment.

Naturalist intelligence

Various tests have been devised to measure intelligence. The results are given a numerical value called an intelligence quotient, or IQ. IQ tests usually involve general knowledge, arithmetic, reasoning, memory, puzzle solving, decoding, and analyzing shapes. But they do not rate things like interpersonal skills and may not be fair to people from different cultural backgrounds.

Intelligence quotient

erican psycho logist Howard Gardner began to ques tion the notion of a single type of intelligence in the 1970s, an d he published his theory of m ultiple intellige nces in 1983. Although his th eory has been hotly debated, it has helped un dermine the cr ude idea that intelligenc e can be accura tely measured by IQ tests.

Howard G a rdner Am

TYPES

INTELLIGENCE

83

George Washington

Carv Carver arver rvver did not know the year rve yea ear or date of his birth, birt rth, rt so hee never neve ver er knew which wh day w was as his birthd birthday. birt rthday. rt

Carver during his house like this . have lived in a like to be poor Carver would knew exactly what it was He . od early childho

Determined student Carver was named after his slave owner, Moses Carver, who raised the orphan as his own child after abolition. Eventually, George got a place in school and later went to college. At first he studied art and music, but in 1891, he transferred to Iowa State Agricultural College, where he was the first black student.

An African American born in the South before the abolition of slavery, George Washington Carver fought racism to become a respected scientist, educator, and inventor. His main interest was agriculture, especially promoting crops that poor farmers could grow for food and other purposes. In the process he improved the lives of people often too poor to help themselves. His achievements helped undermine racial prejudice and blazed a trail for other African Americans to follow.

Carv Carver rvver once said, “ Wh rve When yyou can do the common things of life fe in an uncommon w way, ay, you will command the attention att ttention of the wo tt worl world. rld.” nd Peanuts a s potatoe improve

In the early 19 the few places 00s, Carver’s laboratory at where black Am Tusk ericans could egee was one of learn plant sc ience.

College teacher In 1896, Carver was invited to lead the agriculture department at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama— a college founded for the education of ex-slaves. He stayed at Tuskegee for 47 years, teaching the students farming techniques and ways of becoming self-sufficient. The head of the institute called Carver “one of the most thoroughly scientific men with whom I am acquainted.”

84

to Carver wanted farmers whose or po of es the liv usted by the land was exha ting of cotton— an relentless pl crop of the the main cash ts sed his studen region. He advi r tton with othe to alternate co eet peanuts and sw as crops such ith w up e m so ca potatoes. He al ese crops, th r fo es us many ints, plastics, pa , including dyes plosives. He oil, and even ex ld enable his hoped this wou ake their own students to m em. he d of buying th ea products inst

Everyone eryone thin thinks, but some people think in a less disciplined d way than others others. They say things ngs gs that don’t add up. Someone might say that she hates all animals but then sa ay that she really likes her neighbor’s cat. The two statements contradict each other, so you don’t know which one to take seriously. Pe eople who talk like this are often said to be lacking in logic logic—they they can can’tt analyze what they say and see the flaws in it. Logic is all about thinking clearly.

ing reason r Flawed that all fish live in wate n

a If you say fish, you c harks are water. in ve and tthat s li s at shark conclude th that penguins can ay s u But if yo uins are since peng , d n a i swim im, this is w s ds can ir b ll a , s d bir asoning is ng. The re clearly wro ncluding ause the co rogression flawed bec a logical p ’t n is t n e statem rst one. frrom the fi

Use your head Logic involves using sound reasoning to draw the right conclusions from known facts. If you cannot fault the reasoning, it is likely that the conclusions are correct. Checking the reasoning is an important part of logical thinking. But perfectly good reasoning is no use if the basic facts are wrong, so you have to check those as well.

THE DESTROYS CAUSE THAT BACTERIA ECAY TOOTH D

Testing the argument T The ability to test the argument is important when you can’t test th he conclusion. Bacteria are well known to cause tooth decay, so it is logical to argue that a toothpaste that destroys bacteria will help prevent tooth decay. You have to trust the logic, w because you have no way of testing the effect on your teeth. 86

Persuasive logic Many people use logic to persuade others. If someone says something that you don’t believe but then backs it up with a solid logical argument, you might start to believe it. But if there is no logical argument to back it up, you will not be persuaded. This makes logic very important for lawyers and politicians such as Hillary Clinton.

Logic and philosophy The intellectual discipline of philosophy, first practiced by the ancient Greeks, is mostly about logic, because it uses reasoned argument to investigate concepts such as truth, beauty, and justice. To many people, these exercises are intellectual games, as we believe we know the answers through common sense. But common sense can be misleading if it is based on false ideas. The rigorous, logical argument encouraged by the study of philosophy has real practical value.

Computer logic Logic is vital to computing. All computers are controlled by long strings of electronic instructions called programs. These are devised by programmers who have to convert their ideas into a code that a comp puter can read. If the coded in nstructions are not logical, the program will not work.

Makes you ur teeth shine, , and shiny teeth are healthy teeth

Checking the facts Very often people come up with conclusions that are based on ideas that are wrong. If making teeth shiny really did make them healthy, the argument in this advertisement would be fine. But simply brushing your teeth does not prevent tooth decay, so the facts are wrong. It’s important to check the facts as well as the logic. 87

Free association When you think logically, you retrieve information from your memory and use it to solve problems. But sometimes your mind wanders and makes associations without conscious direction. This tends to happen when you are very relaxed.

Phob Ph obia ias s Many peo Many eopl ple e ar are e te terr rrifi ified ed o of spid sp der ers. s Thi hiss ty type pe of fe fear ar iss call ca lled ed a pho hobi b a. T The here re are man anyy diff di ffer eren ent ty type pess of pho hobi bias as. So Some me are ar e un unde ders rsta tand ndab able le,, li l ke the fear fe a of he h ig ight hts— s—af afte terr al all, ffal alliing f om a hei fr eigh ghtt ca can n ki kill ll you ou. Bu Butt othe ot herss, su uch ass th he fe fear ar of fis fish, h, are ar e illlo log gica al, irr rrat atio ona nal,, and diffi di fficu cultt to ex expl plai ain. n.

Orn rnith thoph ophobi ob a is the fear fear of bir birds, ds an and d someti som etimes mes even even justt the jus the fea feathe hers. rs

Ichthyoph Ichthy ophobi obia a is the fear fea off fish fish,, whic which is one one of the he rar a er e pho phobia bias. s

Instinct We all have natural instincts that make sure we get things like food, water, and air. Instincts also include some emotions such as the fear of fierce dogs. These instincts are the type of thinking that is shared by animals, but they are not governed by logic. This does not mean that instincts do not make sense—they are essential to our survival.

Faith All religions are based on faith, which involves believing in something that cannot be proved. There is no logical reason to believe in a god, but a lot of people do—even if they do not practice any religious rituals— including many scientists who normally rely on logical thinking.

88

Arachnoph Arachn ophobi ob a is th the e fear fear o spi of spider derss and a d iss one of o the the mostt comm mos common n pho phobia bias. s

Musophobia Musoph a is the word wor d used use to descr describe the h fear fe r off mic mice. e Aviatopho Aviato hobia bia is s the fe fear ar of flyi flying ng and nd is a ver veryy common com mon phobi phobia.

We all like to imagine that we think logically, but this is often far from the truth. Ideas jump into our heads for no obvious reason, and many people suffer from phobias or even serious delusions. A lot of us are superstitious, and all religions are based on faith rather than actual logic.

Luck Many people believe in good and bad luck. Some buy lottery tickets because they think they might get lucky and win a big prize. Others will avoid flying in case they suffer “bad luck” and the plane crashes. In reality, the chances of both are very small, but people ignore the facts and act in line with their illogical thoughts..

Demophobi Demoph obia is th the e fear of b fea bein eing g trap trapped ed in a crow c owd d of o peop eople. le

Technopho Techno phobia bia is s the he fear fear of o tec techno hnolog logy such suc h as ccell el ph phone nes an co and compu mp ter ters. s

Superstition Many people are superstitious. They avoid walking under ladders, worry about what may happen on Friday the 13th, or believe in ghosts. Most of us try to avoid saying things like “I’ve never been in a car accident” because we feel that we are increasing the risk just by saying it, or “tempting fate.” There is no logic in this way of thinking.

89

BRAIN GAMES

Clear, logical thinking is the key to solving these baffling brainteasers. They have been designed to confuse, confound, and mislead, so you’ll have to concentrate hard and use sound reasoning to arrive at your answers. T Turn to page 187 to see if you are right. i h

The frustrat a ed farmer A farmer is trying to use a small boat to row a fox, a chicken, and a bag of corn across a river. However, he can take only one thing at a time in the boat. If he leaves the fox with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken. If he leaves the chicken with the corn, the chicken will eat the corn. How can the farmer get across the river without anything eating anything else?

Carnival m money oney Three boys arrive at a carnival on Sunday morning. The man in the ticket booth tells them that the entrance fee is $10 each—so the boys pay $30 and enter the carnival. However, the man in the ticket booth realizes that tickets cost less on Sundays, so the boys should have paid only $25. The man asks his assistant to go find the boys and give them $5 back. The assistant can’t figure out how to split $5 between three people, so he keeps $2 for himself and gives the boys $1 each. This means that the boys have now paid $9 each for their tickets—a total of $27—and the assistant has kept $2, making $29 . . . What happened to the other $1?

90

It might help if you make paper cutouts of the characters to help you visualize the solution.

Find the treat Janet wants a cookie, but first she needs to find the cookie jar in the cupboard. None of the e jars has labels, only numb bers. She gets only one gue ess. If she’s wrong, she’ll end up with something much h less tasty than a cookie. To o help her choose, she is given the following clues:

1

2

4

5

Two at a time A group of four men—made up of two brothe ers plus their father and grandffather—is walkiing to a train station in the darrk and come to an old narrow bridge that leadss to the station. The bridge can support onlyy two people at a time, and they have only one flasshlight between n them, so after one pair has cro rossed, one of th he men needs to bring the flashlig ght back for the e next pair. The four men take diffferent times to cross the bridge.

The right door A prisoner is given a chance to win his freedom: In his cell are two doors—behind one is a hungry lion and behind the other is the exit to the prison. In front of each door stands a guard—one guard always speaks the truth, the other only lies. The prisoner is allowed to ask one of the guards only one question. So what question should he ask to o gain his freedom?

ǩ%URWKHUWDNH NHVRQHPLQXWH ǩ%URWKHUWD DNHVWZRPLQXWH HV ǩ7KHIDWKHUUWDNHVȌYHPLQXW W XWHV ǩ7KHJUDQG GIDWKHUUWDNH HVWHQPLQXWHV Each paiir can walk across the bridge only as fast as the slowest ma an, and the next train arrives at WKHVWWDWLRQLQP PLQXWHV+RZFDQDOOWWKHPHQ crosss the bridge to o the station on time??

Who passed the package? Rob has just won a game of pass the package. It started with nine children sitting in a circle. A package was given to the first player, who then passed it to the left to player number two and they continued in this way until the package reached the seventh player. This person then unwrapped a layer of paper and was eliminated from the game. The person to their left then became player number one and the game continued until there was only one person left to claim the prize. If Rob won the game, who started it? Susan

3

6

ǩ7KHOH HQWLOVDUHQRWRQWKH bottom row and not in the middle. ǩ7KHEHDQVDUHQRWRQWKHWRS row and d are not next to the rice, which iss directly under the flour. ǩ7KHSHSSHULVQRWRQWKH right-ha and side and has a numberr that is two more than the flour and four more than the lenttils. Which jar should she choose? W

Joe Mary

Peter Kevin

Gary Annie Stacey Rob

91

BRAIN GAMES

Many number puzzles rely on logical thinking rather than math skills. Sudoku and Kakuro, for example, are puzzles you solve by filling in blank squares with the right numbers according to certain logical rules. Tips and tricks

6

8

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3 4

5 2

Sudoku

4

The classic Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9 x 9 grid of squares divided into nine boxes of nine squares. Every vertical column, horizontal row, and box must contain the numbers 1 through 9. Some squares already contain numbers, and your job is to figure out which numbers go in the empty squares. Start with this puzzle and pick up some tips and tricks before moving on to try a few more on your own.

1

3

9

5

6 3

1

8

3

4 7

2

2

4 9

5

9

8

5

6

4

6

4

5 6

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1

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6 7

Middle row

4 8

3

1

5

Starter Sudoku

1

6 5

8 9

8

9

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6 4

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5

1

4 5

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1

9 8

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5 5

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7

Neve Never ver er gues guess ess which es wh number er goes es in a square. square ree. If ther there erre are ere re a number er of possibilities, possibilities ess, wr es, write tthem wri hem em small in pen pencil encil in the co corn corner rner er of the square squares res es and erase era er rase them em as you eliminate el them. them em.

3 5

6

2

1

3

4

3

Another trick is to look for sets of three numbers, known as “triplets.” Look at the middle column of three boxes, shaded gray. The top two already contain 1. This means that 1 must go in the right-hand column of the bottom box. Check the rows and you’ll realize there’s only one place the other 1 can go.

Slightly harder

7 2

1

6

1

9

1

8 3

8

7

2

3

3

A good place to look first is the row or column with the most numbers. Here, the middle row is missing only 2 and 8. If you check the rest of the numbers in the vertical columns that the middle row’s blank squares sit in, you should be able to figure out which numbers go where.

1 6

8

3 5

king involvves numberrs. al form of think The mosst logica When you do simple calculattions, you don’tt make e outt the answers byy applying guesses. You figure e worldwide ost people logiical rules to the figures. Mo nd most have ave devised some way of counting, an ha eloped ways of reasoning with numbers. deve

ms g syste Countin ne Age farmer counting u are a Sto ngers of

fi i e yo Imagin n using the count to te put a stone u o yo , n te sheep. You t to t e g u yo When ach eight, in. If you re both hands. a g a rt a st and : 18. This in your lap eight fingers d n a e s. n o st e ased on ten you have on systtem is b g n ti n u co r is why ou

Calcu

lations You want to b ild bu d a wall fro It will be m br b iicks. b 200 bricks long and 12 high, bu brickss b ut how man y bricks will need? It’s ea l yo y u sy—yyo ou ju ust multip 12 by tw ply wo, giviing 24 , then add t zeroes, givi wo ng 2,400 bri cks. s Most calc l ulations u se tricks like this: they e arre e the ba asis off mathemattic al th hinking.

Geometry Mathematics can describe shapes such as triangles and pyramids in terms of angles and dimensions. This can be used d to measure thingss like the heights of mountains. If you know your horizontal m dista stance (D) to a mountaintop and you ha have h v some way of measuring the ang gle as you look up at it, you can figu ure ou out how high (H) it is. is

,

(

BRAIN GAMES

Puzzling pyramid

120

Fill in the gaps so that each box in the second row up contains a figure that is the sum of the figures in the two boxes below.

? ?

44 14

? ?

50

?

? ?

? ?

3

TH1NK OF A

NUM8ER Only one chance Replace each of the question marks with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to make this problem work. You can use each number only once.

?? x ? = ???

? To find the solutions to these puzzles, you’ll need to use math—and a fair bit of logical thinking. Some of the puzzles are straightforward and should be easy to solve, while others are more difficult and will require more thought. There are also a couple of trick questions to keep you on your toes. You’ll find the answers on page 188.

Flower power In each flower, the four black numbers can be added and multiplied in the same way to make the white number in the center. See if you can figure out how you do it. What number should appear in the center of the third flower?

96

6

4 2

30 5

6

10 50 9

5 2

7

? 8

6

Pieces of eight Write down eight number 8s, like this: 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8. Now insert four addition signs between the eights in such a way as to make a sum that equals 1,000.

88888888 Pass or fail? To pass a test, Susan must correctly answer 15 out of 20 questions. For each correct answer, she is awarded ten points, but for each incorrect answer, she is deducted five points. She completes the test, answering all 20 questions and receiving a score of 125. Did she pass?

Dazzling stars

x

Each colored star represents a different number from 1 to 4. Figure out which star is which number to make this addition problem work.

+

The weighing game A pineapple weighs more than an orange, which weighs more than an apple, which weighs more than a banana, which weighs more than a strawberry. Study the balanced scales above, then try to work out how many strawberries are needed to balance one pineapple and three bananas? How many strawberries do a pineapple, an orange, an apple, and a banana each weigh?

Multiple fractions What is ½ of ¹⁄⁄³ of ¼ of ¹⁄⁄5 of 600?

/ /3 1/4

1 2 1

1

/5 97

BRAIN GAMES

THE MAGIC OF

MATH A lot of math involves figuring out patterns and relationships between different numbers. Try out these clever mind-bending math tricks on your friends and family and find out how math can be much more fun than you think.

D m n divining Domino i i i g Use basic U s subtraction b a o skills s to o discover i o r the ttotal on n a domino d m o hidden i e in your o friend’s e hand. h d Step S e 1 G your Give y r friend e a set e of dominoes m and a ask a h him or her h to cchoose o one o without w letting you y know k w what h itt is.

Step S e 2

The ans wer is “9” Thiss is an easy trrick to start offf with, beca use you are r le e do all th ttin ng matth he work fo or you. Ask friend to e xactl t y f llow tth your of th e ste he trrick an fo e d th he answer ps will alw ways be th e same: 9. Step 1

Beforre yo ou sttart th t e ttrick, w a piecce of ri r te th t e numbe paper, fold r 9 on d it, and h but te ell him or a n d it to yo her not to our frriend o look at it , .

Step 2

Hand your frriiend a ca alcula to o do the fo l tor and a lllo sk him owin ng: m or her ǩ7\S SHLQKLVR U K H U D J H ǩ$GGWKHQ XPEHURIIWK HLU ǩ$GGWKHO L KRXVH DVWIRXUGLLJ LWVR ǩ$  IWKHLUUSK $GGWKHQX RQHQ PEHURI QXPEHU I SHWVVWKH\ ǩ$GGWKHQ KDYH XPEHURI I E UR ǩ0XOW WWKHUVDQGV O LSO\E E\\ LVWH HUVWKH\K ǩ$ DYH  GGWKHG LJ JLWVR R I WK KHDQVZHU answer iss WR RJHWK more tthan KHU,,I one dig to o add th giit, ask him WKH hose digitt or her s to ogeth th her, and to hem togeth keep addin er untiill tth ere is onlyy g digiit lefft. St

ep 3

Show your ffrriie iend the p iecce of pap with th t e answe er r written o n itt.

98

A him Ask h or her h to pick p c one of o the e numbers u e on o the h domino o n and to a t do o the e following problems p s with it—it’s ’ okay k to use s a calculator: l la ǩ0XOWLSO\E\ ǩ 0XOWLSO\ X O E\\  ǩ G ǩ$GG ǩ X O \ ǩ0XOWLSO\E\ ǩ$GGWKHRWKHUQXPEHU ǩ $GG G WKH WK K Q PE sshown w on n the e domino o

Step St S e 3 A him Ask h or her h to o tell l you the answer. a w IIf you then ssubtract r 14 from 1 o this, t , you u will be left with a two-digit w w number, n m r, which will w i correspond o s n to o the very v y same m numbers u b on your o o friend’s f n domino. d m .

22222

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Math th gen genius enius Ka Karl rl Gauss (1777–1855) once added edd th the numbers number errs ers rs fr fro from rom 1 to 100 in sec seconds. eco conds ds.s. He saw that th if you add the th first firs fir rs and rst last las ast numbers number errs ers rs (1 + 100), you get et 101. Adding ng th the sec second eco cond and sec second-to-last eco cond-to to-las to ast numbers number errs ers rs (2 + 99) als also lso give gives ves es you 101, and so on. So all yyou need nee eed edd to do iiss 101 x 50, wh whichh is 5,050.

ep 3 Ste S

ust u mu s , you nd cchooses ne yyour frien er on c eve W ich Wh e mple, exam for , So . ad e he r u you n i ly it byy 9 in multip kly m quick q 2, 2 ks c pic e h orr sh 9; if he p kss 1, 1 x 9 = 9 s e pic iff he or sh o on. nd so 7, an x 9 = 27 3 3, ks i pic e h sh or o 8; if he 2 x 9 = 18

ep 4 Ste S

pllyy ultip mu om o to ulator use tthe ccalcu i nd to u ur frie k you N w ask No t u jus v ve ha u you r m er t numb e by the gure git fig t dig e hth eig the e 3 the ep 3, n Ste d 1 in ke c pic nd n r frie r o you If t. t o k d ou worke w 2 d 2, k ke pic e sh or e he if 1; 1 111,11 be 111,1 will b wer w answ a d ke k pic e sh e or 2 2; if he 222,22 22,2 be 22 will b wer w answ h a the . n on s so d n an 33, 3,33 3,333 e 333 i l be er wil nswe e an 3, the 3

0

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S p r a Super adder d r Perform P f m this h ttrick c w well and d you o w will cconvince vi c yyourr ffriends i d th that h t you u are r th the h world’s world w s fastest s s adder adder. d e In n fact fact, a the e only sskilll you need e d to master a e iss how o to multiply m l l byy 11. 1 Step S e 1 H d your Hand our friend r d a pencil, pencil p a piece c off paper, paper p and a a calculator, c a and ask k him m or her to do d the h following: w : ǩ ǩ:ULWHGRZQWZRQXPEHUVEHWZHHQDQG G Q R X H E Z Q  one b o beneath e the other. e ǩ$GGWKHWZRQXPEHUVWRJHWKHUDQGZULWHWKDW ǩ $GG G WKH H WZR Z QXPEHUV X H WWRJHWKHU H U DQG G ZULWH U WKDW W third new w number e benea beneath e a tthe other o r two. o ǩ G H F G ǩ$GGWKHVHFRQGDQGWKLUGQXPEHUVWRJHWKHU Q V J and write a w e a fourth f t new e number n b below b lo them. h ǩ0DNHDȌIWKQHZQXPEHUE\DGGLQJWRJHWKHUWKH ǩ 0DNH D D ȌIWK QHZ H QXPEHU E E E\ DGGLQJ G WRJHWKHU K WKH W third and d fourth u numbers m r and n w write it below e w them. e ǩ H J J W V ǩ.HHSJRLQJLQWKHVDPHIDVKLRQXQWLOWKHUHLV V R Q W H a column l n off tten numbers. mb r

9

10 11 12

13 14 15

16 17

18 19 20

Step 3

When yo our ffriend accepts th add the nu he challle mberrs to enge, don ogeth ’t multiplyy th her. Instea d e sevventh , sim mply h number give you th b y 11—th e sum to his will ottal of all more r quickly ten numb l th h e a rs much n yo y ur frie with a calc end can fi ulato gure or. r it out For instan ce, if tthe te t n numb wro ote t down w ers yo our friend erre 7, 12, 212, 343, 19, 31, 50 555, alll yo , 81, 131, ou have tto seve enth do is multt h numberr, iplyy the 131, by 11 sum total to get 1,44 of all the n 1, th he umbers you can u r . Don’tt fo se a pen a rget nd paper fo or thiis trriic k.

Step S e 2 A your Ask y r friend e tto show h you the list of numbers. b s Tell h T him or h her that you y can add the numbers m r together t r quicker c r using i a pen n and n paper a r than he orr she h e can using s a calculator. a l r 99

Thinking in pictures If you have to pack a lot of items into the trunk of a car, you use spatial skills to mentally rearrange them and decide how to make them fit best. You also use spatial skills when imagining how something might look, such as a different furniture arrangement in your bedroom.

You ur ability to think k in three dimensionss iss called spatia al awareness. It enab bles you to visuallizze shapes and imagine wh hat things mig ght look k liike from differen nt angles. Itt also gives you a sen nse e of dirrection n, helps you read d mapss, and d is use eful in many sports.

Map reading A map is like an aerial view of the ground, but with all the features represented by symbols. Map reading is a very good test of spatial awareness. Here, a boy finds his way blocked and needs to find a new route by reading a map and relating it to the real world.

100

BRAIN GAMES

SEEING IN

2−D

We usually think of spatial awareness in terms of 3-D activities—playing sports, for example. But spatial skills can also help us with 2-D problems, such as making sense of patterns on a page. Use these skills to figure out how the 2-D objects in these puzzles interact with one another. Check your answers on page 188.

You u You use use 2-D 22 D, and nd ssometimes somet ometim etimes i es 33-D 3-D D, spatial sspatia atia ti l skkiills skills lllss when w e yo wh you pla play pl y computer omputer mput puter uter e ga games am ames. e es. es

A Up and down Imagine the man turning the top-right cog g clockwise. What will happen to the two baskets of bricks? Will basket A move up or down? Will basket B move up or down? You will have to solve this problem stage by stage, figuring out how the turning of each cog, wheel, and pulley affects how the next one will move.

102

B

Ups side-down triangle Can yyou figure out a way to turn the triangle on the left into the triangle on the rright by moving only three tires? It might h help if you use ten equal-size co oins to m make your own triangle and mo ove the co oins around to find a solution. oluti

Five into fou ur Here you can see five squares ma ade out of 16 shovels. Can you figure out a way to move only two shovelss to turn the five squares into four? No shovels can be taken aw way.

Scans cans ans n ha h vee rev have re reve r vvealed eeale ealed ea aled ed that ed tha h tth the hhee area are rea ea of of the th bbr bra raaain in associ in associated associa sso iated ted e with with th nav navi navig n avig avigation, vigatio vig iggation, ation, ation, ion, n tthe he hhippocampus ippocampuss,, is i enlarg enlarge enlarged nlarg arged ged edd iin n LLondon ondon tta taxi aaxi xi dri ddriv dr drivers drivers. ri rive vers ver ers. er rrss. Equal division The workers workers, wheelbarrows, wheelbarrows and piles of bricks at this construction site look randomlyy arranged. However, see if you can add four lines to divide the site into five areas, each ccontaining ontainin one worker, one whee elbarrow w, and one pile of brickss.

103

BRAIN GAMES

Four trian ngles Arrange six equall-size pencils so that they mak ke four equilateral triangles. If yo ou get stuck, remember that this is a 3 3-D puzzle.

Many of the things you do each day depend on spatial awareness skills—walking along the street, or using the phone, for example. You perform these actions so often that they feel natural, so you barely give them a thought. You’ll need to pay a bit more attention to solve e these 3-D problems. Turn to page 188 to find the answerss.

View from th the top A

D

B

The side view above e shows four 3-D shape pes positioned on a boarrd (clockwise from to op left: a cube, a cylind der, a pyramid, and an icosahedron). Ca an you figure out whicch of the six overhead vie ews below matchess the positions of the 3-D shapes in the side vi view?

C

E

F

C

A G

H

I

Dif fferent angles es

B

Alth though these nine 3-D sh hapes alll look very different, two o them are identical—they’re just be eing shown from contrasting angles. Se ee if you can find the two matching sha apes. You will need to visualize each sh hape at different angles. F D E 104

INVENT NVEN ION O People regularly re come up with new ideas that make life easier and that may even change the world. Turning such inventions into practi practical racti technology takes hard work, but the he original idea is often the product of inspired re genius.

Making connections

e this one have , seedpods lik r, carrying the fu Known as burs al im an to ng hooks that cli m the parent plant. seed away fro

Bright ideas Br

ified view) mimic Stiff Velcro hooks (red in this magn in the soft loops catch and bur, plant a on s hook the of a woven pad.

Inventive people are often very observant, with a talent for linking what o th hey see to other ideas. In 1948, Swiss inve ventor George de Mestral noticed a lot of prickly plant seedpods clinging to hiss clothes. c He discovered thatt they were eq quipped with microscopic roscopic hooks that clung ng to the e fabric, and he used his discovery ery to t inv invent the Velcro fastener.

Thhe Nobe T The Nobel Nob obel el Prize Priz Pri Pr rize ize was wass establi establishe established es establ establis estab ed by Swedish by Sw Swed wed edish ch edish chemist chemist mist ist Alfred Alfr lfred fredd Nobe fr fre Nobel, Nobel obel, ob whoo made who wh made hhis mad hiis fo ffortune ort rtune rt tu unee w whe when whhen he he iinvented nvented nve vente ve vented ente tted ed dyna ed dyn ddynamit dynam y amite ynam mite ite iin it n 1867 11867. 8667. 8867. 7 106

Problem s olving

In 1993, Britis h inventor Trevor Baylis was watching a TV show about th e spread of AI DS in Africa. He real ized thatt peop le were dying be caus se e they could not pick up p vital inform ation broadcast over the radio, sim ply because they had no electr ic ity . He solved the problem by inventing a w ind-up radio, powered by a clockwork motor linked to a small electrical gene rator.

Some inventions involve luck, together with h the know knowledge to appreciate it. In 1928, Alexander nd Fleming had been trying to find ways w of fighting bacterial infections when he noticed that infectio a mold growing on an unwashed bacterial culture plate had killed the bacteria around it—just like the white mold on the culture plate above. He realized he had discovered the first antibiotic drug, penicillin.

Wernher

von Braun wn urtles do tz Opel h pelled Fri Berlin in 1928. ro p te in A rock racetrack the AVUS

Liftoff Born in 1912, von Braun developed a passion for astronomy when he was a child. Inspired by the rocket-powered vehicles of Fritz von Opel and the work of rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, he became obsessed by space travel and joined the Spaceflight Society at the University of Berlin to assist Oberth in rocket research.

Wernher von Braun was a visionary inventor: a man who saw the future and made it happen. He was the scientist behind the Saturn V rocket that carried men to the Moon, and he masterminded the development of the smaller rockets that preceded it. He also had ambitious plans for an orbiting space station and manned flights to Mars. But all this was based on his early experience developing the deadly V-2 missile for Nazi Germany.

At the age ag of 12, von vo Braun Bra raun was was arrested arr rrres rre ested ed fo for att attaching ttaching ro tt rocket rockets ets ts to a cart rt and setting set ett tting fire tt firre to them in the crowded cro cr rowd wded ed str streets tre reet ets ts of Berlin. Ber erl rlin. Relaunch In 1945, von Braun surrendered to the American forces, who took him to the U.S. Eventually, he was joined by a team of 127 technicians who had worked on the V-2 rocket program. Their task was to develop the V-2 into a nuclear missile. However, in 1958, one of von Braun’s rockets was used to launch the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1. This marked the beginning of the space race between Russia and the U.S. that was to lead to the Moon landings.

A captured V-2 rocket is launched British scientists in October 1945 by , soon after the war ended.

Wrong target In the late 1930s, the German Nazi authorities persuaded von Braun to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon. Yet von Braun always said that he was really only interested in space travel. On hearing the news that the first operational V-2 had hit London, England, he said, “The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet.”

108

An astonishing asto tonishing total to of 3,225 V-2s V- were wer ere re launched aunched ed against ag Allied ed targets targ rget ets ts to tow toward ward rd the end of World Worl Wo rld War Wa II—up to ten per er day.

Rocket science While he was working on the first American rockets, von Braun came up with some ambitious plans for space exploration. He devised a huge manned orbiting space station and figured out ways of mounting expeditions to the Moon and even Mars. He later worked as an adviser to Walt Disney, who was making TV shows about space travel.

Lunar

g landin was the colossal s s e c c u s the ig

d ’s b that carrie Von Braun rbooster” e uch p u M . “s s V 0 6 Saturn late 19 e th f o d the s n h sio cket, it a Moon mis revious ro p orbit y h n a rt a n E a load into bigger th vy a e h a arry ecame power to c ’s dream b n u ra B ed n o d. V ket launch and beyon en his roc h w 9 d 6 n 9 la 1 to a reality in er mission n its pione ere were th r e th e Apollo 11 o on. Altog o M e Saturn V. e th th n men o ll using a — s g in d n six Moon la

Grounded Eventually it became clear that von Braun’s Saturn rocket was going to be replaced by the space shuttle, which is not suitable for missions beyond Earth orbit. Von Braun’s hopes for more expeditions to the Moon and planets were shattered, and in 1972, he stopped working for the American space program. Soon after this he became ill, dying in 1977. Yet he had achieved his main ambition of sending astronauts into space—and to the Moon. 109

Hi Okay? Coming?

Let’s go

Hello Great

Yes

Okay

113

cat

more bag

Babies are very sensitive to words and speech patterns, and by two years old they know around 300 words. They start linking them together until, at the age of four, most children can say simple sentences. By age five or six they can put together more complex sentences.

Words and sentences

B to an in ge). H e key of th of langua ren have learn how h d g l y stud y that chi tand and even thou t s n r r e — o e r nd the her iffe y to u es toget ork in d ills are t i l i b k w a nc ese s ages ente put s nt langu es that th ature. v re diffe He belie t of our n r . ways erited pa h n i an

m oam isti r his Noa in 1928, N es in lingu famous fo ctive r orn e is stin figu

one skyhomsky is he m o C Ch cs (t

I want some chocolate!

If I am very good and eat my cabbage, can I have some ice cream?

Learning another language is easy when we are very young, because at this age our brains respond to every new stimulus. Some children even pick up two languages at once. But it becomes harder with age, and many adults find it is almost impossible (unless they live for a while in a country where the language is spoken). Some people do better than others, possibly because the language-processing areas of their brains are bigger.

Second language

Pretty Polly!

You can teach a parrot to speak, but you can’t teach it to have a real conversation. The parrot just learns to repeat the sounds, and may understand when to say particular phrases, but it cannot put together its own sentences. This skill is uniquely human.

Parrot fashion

Our complex language is one of the features that makes humans different from other animals. A parrot may be able to talk, but it cannot use language to explain what it is thinking. Speaking is not just about making the right sounds—it is about using sounds to communicate. We learn this when we are very young, but we keep adding to our verbal skills throughout our lives.

SPEAK

LEARNING TO

BRAIN GAMES

HAVING A

WORD

When you talk or write, your brain searches through your vocabulary to pick out the words you need to express yourself. The following games test your understanding of the relationships between words and also show how easily your brain can become confused when you read words in a strange context. Check your answers on page 189.

Quick comparisons Figuring out the relationships between words is the first step to correctly using them. Choose the right word to complete the sentences below.

Odd ones out In each of the following lists of words, three of the five are related in some way. See if you can guess which two are the odd ones out and why. 1. Sail, cone, mast, cat, deck

ǩ%LUGLVWREHDNDVKXPDQLVWR eye, mouth, hair, fur, crow

2. Stapler, pencil, ruler, pen, crayon

ǩ(\HVDUHWRVLJKWDVQRVHLVWR smell, aroma, taste, touch, hearing

3. Moon, Earth, Mars, Sun, Neptune

ǩ,QLVWRRXWDVRIILVWR up, back, on, below, above

4. Dolphin, sparrow, robin, crow, sea horse

ǩ3HQLVWRLQNDVEUXVKLVWR pencil, color, paper, paint, brush stroke

5. Tree, run, flower, sky, laugh

ǩ7ULF\FOHLVWRWKUHHDVELF\FOHLVWR two, four, unicycle, five, one

Blue

Green

Orange

White

Pink

Red

Orange

Blue

Green

Orange

Pink

Green

White

Red

Red

Mixed messages The circumstances in which you see words influence the way you read. Step 1 Time yourself as you read out the color of the writing, not the word itself. Look at the 15 words in the top panel.

Step 2

Blue

Green

Orange

White

Pink

Red

Orange

Blue

Green

Orange

White

Pink

Green

Red

Red

114

Next, time yourself as you try to do the same with the panel below. It is very difficult to equal or beat your time from Step 1. For people who are proficient at reading, it is difficult not to automatically read the word. If the color of the word and the word rd itself are not the same, we say the word much quicker ame the color. than we can na

Colored creatures Time yourself y as you y sayy out loud the color and the animal pictured behind the word for the group of animals on the left left. For example example, the first one is a blue rabbit. Then do the same for the group of animals on the right and compare the two times times. Sheep

As in the mixed-messages g s game, it is harder to ignore the e word. We have to stop the automatic reading response in order to perform the task task, and this slows us down.

Horse

Sheep

Rabbit

Goat

Cat

Pig Tiger

Dog

Tiger

Cat

Elephant

Horse Goat

Bird

Bird

Pig

Elephant Rabbit Dog

Like and unlike This game tests your knowledge of how words relate to one another. In the top p game, g , pick p two words from each line—one from the left side and one from the right—that g are closest in meaning. g Now do the same for the game below, but this time pick p the two words that are opposites. pp

Like nice, hungry, work tired, cut, include scary, trash, party friend, banana, sillyy

starving, cat, strong apple, pp sleepy, py worse top, fish, spooky catch, g grow, foolish

Unlike hide, distant, praise sharp, p, chew,, edge g twist, rational, puzzle crawl, leave crawl leave, start

scorn, blink, listen bite,, center,, strange g untidy, illogical, test return, walk return walk, travel

USING

ANGUAGE We had a terrific time skiing in the Alps last year. Can I have two tickets for the movie, please? Can we sit where we want?

We went in March. I think that’s the best time to go because there was a lot of snow.

When did you go there? We will do the same. The children will love it!

Do you think hink he will ever forgive me?

Maybe you should explain to him why you did that and see what he says.

What is he doing?

116

Lang La ngua ng u ge and lea ua earn rn r nin ing g

Soci So ci ial l ins nsti tinc ti ncts nc cts

Conv Co nver nv ersa er sati sa tion ti on n

If we di d dn’t dn’t hav dn ave e lang la ang ngua u ge ua ge, we e wou ould ld d ha ave to le ear arn n ev ever e yt er ythi hing hi ng by im mit itat atio at io on. This This Th i mig ight ht wor ht ork k fo forr some so ome m ski kill lllls, s, b but ut m stt of th mo he co omp mple lexx th le thin in ngss ttha h t we ha e le ear arn n mu m st s be de desc scri sc ribe ri be ed. The he chi hild ld d ab bove ove do ov d es esn’ n’t unde ders de r ta rs t nd the e pro oce c ss s o buy of u iin ng ti tick cket ck e s to et o see the e mov ovie ie e, an and d w ll not wi o under e st stan and nd iff it is not ot exp pla l in i ed d to him m. Yo You ne n ed d langu guag gu ag ge to lea e rn n.

We ep pas asss in i fo f rm rmat atio at io on ar arou ound ou nd d by talk ta alk lkin in ng to one ano noth ther th her e . Thou Th hou usa sand nds nd ds of o yea ears rss a ago go,, go a lo lott of o th hiis in info fo orm mat atio ion io n wo oul u d ha have ve e help he lp ped e peopl eo ople e fin nd fo ood d or av avoi o d da oi ang ger er. In n mod oder errn ci ern citiie ess, we e spend pe end n a lott morre ti time talk ta kin ng ab bou out th hin ings gs tha hatt do on’ nta afffe fectt our surv su rvivval—l —like th —l t es ese peop pe e ple e dis iscu c ss s in ng th hei eir va aca ati tion ns— s—bu butt we sti till l exc xccha hang nge e in nfo form r atio ion n alll th t e time me. me

S me tal So alki k ng ng iiss ea e sy s , bu butt a se seri r ou ri ouss conv co nver nv ersa er sati sa tion ti on inv on nvol olve ol v s li ve l st sten e in en ing g cca are refu full full llyy an nd fig figur urin ur ng ou outt ex exac actl ac tlly wh hatt you ou wan antt to sayy in re r pl ply. y Thi hiss iss mor o e di d ffi ficult cu ult iiff you yo u do nott kno now w ea ach h oth ther e vver er ery we er well ll, l, beca be c usse th he exxpr pres essi sion onss an on a d body dy lang la ngua ng uage ua ge tha hatt he h lp p us co omm mmun unic icat ic ate at e arre ha hard rrd der e to un nde ers rsta tand d whe h n ta alk kin i g to strran nge g rs s.

4D3;@93?7E

Talk about it This game is a Coming up with fun way to check 10–15 connected how good your words in the time vocabulary is as limit shows a good well as testing level of word skill. the ability of your brain to think You will need: quickly and create ǩ7ZRSOD\HUV ǩ6WRSZDWFK connections ǩ3 HQDQGSD S SHU S betw twe ee en n objects. ts

Step 1 6WDUWWKHVWRSZDWFKDV\RXDVN\RXUIULHQG to name as many animals as he or she can in 30 seconds.

Step 2 For every animal named, mark a checkmark on a piece of paper. If there are any words you don’t know, check with an adult.

Step 3 This time get your friend to ask you how many fruit you can name in 30 seconds. Next time, use your own ideas for subjects.

118

ks Fill in the blan you are at od go w ho This game tests context. Where understanding words in story below? do these words fit into the long, so choose Two of the words don’t be on page 189. wisely! Check the answers ǩVKRFN G SHG SSH ULS ǩ JUL ǩJ ǩJOLPSVH ǩIULHQGO\

ǩKLGHRXV ǩEORRGFXUGOLQJ H VH ULV SUL XUS ǩVVXU FH KDQ ǩF

ǩȍHZ ǩWDOO ǩVHFRQG ǩFRZ

X-ray almost froze when he saw the shape. Looking up at the ________ birdlike animal, perched at the top of a ________ building, X-ray knew this could be a fight to the death. When the beast spied X-ray below, it let out a ________ shriek and, without waiting another ________, swooped down with terrifying speed. It ________ X-ray in its talons and carried him away before he had a________ to think. After the initial ________, X-ray turned in the animal’s grip so that he got a brief ________ of its face, and he sent a laser beam straight into the beast’s beady eyes. The creature shrieked in ________ and let go of the hero, who ________ to safety, ready for his next challenge.

Your brain has an amazing capacity to remember words, often by linking them with visual imagess. These games help you practice your word d skills to improve your vocabulary and con nfidence so that you won’t ever be lost for words.

Every pi ct Here’s a gam ure tells a sto ry e to test you r storytellin Choose five g skills. objects from the grid opp create a bri osite to ef story. Cho ose your ob either a stra jects from ight or a dia gonal line. Yo bring all five u must ob proper sente jects into your story an d use nces. Try to be as imagin you can, wh ative as ether your s tory is set in world or is ju a fa st about a d ay at school! ntasy

atives : Close rel You will need sy ea s DQGDQ ay V w HU ǩ7ZRSOD\ It’s not al u t with yo ou d lp or he w adult to finding the e e m ga the need. This gam U at ǩ3HQDQGSDSH l il sk r u HRQWRS tests yo RO K D ǩ%R[ZLWK s d or w p u thinking ǩ6WRSZDWFK with related meanings.

Step p 1 Ask an adult to write 12 words (noun ns and adjectives) on separate p ces of paper. Fold each piece piec and put them inside the box.

St Step 2 The first player chooses a piece of pa aper and reads out the word, an nd the second player has to say a similar word. If the noun is “yacht,” y he or she could say “ship” or if the adjective is “cold,” he or she could suggest “ffreezing.”

Step 3 The game continues with the remaining words until the player pauses for mo ore than five seconds or is unable to thin nk nk of a suitable word. Ask an adult to time the answers with the stopwatch.

Keep talking Now it’s time to think on your feet— and hope those words keep coming.

You will need: ǩ7ZRSOD\HUV ǩ4XL]PDVWHU ǩ6WRSZDWFK

Step 1 The two players take turns to talk on a topic for 30 seconds, without repeating words or pausing for too long. The topics are decided by the quizmaster, who also keeps time.

Step 2

Step 3

At the word “go,” player 1 starts to talk. Challenges can be made at any point if player 2 feels a rule has been broken—the quizmaster’s decision is final. If the challenger is correct, he or she continues the talk. The player who is speaking when the time is up wins the point.

Next it is the turn of player 2 to start to speak on a new subject. After three turns each, you could increase the time to a minute for each speech.

119

Words as art Some forms of writing are so beautiful that they are treated as an art form. In the past, many people in the West learned graceful forms of handwriting—an art known as calligraphy that is still enjoyed by some today. In Chinese, every new word requires a different character, and this gives calligraphy a practical function because the writer can invent an entirely new character to express a particular idea. Such characters are works of art in their own right.

Picture

s

and wor Comic books ds have always been popular wit h children, and many adults read graphic nov els that are based on th e same idea . These do have wor ds, but mos t of the meaning is in the pictu res. Pictorial representati ons of word s ar used in oth er ways such e also as road signs. Know n as pictogra ms, these have the advanta ge of being universally understood —regardless of the langu age you spea k and whether yo u can read it.

i r ie u wrt you Ass lnogg aass yo A ress and llssaat lltttttrre sit an thhe frrsi u can you d, yo r d, of a wro it. tlll raed it siitl

Spea

Altho king ug a few p h most of nd wr eople iti us lea do it story, well. rn how to ng but s W w omeh when ow w e can tell rite, it a e lose We of comes to th te w we w n use unc riting it d e plot own. rite, w lear l angu hich i forms age s a unde nd docum why so ma when rstan ny of e n t s are d. yours diffic ficial elf in Learning ult to to s are w riting imple term express is an s whe impo rtant n you skill.

121

Jean François ç

Champollion f the age o . langupia, Africa e h t thio ric is Amhapeople of E a mhar

Some people have a flair for learning languages. They catch on to what is being said, learn how to reply, and are soon able to fluently read and write the language. Jean François Champollion was a genius at this. But he didn’t just learn the languages of his own age. He found a way of using his skill to decipher a language that had been long forgotten, enabling scholars to rediscover the lost world of ancient Egypt.

A

Used to co m is an old lapose sacred textts, A nguage fr om easter vestan n Iran.

Master of languages

uage of e ancient lang Sanskrit is th g back to 1500 B.C.E. tin da Hindu India,

Born in France F iin 1790, 1790, Jean J F François i came from a poor family and was eight years old before he went to school. He quickly discovered that he had an amazing talent for languages, mastering a dozen by the age of 16. He also became intrigued by obscure languages such as Amharic, Avestan, Sanskrit, and Chaldean. Eventually he became an assistant professor of history, specializing in ancient languages that could provide a way of understanding the past.

Land o f the pharao While Cha m

hs pollion wa s a child, wonders the of ancient Egypt were being disc just ove built them red. The civilization that was a mys tery, howe because n ver, o one cou ld read th found on e writing the monu ments—th symbols k e nown as h ieroglyph Champoll s. ion was fa scinated b the ancie nt Egyptia y ns. 122

Keystone In 1799, a French army captain discovered a stone slab near the Egyptian port of Rashid, or Rosetta. The “Rosetta stone” was covered with writing in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, another form of Egyptian writing called demotic, and classical Greek. But all three were versions of the same thing—a document issued by Pharaoh Ptolemy V in 196 B.C.E. Enough of the writing remained to allow the hieroglyphs to be related to the Greek and decoded— but it would prove difficult.

BRAIN GAMES

A dotty challenge Can you draw four straight lines, without lifting your pen from the page, to connect all the red dots? You will need to think outside the box on this! When taking up a challenge such as this, you may need to take one or two different approaches. If you don’t get it right the first time, keep starting from a different point until it works.

Illustrated stories Choose a painting—from an art book or from the Internet! Study the picture for a while and focus on the details. Let your mind wander and then try to create a story around it.

Being able to understand and interpret artwork is a good creative exercise, as the brain thinks about what at the artwork is showing and d draws on what it means. By basing your story on something that inspires you u, you may create something impressive yourself.

Natural talent Mother nature is often the best designer and has provided inspiration for some important inventions. See if you can match the invention on the left with the inspiration on the right. 1. Shinkansen bullet train 2. Futuristic car 3. Swimsuit 4. Self-cleaning paint 5. Road reflectors

A. Shark’s skin B. Lotus leaf C. Cat’s eyes D. Trunkfish E. Kingfisher’s beak

The field of science referred to above is known as biomimicry, which means “imitating nature.” The next time you are in a park or garden, see if you can find inspiration or new ideas from the things you see around you.

Back to basics What can you do with an empty cardboard box? Use your imagination and see if you can design something brilliant. Of course, you could always just copy our idea, but where’s the fun in that? Some of the greatest inventors have taken simple things and used them in a new way. You don’t always need elaborate materials to come up with great ideas!

ARE YOU U A CREATIVE 128

SP PARK?

Lateral thinking Se ee if you can solve these riddles with a dash of imagination and a lot of lateral thinking. o Riddlle A: Romeo and Juliet are lyying dead on the floor. The ere are no marks on eitherr of them, but they are soake ed with water, and near them is a broken glass bowl. How did they die? H

Riddle B: How do you throw a ball and make it come back without throwing the ball against a wall, the ball being attached to string or elastic, or the ball being caught and thrown back by someone?

Riddle C: A man rode into town on Wednesday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Wednesday. How is this possible?

When presented with riddles, we may try to find the answer based on a straightforward reading of the question. By trying to think what else the riddle might mean, you will learn to think laterally.

Something from nothing There is great creative potential in the bits and pieces lying around your home. Try to find new ways to use everyday objects such as tissue boxes, cardboard tubes, and straws. Or maybe make a sculpture, starting with an empty egg carton and adding anything else that sparks yo your our imagination. imagination

You may come up with a fantastic creation, but even if your ideas turn out to be more silly than splendid, you will have learned a great deal about using your own n creative spark.

Put your potential for brilliancce to the tesst with these six challenges. Some of the th ga ames require lateral thinking, ng, while w otherss leavve the creativity entirely iin your hands. Just Ju check the challenge e in each cloud and se ee whetherr you quali qualify as a creative spark! You’ll fin find the answers on page 189. 129

BOOST YOUR

CREATIVITY

Many techniques designed to improve creative thinking encourage you to break away from strict logic and fixed ideas and let your mind wander more freely around a problem. This is often called “thinking outside the box.” It helps you see things from different angles and come up with the fresh ang approaches you need ed to be creative. creative

Brainstorming This involves thinking up as many ideas as possible without judging them. You can do this alone, but it is usuallyy a group g p activity, y with someone writing all the ideas down. It can be fun! When everyone has run ou ut of ideas, you look at the list and see what you have. Sometimes the oddball ideas turn out to be the best ones.

Vis sual thinking Instea ad of making simple lists of ideas, you can turn them iinto t a diagram diagram. You start with a central problem, such as global warming, and add a series of spreading di branches depicting all the related facts, figures, and ideas. This can work like a visual form of brainstorming, with new ideas leading to more radical, creative ones.

Lateral thinking Similar to brainstorming, latera al thinking is all about approachin ng a problem from every possible angle. The basic idea is to identify the “normal” way of looking at a problem and avoid it. You use a random way of triggering new trains of though ht, such as letting a book fall open n, sticking a pin on the page, and seeing how the word it hits might relate to the problem. It sounds crazy, but it can be surprisingly effective. 130

What if...?

I WA ALK MY HUMANS TWICE A DAY.

One way of moving beyond fixed ideas is to ask, “What if . . .?” You could ask, “What if all bus travel was free?” and this might lead to creative thinking g about the way we get around and the role of cars. It could be a negative question, such as “What if no one collected our garbage?” You could then figure out ways of dealing witth the problem. Or the question could d be impractical in itself, such as “W What if our pets could talk?” This might seem like a fantasy, but it could stimulate useful ideas about how we treat animals.

I TRAINED MINE TO WALK THEMSELVES.

Energetic thi inking Many people find that the ey think more creatively about pro oblems oblems while they are walking, ru unning, or working out. The exerccise has to be repetitive, so it frees your mind to work on the prob blem.

The T Th he tec technique echnique ech hniique ooff using u sing diag diagrams diagr iagra ramss to t link iink nkk ideas ideas idea deeas ass dates es back bac ba b k to tthhhee 200 to 200s C.E., whe w when wh hen it i w was as a us used e ed by pphilosop by philosopher hilosopher ilosopher losopher er Porphyry Porp Po rrpphhyry rph yry ry of of Tyr Tyre. Ty Tyre re. re. e

A

Working backw ward ward If you know what you want but don’t know how to get to there e, try working backward. It’s like working back from a winning shot in basketball: to get C to score, A has to pass th he ball to B and B to C. Mentally, it ca an suggest ideas that would not occur to you otherwise.

B

131 C

BRAIN GAMES

You can improve your creative skills by following exercises designed to make you look at ideas and problems in different ways. So try thesse games and let your imagination run free!

What if...? Exercise your creative streak and come up with the most imaginative story you can to complete the following scenarios: ǩ What if we didn’t sleep? ǩ What if your house could speak? ǩ What if we could go on vacation in space? ǩ What if our eyes were in our kneecaps? ǩ What if we could breathe underwater?

Novel story Use your imagination and think of ways of combining all the following words into a funny story or poem: purple, sheep, chips, string g, chair, summit, apple, screw w, tie, smile

CREATIVE

EXERCISES Clip art Can you think of 30 different ways of using a paper clip other than for holding papers together? Write down as many as you can in ten minutes. The crazier, the better. Ready, set, go!

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Unusual c rossing! Imagine that you are stran ded on one side o f a lake, your friend is on th e other, and yo u want to get to your friend. Set yourself a time limit of five minutes a nd write down as many ways you can think of to cross the lake. See wha t ideas your frie nds come up with, too. It co uld make for an interesting crossing!

dentials Green cre ften about Creativity is o e of the world being aware d using it for around us an hen was the inspiration. W d ou really looke last time yo for r— lo co ick a around you? P n. How many example, gree u see that are things can yo are more than green? There k at first. you might thin

Albert A llbbbert ert er rtt Einstein Ei Einst nstein teiin cultivated cul ultivated ltiv lttiiva vattedd his hi his own ow wn creative cre cr rea eative ve ex exer exercises. erc rcises es. Th es Thes These ese “thought es exp ex experiments xper eri riments ts” led ed to the deve development vel elopment of his fa famous theo theories eori ries es of relativity. rel re elativi vity.

Creative play Play helps free the mind and aid creativity, so use your visual imagination and plan a treasure hunt for your friends. Think of some cryptic clues to lead your friends on a journey around your house or backyard. backyard The clues ccould ould even be pictures. Each clue leads to another until you reach the treasure. Read out th he first clue and let the hunt begin!

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Leonardo

da Vinci the wife be a portrait of is thought to ce. The Mona Lisa k merchant from Floren of a wealthy sil

One of the most intelligent people ever to have lived, Leonardo da Vinci is famous for the amazing breadth of his interests. Primarily a painter of extraordinary skill, he became fascinated by the human body and pioneered the science of anatomy. He also became a practical engineer and inventor, dreaming up all kinds of astonishing devices that were way ahead of their time.

Amazing artist Leonardo was born near Florence, Italy, in 1452. When he was 15, his father sent him to work as an apprentice for the Florentine painter Andrea del Verrochio. He soon became a superbly realistic painter of human figures, partly because of his interest in anatomy. He worked very slowly, and during the late 1400s, he completed only six paintings in 17 years. His most famous painting is the Mona Lisa, probably painted in around 1505.

Visionary engineer In 1482, Leonardo got a well-paid job with the duke of Milan by describing himself as a military engineer. Luckily he was much more talented than most engineers of the time. He was interested in water power and came up with many devices driven by water wheels. Later, he proposed a bridge across the Gulf of Istanbul, which would have been the longest single-span bridge in the world, but it was never built.

Leo Leonardo eonardo eonard rdo left lef eft ft most of his pro projects roj ojec ect cts ts unfinished unfinished, ed, and it is possible that he suff suffered fffer ffe ere red ed from fro fr rom attention att ttention deficit tt defi eficit disorder disord rder er (A (ADD)—a psychological psycholog ogical pro problem roblem that has only recently rec re ecently been identified. identified ed.

This Leonardo stones—a bom drawing shows a weapon for hurling bard—powere d by a water wh eel.

Ahead of his time

ve worked, ’s would not ha r of Leonardohe did build flying models. te op lic he is Th at tes suggest th although his no

Many of Leonardo’s inventions were objects that could not be made at the time but have since become a reality. He devised a form of parachute, a glider, a type of bicycle, a life jacket to keep a person afloat, an underwater breathing device, weapons that could be used to attack ships from underwater, and an “unsinkable” double-hulled ship. He even came up with this pioneering concept for a helicopter (left).

To Today, Leo Leonardo’s eonard rdo’s paintings—and even eve ven his drawings—are dra dr rawings—are re among the most valuable in the world. va worl wo rld.

N te No es an and d sk ket etch ches ch es We kno n w ab bou outt Le Leon o ar ardo do’s ’ss man anyy ta t le ent ntss be eca caus se he ek kep eptt no ote es il illu lu ust stra rate ra te ed wi with th d ta de ailed ed ske ketc tche hes. he s An in ntrrig gui uing ng g ffea eatu ea ture tu r re of th hese he se e nottess is th that att the ey ar a e wr w it itte te en fr from om righ ht to lef eftt in “mi ef m rr rror o ” wr writ itin in ng. We kn know ow w thatt Leo ona n rd rdo o wa wass le left f -hande ded, whi hich ch h mak k s wr ke w ittin ing g le eft to ri righ ght in ink nk qui u te e d ffi di fficu cult bec ecau ause au se e you our wr writtin ing g hand nd smu udge ud g s th ge he we wet in nk. He po poss s ib i lyy dec ecid ided d to g gett aro ro oun u d this s by wrrittin i g ba b ck ckwa wa ard d— e id ev den en nce of hiss orrig gin inal al,, lo logica c l th thinki king ng g.

These studies of limbs by Leonardo were among the first anatomical drawings ever made.

Gruesome fascination Leonardo was fascinated by human anatomy. He spent hours dissecting human corpses and drawing what he saw. This gruesome activity was considered suspicious, and was even forbidden by the pope himself, but Leonardo was not easily put off. He pressed on, producing many drawings, which he considered a much better way of describing anatomical features than written descriptions. Many of his drawings are remarkably detailed and accurate.

Scie Sc ient ie ntifi nt ific ifi c pi pion on nee eer r L on Le onar ardo ar do wass iint ntter eres e te es t d in all ffor orms ms of scie sc ie enc n e, iinc nclu nc lu udi d ng n opt ptic i s, ana ic nato tomy m , zo my z ol olog ogy, og y, bota bota bo t nyy, ge geol olog ogy, og y and aer y, erod od dyn ynam am miccs. Morre i po im port rtan rt an ntl tly, y he pi y, pion onee eere red d a me m th thod od o off stud st ud dy th that at we st stil illl us use e to toda day. da y IIns y. ns ste tead ad of gett ge tttin ing g in info fo orm rmat atio io on fr from om cla lass ssic ical al aut utho ho ors r a d th an he Bi B bl b e, e he us u ed d tthe he rev e ollut utio i na io ary appr ap proa pr oach oa ch h of ob bse ervvin ing g na n tu ure a and n a nd ask s in sk ng simp si mple e que uest sttio ions nss lik i e “H How w do biird rdss flyy?” ?

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Your Brain and

You

SENSE OF

you The inner that we have ve lie be us of

Most r that defines ou an inner “self” a s ha e concept personalities. Th p s, and most si ba al no biologic n it is an illusion. sscientists think werful idea, ett it is a very po Ye Y basis of the e and it forms th a y people believe ““soul” that man ter death. ssurvives even af

SELF You know who you are. You recognize yourself in mirrors and pictu ures. You have an image of yourself that includes your personality and your be eliefs about how others see you. This sellf-awareness enables you to think about yo our identity and how you relate to other people. It is what we call consciousness..

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That’s me!

Self-esteem

If you put a cat in front of a mirror, it may not react at all. Birds don’t recognize themselves either; instead, some see a rival and try to drive it away. Human babies are similar, but at the age of around 18 months, they know who they are looking at—they have developed a sense of self.

We all have an idea of how we would like to be. If we think we don’t match up to this ideal, we feel bad about ourselves—we have low self-esteem. Quite often the ideal is not realistic, but sometimes our judgment of our self is inaccurate and we are actually closer to the ideal than we think.

Brain

H

Q? Scans o f brain activity high ac like this tivity in one, s red, single p art of th reveal that th howing er e brain conscio that is th e isn’t a us e focus a brain ness. No one of has eve injury th r suffer at self but ed left eve destroyed the rything ir seems else inta sense of th through at consciousn ct. Inste ess dep ad, it brain re out the cerebr al corte ends on activit sponsib x—the y le for m pa emory and thin rt of the king.

Some peo people eople suff suffer fffer from ffe fro fr rom a psycholog psychological ogical co condition that makes es them em think they eyy have ve more re than one “self. sel elf.f.“ On average, ave ver errag era age, e, they ey bel believe elieve ve they ey hhave ave ve 1133 different diff fffe fe fer fer eren ere eren rent een nt iidentities identities. dent entities en es es.

I look good good, ood,, andd I’m looking looking forward forw fo rw rwa ward rd to see seeing seei eing ing my friends fri fr riends ds later er . . .

Self-image

Consciousness

Your sense of self is made up of your personal history combined with your own idea of your personality and physical appearance, as well as how others see you. If you are lucky, you will have a positive self-image, but some people have negative ideas that distort their self-image. For example, very shy people think others are judging them all the time.

No one really knows what consciousness is, but we all have it. It has been described as an awareness of our own existence and our thought processes. So it is partly about your identity but also about your ability to think, plan, and analyze your thoughts and plans. 139

S E P Y T Y T I L PERSONA ences. s by the same experi ay w nt re ffe di in ed ve Everyone is affect loves them. They ha ll Ji nd ie fr s hi t bu s, Jack hates partie edict how . Yet this might not pr es iti al on rs pe nt re diffe ces. Jack might be en ri pe ex of s pe ty r they react to othe all complex le Jill is not. We are hi w s, ea id w ne to open personality traits. of y et ri va a of s re tu mix

Th ancient Greeks The Gre reek eks ks thought there ther ere re were wer ere re only four basic personality fo per ers rsonality types: types es: happy, gloomy, es calm, and excitable. ex e.

Getting a l

ur enes In the grsonality is inherited from yole, op pe oving pe t of your

Par th fun-l if they are bo the same. parents, so ce you will be an ch od use go a there’s simple, beca not quite so rious is va it , in er d ev se How be expres n ca ts ai tr pl for exam e, personality nized artist, ga r. or lel w nized banke ways. A e a well-orga lik n u em se might

ong toget Some people her are very reserv ed and have on special friend ly a few s. Others are more sociable to get along w and seem ith everyone. B eing open min ideas of people ded to the with different personalities develop both em helps us otionally and in tellectually. It helps us coop also erate to achiev e things.

Individuality Western cultures tend to celebrate the variations in personality that make us individuals. Some other cultures discourage them. However, we all seem to be getting bolder about our individuality, and we often display this in the way we dress and behave. Ideally, we would all feel confident as individuals while staying responsible members of society.

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Nature and nurture Your experiences can have a big effect on your personality. If your best friend is run over by a bus, for example, it affects your outlook. But although these twins may have been affected in different ways by their personal histories, they probably react to new experiences in similar ways.

t Five-way spli

ree that personality Most psychologists ag , each with its own is defined by five traits trait, every one sliding scale. For each t point on the en fer dif of us lies at a of possible ge ran e wid a scale. This gives t counts for the almos combinations and ac . es liti na rso pe n infinite variety of huma

Neuroticism

Calm Secure Self-satisfied

Worried Insecure Self-pitying

Extroversion

Shy Serious Reserved

Sociable Fun loving Affectionate

Openness

Imaginative Independent Prefers variety

Down-to-earth Conforming Prefers routine

Agreeableness

Helpful Softhearted Trusting

Simple systems ys of

wa People often use simple common e On . lity na rso pe ing defin n who is rso pe A system is the type as the girl uch —s shy pu dynamic and and the type B in the above pictures— axed. But person who is more rel do not cover ts cep these simple con . lity na rso pe all aspects of

Unhelpful Ruthless Suspicious

ess

Conscientiousn

Organized Careful Self disciplined

Disorganized Careless Weak willed

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142

10

Do you feel sorry for people who are unhappy?

Do yyou usually do your homework on ttime?

enjoy meeting 8 Donewyoupeople?

you very sensitive 6 Are to criticism? Do you get bored easily with 7 new hobbies and keep sttarting new ones?

like doing things that 1 Doareyou a bit dangerous? you afraid to tell someone 2 Are when you don’t like them? you enjoy having long phone 3 Doconversations? you good at remembering 4 Are birthdays? Would you rather hang out 5 inonea large group than with or two good friends?

find that you often get angry 23 Doaboutyousmall things? Does your music and fashion taste 24 change often? Do you trust people easily? 25 you enjoy any artistic or 26 Docreative hobbies? you speak up if you 27 Would disagreed with someone? think you are carefree e 28 Doandyourelaxed? you start a book, do 29 When you usually finish it? 30 Do you feel anxious easily?

Would you like to try bungee 22 jumping, skydiving, or white-water rafting?

Everyone is a mix of emotions, habits, and traits— put them all together and you get your own unique personality. But how well do you know yourself? Take this personality test and find out more.

usually manage to stay 11 Docalmyouunder pressure? you usually “forgive and 12 Would forget” when someone upsets you? think others would describe 13 Doyouyouas shy? have a plan for what 14 Doyouyouwillusually do on weekends? Do you make sure your room is 15 neat and clean? Do you rarely have arguments with 16 other people? you like exploring unfamiliar 17 Doplaces? you scared of what other people 18 Are might think about you? ever offer to help with 19 Dotheyou laundry? you consider yourself to be 20 Doa rebel? do things to the 21 Dobestyouof usually your abilities?

For each que stions, answe r “yes,” “no,” sure.” There a or “not re no right or wrong answe choose the an rs—just swer that you think best des you and then cribes follow the ins tructions belo up your score w to add and see what your results re veal.

ty test

Personali

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

BRAIN GAMES

143

ered “yes,”

you d 27. ore 2 points if ts if you 2, 10, 12, 16, 25, an Openness: Sc . Score 2 poin 26 d ” to an , 24 , 20 , answered “yes t if you questions 7, 17 2 points if you n 14 and 1 poin o” e tio “n or es Sc ed : qu er m to . is sw o” 26 Neurotic ints if you an 20, 24, and , answered “n po 17 2 , e 14 or 7, ed Sc . to er 30 sw sure,” 6, 18, 23, and point if you an answered “not or 28. Score 1 11 ed ns er tio sw es . an qu 30 u d to , an points if yo 6, 11, 18, 23, 28 ness: Score 2 “not sure” to ot sure,” to “n Conscientious ed er sw an ality trait: int if you r each person . “yes,” and 1 po fo 29 es d . or an , sc 21 ur , 15, 19 or more = high Add up yo questions 4, 9, edium, and 9 m e = 8 th 4– — , ts w ai lo ality tr “yes” 3 or less = erent person you answered ld about the diff ore 2 points if u Sc ad : yo better it shou re if on e si ts ow th er in N e, ov po Extr for each on e d 22. Score 2 or an sc 8, 5, ur 3, yo u 1, yo if higher to questions . Score 1 point describe you! to question 13 13, and 22. 8, 5, 3, 1, answered “no” ns sure” to questio answered “not

e ts if you answ your scor Agreeableness: Score 2 poin ot sure,” to questions t u o e r u “n g you answered How to fi ” to and 1 point if answered “yes

Everyone has a little of each of the five personality types, but in varying amounts. You can be open as well as neurotic or a conscientious extrovert. Each of the five traits is independent from the others.

Neuroticism If your score was high, you are likely to be emotionally sensitive and high strung. You might get worried, upset, or excited more easily than others do. A low score usually means you are a calm and relaxed type who rarely gets emotional.

Agreeableness A high score means you are easy to get along with and very cooperative. If your score was low, perhaps you can be argumentative or too outspoken. Most people become more agreeable as they get older.

Extroversion Extroverts love talking to people and are very confident. They crave excitement and fun and are often thrill seekers who like danger. The opposite of an extrovert is an introvert. Introverts prefer to be socialize with one or two good friends rather than a big group of people of people who they might not know. Introverts can often be shy.

Conscientiousness A high score means that you are sensible, reliable, and hard working. People who are conscientious try to do their best in everything and are often very neat and organized. They can also be a little fussy. If your score was low, you may be a little disorganized and find finishing homework, or doing chores, very dull.

Openness If you are very open, you like to experience new things and you welcome change. You prefer spur-ofthe-moment decisions to making plans, and you probably have a number of hobbies that you dip in and out of. If your score was low, you probably prefer to be in familiar surroundings and like routine. You may have one hobby that you are absorbed in.

Personality types

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1. When a friend is upset, do you feel upset, too? 2. Do you notice the big picture rather than the little details? 3. Do you pay attention to someone’s body language when they’re talking to you? 4. Are you happier when you are talking about people you know rather than about television and computer games? 5. Do you understand written information more easily than maps and diagrams?

Male or female brain? Answer these quick questions and then turn to page 189 to find out whether you have male- or female-type skills.

The bike test People with predominantly male brains are better at noticing small details than those with female brains. A good way to demonstrate this is to ask a selection of friends, both male and female, to draw a bicycle from memory in 30 seconds. Compare their drawings. People with a male brain tend to draw bikes that are fairly close to the real thing, ng, with a frame and saddle. Those with a female brain are more likely to draw something that could never work as a bike but may include a rider.

We all behave in different ways, and one important influence is the brain. Some psychologists believe that there are two main types of brains—male and female—each with different skills. Have you also noticed that some people are full of energy when others are thinking of going to bed? Why is this? Find out more about how your brain affects your behavior with these exercises.

TICK?

WHA AT MAKES YOU

Ring finger

Index finger

Check your fingers Testosterone is the male sex hormone (a body chemical that causes changes in the body), but it is present in girls, too. If you had a high level of testosterone before you were born, your ring finger is usually longer than your index finger, and you’re more likely to have a male brain. br

BRAIN GAMES

Mary

Anning is ammonite n nautilus, th e of the moder the Jurassic coast. tiv la re ct tin d on An ex y fossils foun is one of man

Born in England in the last year of the 1700s, Mary Anning was a self-taught pioneer of the new science of geology. She had a genius for finding the fossil remains of extinct animals and was considered an expert by some of the most eminent scientists in Europe. Yet she achieved all this at a time when women were barred from academic life.

Jurassic coast Mary lived in Lyme Regis on the “Jurassic coast” of southern England— so named because the cliffs contain fossils dating from the Jurassic period of the age of dinosaurs. In the early 1800s, such “curiosities” were not understood, but they were eagerly sought by visiting gentlemen naturalists. If they could not find any, they could buy them from local collectors like Mary.

nter Fossil hu a as w y’s father

This view show s Lyme Regis across Charmouth wh ere Mary foun the bay, and the beach in d some of her best fossils.

In 1800, 1800 at one yea year ear old old, Mary ry surv survived rvvive rvi ved ed being bei struck str truck tru ruck by lig lightning. ightning. People Peo Pe eople believed bel elieve ved ed that thi this made her er unusually bri bright rig ight and observant. obser erv rvvant.t. rva

Mar er and furniture mak who took his or ct lle fossil co hunting along children fossil to sold his finds the shore. He in e bl ta rs from a wealthy visito ed di he ore. But front of his st s 11, leaving hi as w y ar M when ife w income. His family with no il trade, while ss kept up the fo elder brother Mary and her Mary ok for fossils. went out to lo , and pert at finding became an ex d an , citing fossils identifying, ex to d te ar st 20, she when she was f. el rs he ss busine run the fossil

Marine reptiles Mary made her first major discovery in 1811, after her brother found the fossilized skull of what he thought was a crocodile. It took her a whole year to uncover the complete skeleton of an ichthyosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile that resembled a dolphin. It was the first ever found. She sold the fossil to a rich local man, who sold it on to a museum in London. She was then only 12 years old.

Inspired by fin an ichthyosaurds like Mary’s, this old pr int and a plesiosa ur might haveshows what looked like.

Sea Se a dr drag agon ag on n W al We alth thyy co coll lllec ecto tor Th T om mas Bir irch ch wass so im mpr p es esse se ed by Marry’ y s di d sc s ovve errie iess th that at he sold hiss own hi ow wn fo fossil il co ollle lect cti tion io in n1 182 820 0 an a d gave the th e pr proc ocee eeds ds to o the he An Anniing ngs. s. T Thi hiss es esta tablished Mary Ma ry in he herr bu busi sine ess ss,, an and d sh she e we ent n on to make otthe othe h r am amaz azin ing g fin finds ds.. Th They ey inc nclu lude ded, d,, iin n 1823, the first fir st k kno nown wn ske kele leto ton n of o a llon ongg-ne neccked cked “sea drag dr ag gon,”” later e des escr crib ribed da ass a pl ples e io osa saur.

gis with her ore of Lyme Re Mary on the sh Tray, her dog. d an er m m geological ha

G ological pioneer Ge r

expert Renowned rmal education, fo d Mary had little elf anatomy an

hers but she taught came rly age, she be ea an geology. At la Beche, s with Henry de lifelong friend esident pr become the who went on to ndon. She Lo of al Society ic og ol Ge e th of ientists, her eminent sc knew many ot h letters, and ally or throug either person nsidered 0s, she was co by the mid-182 ils. ss fo of ost types d an expert on m an , is eg R e left Lym er Yet she rarely nt ce e ndon—then th . she visited Lo ce on c world—only of the scientifi These illustra and a plesiosations from 1860 include an ur, probably co ich llected by Ma thyosaur ry.

When Mary Anning was collle l ct ctin ing fossils, most scie i ntists still believe ed that Ear a th and its animals had been created in six days, only 6,000 years ago. The evolutionar a y theories of Charles Darwin were e not published until 12 years after Mary died in 1847. Her fossiilss of extinctt creatures we w re some of o the h most important ge g ological a discove v ries of all time, an nd her ideas abou o t wh w at they meant force ced scientists to o look for differen nt ways of explaining g the history of life. In 18 824, it was said d of o M ry, “. . . all ackno Ma n wledge thatt she understands more of the scienc n e th han anyone else in th this kingdom.”” 147

by the conscious part of your brain. A lot of mental activity is un nconscious—or it is until you become aware of it. It includes priimitive instincts and urges inherited from our distant ancesto ors but also your own perceptions and memories. These e color your personality and affect your decisions, sometim mes in strange ways.

Pe

Sce rce n p un t is a ti con po on of s gr cio wer the ass r us m ful tr ha cou emin emo igge infl s als ntry, ds y ries— r of in uen o sh for e ou o the pro a roo ce be own xam f a da sme to duc m s hav that ple. y in ll tha clean ts ar melli ior. P sme Rese e l n a e ni f th up a muc g fai ople ls can rch e r fter h m ntly wh oom th oe or of ha ey ha e like clea at sn nin v l o s e ea y g cen ten t.

Soome Som SSome mee m m me ment mental men eent ental nt l pro pprob roblems rob lems lem ems hhaav have ave ve an ve an unc u uncon unconsc uncons un unco ncconsc ncon n conscciious iiooous uss u caause cause cause. ause. use. use u see. e IfI you yyoou bec bbeco be eco eco coom me me aware awa ware re of re of the thhee cau th cause, caus ca cause c use, e, the the pproblem pro roooblem rob roblem bllem m often oft of oft f en fte ften en goes goe go gooes es awa es aaway. away wayy. way.

Carl Jung Swiss psychologist Carl Jung believed in the collective unconscious—a mass of buried memories inherited from our ancestors. He thought this explained the ghost stories, myths, and fairy tales that are part of every culture. However, since Jung’s death in 1961, his theory has been displaced by other ideas.

s a es ln an have Some l i c h. ed us mind n healt somatic ental n i scio ce o cho by m ther ag y

Im e unconl influen rom ps caused n the o over h s ec .O rf fu T

148

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Yo unconscious mind can Your be difficult diffi fficult to control, ffi contr tro rol, but it is vi vital to your survival. surv rvviva rvi val.

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Thhee par The part artt of of the th thhee brain brai bra rrai that rain ttha th t ccontrols contr ontrols ntro trols tr rols ls st str stro trrong tro ngg emotions eemot emotion mot otio i matures matu mature atu ures res e in in your you our urr 20 u 20s. 0 Con

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150

Links with reality A dream often turns out to be your sleeping brain’s explanation of something that is really happening. If a cat is yowling outside your bedroom window, you might dream about someone singing really badly! In one test, sleepers sprayed lightly with cold water said they dreamed of bathing, floods, or rain.

Scrambled events

Dreams usually link together a whole series of strange events. One minute you are riding through the house on a horse and the next minute you and the horse are having lunch. Your brain seems to have a large collection of images, which it uses to form a story. You realize how crazy the story is only when you wake up.

The imag ges that appear in dreams may be symbolic of something else. If you were to dream of being on a desert island, it might be because you want to escape from your normal life. This idea was once an important part of a therapy called psychoanalysis, but there is no evidence that dreams really work like this.

Hidden meanings

151

Some people suffer from a sleep disorder where they get up and do things such as dressing, bathing, or even using the vacuum cleaner— but without waking up. Afterward, they cannot remember what they have done. Sleepwalking is not a form of dreaming, because it occurs during a different phase of sleep.

Some people believe that dreams predict the future. In fact, most dreams simply reflect our concerns, and sometimes these coincide with real events. If you are worried about being told off by your teacher, you are likely to dream about it. So if your teacher does tell you off the next day, your dream has come true!

Some of our strangest experiences happen in our dreams. We all have dreams—even if we don’t remember them very well—so we know how illogical and strange they can be. Yet dreams also conjure up people and events that we recognize from our normal waking lives. Scientists are still trying to understand the meaning of dreams and why we have them.

Sleepwalking

Prophetic dreams

ud Fret Sigmund press s i s ex log

t F i nflic their l d b el Freu scious co masking th menta . i n , w o m a s unc olic form people ir dre f e p b h l t e m h sy ng yo alyzi ied to d heor He tr ms by an t of his t develope r e l e a b h p o s. ch pr ed , whi 1890 form This oanalysis ia, in the r h psyc na, Aust n e i V in

n Sig us psycho that dreamd desires i ning. o a d n e am sa m eve

d mun

Most scientists now agree that dreams are part of the brain’s housekeeping activities. As you sleep, your brain sorts out the events that have happened during the day and commits many of them to long-term memory. In the process, it triggers other memories, and these get knitted together into dreams.

Mental housekeeping

Emotional intelligence Our ability to control and make use of emotion is sometimes seen as a form of intelligence. The man below is using his emotional intelligence to recognize his friend’s unhappiness and comfort her. This is a social skill that also raises awareness of your own emotions.

Controlling emotion As we grow, the part of the brain responsible for conscious control grows, too, and we learn to control our emotions. The man on the right below is annoyed by his neighbor eating popcorn, but he is managing to stop himself from getting angry.

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

Teears Tears Tea rs seem to w wash ash aw away way some natura natural ral chemicals ls that make you unhappy. This may be why Th wh you fe feel el better bet ett tter tt er after aft fter ft er a “good cry. cry cr ry.”

Co omplex emotions

Crying

As well as the six basic emotions, we also exp perience up to 30 complex emotions succh as guilt, irritation, alarm, pride, envvy, and love. Many of these are related to the complexities of human society. The ey are less automatic, involving more thought—although emotions such as love e can still seem difficult to control.

As far as we kno ow, only humans cry. Crying in distresss produces tears and a distinctive e facial expression. Tears with a different expression can also be caussed by joy, especially among adults. This may indicate that the mental wiring for distress and joy is connected. 153

Mahatma

Gandhi

We do not often link politics with genius. Yet some political figures have the genius to see problems in a new way and use this insight to change history. One of the greatest was Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement. He pioneered resistance to authority by nonviolent mass civil disobedience—an idea that inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Rude awakening Born in 1869 in Gujarat, India, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi studied to become a lawyer. In 1893, he went to work in South Africa on a 12-month contract and came face-to-face with racism when he was thrown off a train for refusing to give up his first-class seat. He became a political agitator, staying in South Africa to help resident Indians obtain the right to vote. tain reat Bri lled to Gege London. ve a tr i , Gandh niversity Coll U ge of 19 At the a as a lawyer at in a to tr

In South Africa, Afr frrica, Gandhi fri found ra fo racism in the courts, court rtts, wh rts wher where ere re he w was as not allowed ed to wea wear ear his turban. turb rban.

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

Nonviolent protest In 1906, the South African government tried to force resident Indians to carry registration cards. Gandhi called on Indians to defy the law but not use violence. During a seven-year campaign, thousands were jailed, beaten, or even shot— yet Gandhi stood firm. Eventually this harsh treatment of peaceful protesters forced the government to negotiate with Gandhi. Nonviolent protest had won its first victory.

South Africa.

Here he is with

his staff in 19

03.

Great soul Gandhi returned to British-ruled India in 1915 and became involved in the independence struggle. He campaigned against the unfair taxation of poor villagers, earning the name Mahatma, or “great soul.” He always advocated nonviolent protest, even after the 1919 Amritsar Massacre in which British-commanded soldiers opened fire on an unarmed gathering, killing at least 379 people. 154

156 Amyg a Triggedala respo rs fear nse

Fear is related to anger, and between the two they trigger the “fight or flight” response. This might give you the strength to wrestle a crocodile, but if you didn’t have faith in your chances, it would also enable you to run away. The same response might also prompt you to rescue someone trapped in a burning building.

Fight or flight

When the fear response is activated, your adrenal glands release chemicals such as adrenaline into your bloodstream. These chemicals combine with nerve signals to push up your breathing rate, increase the blood supply to your muscles, and intensify your awareness. You are briefly supercharged with the strength you need to survive.

Supercharged

When faced with dangerous situations, it is important to feel some level of fear. If you were not afraid of road traffic, for example, you might get knocked down by a car or truck. Fear triggers physical reactions that give you superpowers, so you can run away from a fierce dog and even jump over a fence to escape. However, many of the situations that frighten us in modern life do not require this type of physical response, and the fear can lead to stress-related illnesses.

Prefro nta cortexl

The

When wiring yo thalam u are frigh of fea ten r us inform , which pro ed, the cesse ation, ss se to a p art of nds a nerve ensory t h signal e brain amygd a c adren la. This ale alled the rts yo al gla ur nd chem icals t s to produc hat pr e body f ep o sends r action. M are your e prefro another me anwhile, it nt ss that y al cortex of age to the ou can your b analyz rain s o e the threat .

Thala Sends mus to am signal ygdala

157

Many people use relaxation techniques to reduce the effects of fear-related stress. They include deep breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga. These can trigger a relaxation response, which works like an antidote to the fear response and helps you calm down.

Relaxation

When you get stressed, one way of dealing with the problem is to work it off with physical exercise. This uses up the chemicals that are supposed to help you fight or escape and makes you feel better. Exercise also encourages other parts of the brain to produce chemicals called endorphins that improve your state of mind and combat the effects of stress.

Working it off

Many of the events that frighten us in modern life cannot be easily resolved. Caught by his enemies, our hero is more worried about how his boss will react than anything else— and he cannot fight or run away from his boss. There is nothing he can do, so he just gets more upset. This type of stress can cause serious illness.

Wound up

Lie de tectio

n Your emo tions tend to trigger reactions certain if you are lying. You rate and b r heart reathing s peed up a you tend to nd sweat. Th ese reacti can be mo ons nitored us ing electr “lie detec onic tors”—bu t good liars stay calm can and fool th e system.

A real rea re eal smile looks ks different diff fffere ffe errent en from fro fr rom a fa fake one bec because ecause it is controlled contr co tro rolled ed by a diff different fffer ffe ere ren ent part rt of the brain. bra rain.

Body language

Faking it

Acting

Our body postures say a lot about how we are feeling. Some are obvious, like jumping for joy or slumping in defeat. Many are harder to define and more difficult to pick up, but we can often read such body language anyway— especially when someone’s expression doesn’t match up. The confident body language but sad expression above gives a strange mixed message.

We all try to conceal our emotions sometimes. We try not to look bored when visiting relatives or try to look happy when we are sad. Some people in public life make it their business to smile all the time. But the difference between a real smile and a fake one is obvious if you see them side by side—in a real smile, the eyes smile, too.

Actors are judged by their abilityy to express emotions that they do not really feel. This can be difficult, so one performance technique, known as “the Method,” involves actors becoming immersed in the thoughts and emotions of the characters they are playing. Sometimes they do this so well that they get completely carried away. 159

BRAIN GAMES

BODY TALK

It’s not only your words that say a lot about you—your facial expressions and the way you move your body do, too. In fact, your body language often reveals a lot more than you want it to, because you don’t realize what you are doing. Try these exercises and then check your answers on page 189 to see how good you are at reading emotions.

B A

B

A Fake smiles A real smile spreads across your whole face, while a fake smile is often mistimed, crooked, and leaves the eyes expressionless. Look at these six faces and see if you can sort the sham smiles from the genuine ones.

C

C

D

D E Figuring faces

F

E

Facial expressions often speak louder than words. Study the faces above and then see if you can match them to these six different emotions: anger, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise, and contempt.

160

F

We alll have hab bits thatt help us get thro ough life. When you wash your hands, do you stop to think k ho ow to get them wet, apply the soap, use it to o clean yo our skin n, and d the en rinse it off? Probably no ot. You u auttomati tiicall llly do it, because iit’ t’s a habit. IItt’s also useful, unlike e bad habitts such as naill bitting. All habits are formed by re epetitio on, whicch programs yo our bra ain so that you behave lik ke a robo ot—and oncce formed, theyy can be very difficult to break.

162

Addiction

Programm med behavior

The most destructive habits are called addictions. The addictions that get in the news involve illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, but people can also become addicted to things like sugary foods and chocolate. If they keep eating them, they can get sick, but despite this, they just can’t stop—they are stuck with a bad habit.

Habits are form med by repeated pa atterns of behavior creating nerve networks in the brrain. These work like the simple programs used in an appliance like a washing machine—once it is turn ned on, the program runs by itself. So when you start b brushing your teeth, the habit progra am takes over to ccomplete the job.

Useful routine

Bad habits

Every day you do things without thinking much about them, because they are part of your daily routine. If something like washing your face becomes a habit, it helps ensure that you do it even if you’re thinking about something else. So habits are valuable when they make life easier and encourage you to do the things that you need to do, which you might otherwise forget.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy to p pick up bad habits. A lot of people bite their fingernails o or pick their noses. They often do not know that they are doing it, because they are thinking about something e else. Sometimes this doesn’t matter much, although it can be irritating for others. But some bad habits ca an be very damaging.

Triggers and prompts

Breaking g a bad habit

Most habits are triggered by external signals. When a driver sees a red light, it makes him or her perform a series of actions that stops the car. It is like an instinct. You can sometimes think up your own ways of prompting useful habits—putting your toothbrush somewhere obvious might prompt you to use it, for example.

A bad habit can n be difficult to break because it is wired into your brain. Even if you manag ge to overcome a bad habit for severa al months, the wiring is still there, ready to be reactivate ed by the relevant ttrigger. Time may help, but often the be est tactic is to replace a bad habit with a less damaging one. 163

Most people who take up a sport are trying to win, but this means that someone has to lose. The difference is usually put down to fitness and ability, but when physical skills are evenly matched, the winner is often the competitor who has the right mental attitude. The same is probably true of life.

Confidence Confidence is vital to winning, and this has been proved by research. In one study, 24 people had their arms strength tested before an arm-wrestling match. The researchers deceived the competitors into believing that the weaker participants were the stronger ones. In ten out of 12 contests, the weaker wrestlers won!

Setting goals To get anywhere, you need to set yourself goals. But don’t go for the long-term goal of being the champion— you need short-term personal targets that you can try to hit every day. If you are a cyclist, for example, your short-term goal could be to achieve a faster time than before—regardless of who wins the race. This will increase your confidence.

Visualization Get in the right frame of mind by recalling the sensation of success. Imagine yourself accepting the prize for first place—it feels good, doesn’t it? This feeling can help you win. Also, before the event, visualize yourself moving smoothly through the activity, and you are more likely do it perfectly when it matters.

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HOW OW WE GOT G OUR O

BRAINS RA Se ensory tenttacles enso Ga ather inform mation that must be proccessed by a brrain of some kind, ho owever prim mitive.

The most primitive animals do not have brains. A jellyfish has only a network of nerve fibers extending over its body, with no central control area to direct ce its t actions. But most animals have brains of some kind to h process sensory signals and enable them to respond to en their surroundings. The part of the brain that does this processing has become hugely enlarged in the human brain. One part in particular—the prefrontal cortex—has expanded d to give us our capacity for abstract thought.

Human

Hea ads and tail ls Simple e animals a like jellyfish jellyfissh do not have brains because they tthe have havve no heads or tails. The evolutio evolution of the brain began gan with the develop developm pment of a “front front end end” to the he e body body, because once an animal mal start starts using only one end nd of itself to explore its world, rld, its sense organs become grouped ouped at that e end. The sense e organs nee need a nerve center to o process ttheir signals and send instructions struction to the rest off the body. So even a sna snail has a brain. b

dedicated to A large part of this owl’s brain is and ears— decoding the signals from its eyes r. making it an extremely efficient hunte

Intellect central Super senses For most animals, the main job of the brain is to process data from the senses. This function is often more highly developed than it is in humans. A dog has a much greater ability than humans to identify scents, and some owls can use sound alone to pinpoint mice in total darkness. The brains of these animals have a lot of mental processing power, but compared to us, it is used in different ways.

168

Monkey

The part of the brain that seems to be the main intellectual processing centre is the bulge at the front, behind your forehea ad—the prefrontal cortex. This uses informatio on from the senses to form judgments, make choices, and predict future events. It has expan nded in size throughout our evolution, pushin ng the human forehead forward compared to our monkeylike ancestors. However, a stu udy of the brains of baboons—large monke eys—has shown that the human prefrontal corrtex is not much bigger than theirs relative e to the rest of the brain. So it is likely that itts structure has also changed.

Instinct and thought For a shark, the taste of blood in the water means only one thing— food! For a human, it could mean mea several things: “Have I cut my myself? Is it someone else’s blood? od Where is the closest doctor? Will Wi a shark detect it? Help!” The difference fference f is that a shark doesn’t esn’t give giv the th blood much thought ought but acts on instinct. nstin By contrast, ontr humans tend to think nk about ou everything and may think so much that they suppress instincts mu that are crucial to survival.

Mostt off th driiven by e behaviior of th iis i heriitted in r ome in i sttiinctts ffears rratther th great white sha rk i an consc ious thou is ghtts

Human creativity H cre cr rea eatitivit tivi vity itty ttook to a gre great rea eat lea leap eap ap fo forw forward rw rwa ward rd around aro round 40,000 yea years ears rs ago, possibly bec ag because ecause of improved impro rove ved ed language languag age skills skills. lss. .

hum The first r mans Whyy and when n did we g get so inte elligent? Our big brrains prrobably evolved as o our social nature gradu ually develop drove us to to develo p language. The abiility b to talk and plan became useful, so smartt people successful were more more succ suc and had more children. a en This process seem ms to have giiven n rise tto the firsst human whi sp pecies, Homo habil habilis, lis, which evvolved from a more e primitive a apelike ance ancestor around 2.3 3 million years ago. ago

ed on ures were paintg before or hunting fig lon These dancing e northern Sahara Desert the rocks of thme a desert. the land beca

Intelligent ancestors Ho H omo habilis Kn nown wn as Hom Homo habilis, orr “handy man,”” because e th hey were the first to make stone tools.

By 160,000 years ago, our own species— Homo sapiens—had evolved in Africa, and by 60,000 years ago, humans had spread across mostt of the globe. Compared to humans today, these people led primitive mitive lives, but they needed to be smart to survive. Studies of their sk skulls show that their brains were probably just like ours, and they would have been just as capable of operating complex devices like computers if they had them. They have left evidence of their intelligence in the rock art that still survives in the pla places p where they lived. 169

Charles

Darwin embarked on ly 23 when he his life and Darwin was on to change s wa at th ge eory. the voya volutionary th inspire his re

English naturalist Charles Darwin revolutionized d the way we see the living world. His theory of evolution by natural selection showed that competition for scarce resources led to species changing constantly through “the survival of the fittest.” Published in 1859, the theory was a flash of genius backed up by a mass of evidence—the product of inspiration and a lot of hard work.

Distracted student Born in England in 1809, Darwin went to the University of Cambridge to study for the church, but he was much more interested in studying nature. He became friends with John Stevens Henslow, a professor of botany, and Adam Sedgwick, one of the founders of modern geology. In 1831, he was on a geology field trip with Sedgwick when Henslow suggested that he join the survey ship HMS Beagle as “ship’s naturalist” on an expedition to chart the coastline of South America.

When Darwin’s When Darw rwin’s great rw gre rea eat theory theo eory ry was was published, published ed, his fr fri friend riend T. H. Huxley ey said, “How extremely ext ex xtr tre remel ely stupid of me not to have ve thought of that! t!” The Beagle voyage

The Be agle had to was a small , be virtu ally rebcramped ship rougheuilt to survive that st seas th on Ear e th.

Natural s e

all ycreepers aiian hone e ancestor m These Haw sa e th om evolved fr tural selection. through na

170

The voyage lasted five years, and while the crew charted the coastal waters, Darwin spent most of his time on land. He explored South America, where he found fossils of giant extinct animals. He visited the Galápagos Islands, where he saw that the animals on neighboring islands were similar but slightly different. He wondered if they might have changed over time—or evolved.

lection Within one ye ar of his return in 1836, Darw about how an in was thinking imals might ev olve. He realiz is difficult to fin ed that if food d, animals th at are less wel find it tend to l equipped to starve, while more favored Since all anim animals flour als are slight ish. ly different from some are born their parents, with advantag es that help th particular envi em survive in ronments. Th is leads to the species by a pr evolution of ne ocess that Dar w win called na tural selectio n.

HOW THE BRAIN

GROWS

Most of the development of the bra ain takes place before a baby is born, so at birth the brain contains almost all the nerve cells that it will ever have. During childhood, these cells are rearranged into increasin ngly complex networks that allow us to learn and rememb ber. The brain reaches peak weight in early adulthood and then starts to shrink.

3 weeks

7 weeks

11 weeks

Beginnings During the early stages of a baby’s development in the womb, the brain forms at the end of a tube of cellls that eventually becomes the spinal cord. At first it rese embles the brain of a fish, with all the “primitive” parts well formed. But at around 11 weeks, the cerebrum sttarts to expand, until at birth it looks like a smaller version ion of a mature human brain.

Trimming down Once the brain is up and running, it starts economizing on nerve cells. Inactivated cells are allowed to die off—a process that starts at the age of around four and continues for the rest of your life. This does not affect the brain’s efficiency, however, because inactive brain cells have no function and simply waste energy. So they are thrown away, just like these spare girders being tossed into a Dumpster.

17 72

Making connections During the months after birth, the brain develops fast. At first it has a simple cell structure that can control only the basic survival functions. But every new stimulus to the senses triggers the restructuring of nerve cells into the networks t k th thatt store t information i f ti and d enable us to think. Like the girders below, they are rearranged into a new, more complex form.

Older and wiser?

At times es during duri ring the growth gro rowt w h of wt an unborn rn baby, tthe he brain bra rain deve rai develops deeve velo vel ve elops at the rate ra of 250,000 ner nerve erv rvve cel rve cells ells ls per er minute. minutee.

As you get olde er, you definitely know more about the world and are able to make better decisions. But once you pass the age of 25, you often become less able to learn new skills that are not connected to the things you already know. This mayy reflect the fact that, in many people e, the brain gradually gr radually loses weight, weight ht, mostly thro ough the loss of brrain cells. But this mental declin ne is not an inevitable process.

Use it or lose it There is plenty of evidence that intellectual challenges help slow down the decline of the brain during old age. People such as musicians, scientists, and political activists who keep working well past normal retirement age often show very few signs of mental aging until the last few months of life. Solving problems may seem like hard work, but it probably keeps your brain fit and healthy.

Nelson Mandela

Structural failure Some unlucky people suffer brain damage in old age, or even younger. Some may suffer a stroke, which cuts off the blood supply to part of the brain, causing some of the brain tissue to die. Others may get Alzheimer’s disease, which makes brain cells like these become tangled up and stop working, so sufferers can Damaged brain cell no longer think properly. 173

Surgical precision n Thanks to three-dimensional computer-aided guidance systems, brain surgeonss can reach damaged areas without harming nearby tissues. They can operate preciselly with the aid of remote-controlled micro oscopes— shown in use here—and fiber-optic lighting.

mary Prim motor cortex ory Primary sens cortex y Sensorry attion associa x rte co

Premotor cortex frr ntal Preffro cortex

ual Visu ociation asso ex corte

Brocca’s arrea

l

Primary visua cortex Primary orry cortex audito Auditory rtex association co

Wernicke’s area

Dis scovery and learnin ng When a brain surg geon operates on a patient’s brain, the area that is affected iis precisely located and recorded. Ass a result, we now underrstand a lot more about the function of various parts o of the brain, and this has increased the accura acy and effectiveness of brain surgery.

Radiother rapy Some brain disease can be treated by therapies that don’t involve cutting into the brain. They include radiotherapy, which uses a be eam of radiation to destro oy the cells that cause cance erous brain tumors. The beam is precisely targete ed on the basis of a comp puter simulation, as seen here (right). It is painlesss but has to be repeated several tim mes.

tes Hippocra ysician Hippocrates, who ph ek ient Gre wrote

Anc 0 B.C.E., ound 460–37 described lived from ar n surgery. He ai br on s xt te many izures and ms such as se le ob pr l ta en m mptoms of gnized the sy spasms, reco on patients , and operated head injuries actures. fr l pes of skul with certain ty

175

ANI I AL IMA A

Trick and treat

Toolmakers

Many stories of animal intelligence iinvolve l th their i d devising i i ways off getting at food. Some people who put out food for garden birds, for example, find that it is often stolen by squirrels. The squirrels show amazing ingenuity as they overcome obstacles to break into “squirrel-proof” bird feeders. Hunger is a powerful motivator.

Several animals are able to make and d use ttools—a l skill kill th thatt was once thought unique to humans. Chimpanzees, for example, use carefully selected straws and sticks to pick edible termites from their nests. If a stick is too thick to poke into the holes in a nest, a chimp will carefully peel back the bark until it is just the right size.

Some insec insects, ect cts tss, such as ter termites, erm rmites ess, es, construct constr onstruct struct tru ruct ctt amazingly amaz aziinglly compl complex complex nests nes ests es ts using instinct ct alone. e.

176

Cr ow A c s ar r e pa ow o very ck f f ca age ered brigh p of able in a a sm t bir ho wire of p glas all ds. the ok, w and icki s tu food foo hic ben ng u be i d f h it din p a s rom us g p the es t it int iece o tub pu o a ll e.

If you have a dog, you probably think it is intelligent. Sometimes it will do something that amazes you. But that is becau use we do not expect animals to think. We exxpect them to use the instincts that are programmed into their brains at birth rather than make make use of the information in their memoriess to solve problems. But some animals do jju p ust that.

BRAIN GAMES

New trick s for old dogs If you have a d og, he or she may already know how to sit, stay, lie do wn, and beg. So here are tw o more tricks to add to the collection of sk ills.

Trick 1 T

It’s not just dogs that can be taught new tricks—many pets can be taught to do something. Even your goldfish can be coached to impress your friends if you train it. Here are some fun activities to try with all sorts of pets—but you must check with an adult before you start.

Next time your dog yawns, ask him, “Are you sleepy?” Do this everyy time yyou ou catch him yawning and praise him as he do oes it. Eventually, he will yawn whenever you ask him if he is sleepy.

ing! tertainment, Ham-stand vide lots of en ro p n ca rs e is is a good Hamst get bored. Th ly si a e n ca ep but they e with them, ke m ti f o ts lo d cool trick. way to spen teach them a d n a , e iv ct a them

T Trick k 2 You can also teach your dog to wa alk or run around you in circcles. Start by showing h him a treat and then moving it around your body so th hat he follows it. Reward h him with the treat and congrratulate him.

Step 1 Show your hamster a treat in your hand and then hold it above its head.

It is s possible to teach an old d dog new tricks, but they may not learn as quick kly as when they were young. w

Step 2 Say, “Stand” until your hamster reaches up on two legs to get the treat and give it lots of praise once it does. If you repeat this often enough, your hamster will associate you saying “stand” with a treat and will rise up on command.

178

You can also do this with other commands. Try saying “paw” while holding a treat in front of your hamster––it will reach a paw to get it!

Yo Young hamster hamsters—around ers rs—aro round one or two wo months old—are re the easiest easies ea est to tr es tra train. rain.

Take your pig for a guinea walk Guinea pigs mig ht not be as smart as dogs , but they are intelligent en ough to be trained to wal k on a leash. This gives you the chance to give yo ur pet some exercise an d to show it off to your frie nds.

Step S t 1 Start by getting a leash small enough for your guinea pig. Sit it on your lap with its favorite food and give it a lot of attention. While it is eating, slip the leash on, and let your pet get used to wearing it for a while.

180

Computer power If you program a computer or robot to pla ay chess, it runs through hundreds of thousands of options before making each move. It does this in seconds, but it’s inefficient compa ared to an intelligent human player who, with experience, will explore e only the best moves. Yet it’s not the robot’s fault—it’s the way it’s been programmed. A better program might enable it to work more in ntelligently.

Tireless robots Many factories now use robots to o work on production lines. They are controlled by computers that are programmed with all the instructions for the task. They work fast and they always do it right. The computers never forget anything vital and the robots never get tired. This makes them ideal for complex p but repetitive jobs. But they onlyy do what they are programmed to do, because they don’t know how to do anything else, and they can’t learn.

Most of us usse machines such as computers and calculators that seem to be able to do things better than we can. Many products such as cars arre even made by robo ots. But can these machines think? Mostly they can’t—they simply follow instructions that have bee en programmed into them by pe eople who do the th hinking for them. But we are fin nding ways y of making g computers p and robots learn n from their mistakes, and this is enabling some machin nes to display a form of intelligence.

181

Thinking about thinking One day a device with artificial intelligence might be able to find ways of programming itself to think more efficiently. This would then lead to even better programming and therefore even smarter thinking. We could end up in a world in which machines are much smarter than we are.

Understanding inte elligence

Intelligent mach hines can do more than play chess or make cars. One really useful application is to o make use of their excellent memorries. Everything we know about a subject can be programmed into a machine, which can then be used as an electronic expert. This has already been tried for medical conditions. The machine processes all the facts about the patient’s problem, figures out what it is, and comes up with the right treatment.

When we learn, nerve cells in our brains are rewired into new networks. Engineers have found ways of making computer circuits automatically do the same thing in response to good or bad results. This means they can “learn” and display what is known as artificial intelligence.

Getting machines to act intelligently is proving very difficult and demands immense com mputing power— which just shows how complex our brains are. But part of the problem is that we do not really know how human intelligence works, and we cannot replicate something tha at we do not understand. We might be able e to get simple computers to think intelligently if we only knew how to program them.

Useful ap pplications

Art tificial intelligence

BRAIN GAMES

PROGRAM YOUR To perform even the simplest task, your brain weighs up a constant flow of information from your senses and effortlessly decides what to do. A machine, however, can only follow instructions. These games reveal how difficult it is to give and interpret instructions.

FRIEND

time : Puzzling You will need LVVRUV an VF is G DQ ǩ3DSHU A tangram e es HU in ǩ5XO ancient Ch LOV be n ǩ&RORUHGSHQF ca at th le puzz or pens any arranged in m . ǩ$IULHQG es shap ways to make here Your challenge nd ie fr is to guide a s to make picture . apes from these sh

Step 2 You are going to help your friend make a picture. However, he or she doesn’t know what it is. Choose a picture from this page. Now give your friend precise one-step instructions as to how to arrange the pieces. For example, say, “Take the small brown square and place it on its point.” This is surprisingly tricky.

Step 1 Using the tangram below as a guide, draw a square on a piece of paper and divide it into seven individual shapes. Then color and cut out each shape.

Step 3 Next it is your turn to make a picture based on the instructions of your friend. How does it feel to be the person receiving the instructions? How did you do compared to your friend?

182

Picture this How good are your friends at giving clear instructions to achieve a common goal? Find out with this activityy!

You will need: ǩ3DSHU ǩ&RORUHGSHQFLOVRUSHQV ǩ$WOHDVWIRXUIULHQGV ǩ6WRSZDWFK

Play time! Working in pairs, the object of this task is to direct your blindfolded partner to throw the ball and hit another blindfolded player using simple command s.

You will need: Ņ Several blindfolds ǩ6PDOOIRDPEDOO ǩ$WOHDVWVL[IULHQGV ǩ6WRSZDWFK ǩ$QDGXOWWRKHOSMXGJ H

Step 1

Step 1 Draw a picture—it can be an animal or a person such as a clown or a queen. Place the picture in another room so no one gets to see it.

Get into pairs and stand in a circle. One person in each pair must put on a blindfold. Set a time e limit of ten minutess IRUWKHH[HUFLVH7KH game begins with one blindfolded player holding the ball.

Step 2 Pick one of your friends to recreate the drawing from instructions given by the others. He or she is not allowed to say anything during the activity. Set a time limit of WHQPLQXWHVWRFRPSOHWHWKHH[HUFLVH

Step 3 One person then goes out of the room to look at the picture and can only answer questions by saying Ǥ\HVǥRUǤQRǥZKHQDVNHGE\WKHWHDP7KHLOOXVWUDWRU has to listen to the questions and answers and draw a picture of what he or she thinks is being described.

Step 4 When the time limit is up, compare the picture with the original and see how closely it matches. If it doesn’t, figure out where things went wrong VR\RXZLOOGREHWWHUQH[WWLPH

Step 2 7KHSOD\HUVZKRDUHEOLQGIROGHGDUHLQVWUXFWHGE\ WKHLUSDUWQHUVKRZWRWKURZWKHEDOO)RUH[DPSOHVD\ “Move to your right one step. Now throw.” Or tell them when to duck so that they can defend themselves. When the ball lands near their partner, they must give clear instructions for retrieving the ball, such as “Bend down and reach out with your right hand.”

Step 3 When the time limit is up, you can switch the blindfold to the other player and start DJDLQ$VNDQDGXOW to judge on how good you and your friends were at either listening or giving clear instructions.

183

G GLOSSARY anatomy

cerebellum

instinct

The study of the structure of living things.

A part of the brain that helps control balance and movement.

An automatic feeling or action.

association

cerebral cortex

The process by which new memories are linked to memories already stored in the brain.

The entire wrinkly outer part of the brain that is responsible for sensory processing, memory, voluntary movement, and thinking.

intellectual

atom The smallest particle of a substance. Some substances such as oxygen contain only one type of atom, while others like water contain more than one type of atom.

attention The first stage in committing something to memory by focusing on the moment or on the task at hand.

auditory Having to do with hearing and sound.

cerebral hemisphere One half of the cerebral cortex, or cerebrum.

mimicry

A form of learning in which good or bad experiences create an automatic response to similar experiences.

Copying the appearance or behavior of another person.

Being mentally aware.

consciousness A state of mental awareness.

A short fiber extending from a nerve cell, or neuron, that picks up signals from other nerve cells.

evolution

brain stem

The process by which things change slowly into different forms, usually applied to living things.

The region at the base of the brain where it joins the spinal cord.

frontal lobe

cell The smallest unit of a living thing. Many living things such as bacteria consist of only one cell, but the human body is made up of many cells, specialized for different jobs.

central nervous system The brain and spinal cord.

184

Sound reasoning that draws correct conclusions from basic facts.

molecule

dendrite

The part of the brain that controls speech production.

A part of the brain that plays a role in automatic body functions, emotions, and the sense of smell.

conditioning

bacteria

Broca’s area

limbic system

logic

conscious

The study of plants.

Believing that you know something without knowing why. This is sometimes called a “sixth sense.”

Another name for the cerebral cortex, the cerebrum forms most of the human brain.

The long fiber that extends from a nerve cell, or neuron. Nerve signals pass down the axon in one direction, away from the main body of the cell, to stimulate other cells.

botany

intuition

cerebrum

axon

Microscopic organisms with a simple single-celled structure. Some types of bacteria can cause disease.

Anything to do with thinking.

The front part of each cerebral hemisphere, which plays an important role in thinking.

The smallest particle of a substance that can exist without breaking the substance into its component atoms. A single water molecule, for example, consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

motor area The region of the brain responsible for voluntary (controlled) movement of the body.

nerve A bundle of fibers extending from nerve cells (neurons) that carries nerve signals, or impulses, between the brain and other parts of the body.

nerve cell

The study of rocks.

A specialized cell, also known as a neuron, that carries nerve signals from and to all parts of the body and forms networks in the brain.

hair cell

nerve impulse

geology

A cell equipped with a tiny flexible “hair” that is attached to nerves.

hormone A substance released into the blood by a gland that effects change in another part of the body.

An electrical signal that passes along the fibers extending from nerve cells (neurons) and carries coded information to the brain or other organs.

neuron A single nerve cell.

nucleus

prejudice

spectrum

The control center of a cell.

A judgment that is made before examining the facts.

The entire range of visible colors, as seen in a rainbow.

Having to do with the sense of smell.

prodigy

spinal cord

parallax

Someone who displays great talents or abilities at an unusually early age.

The main bundle of nerve fibers. It extends from the brain, down to the lower backbone.

olfactory

A visual effect that makes close objects appear to move more than distant objects when you move your head and eyes. It is important in the perception of distance.

program

parietal lobe

A list of instructions that directs the operation of an electronic device such as a computer. The term is also used to describe the code that controls some biological functions.

The part of the brain that interprets touch, pain, and temperature.

psychology The science of the mind.

perception The process of becoming aware of something through your senses.

peripheral nervous system The outer network of small nerves that are connected to the muscles, skin, and all the organs besides the brain. It is linked to the central nervous system.

personality The combination of character traits that makes you an individual.

perspective A visual effect that makes parallel lines such as railroad tracks appear to converge with distance.

PET scan A medical scanning technique using a system called positron emission tomography, often used to detect and locate activity in the brain.

philosophy The study of the nature of knowledge.

phobia A fear of something that has no rational basis.

placebo effect A psychological response to medical treatment whereby the patient believes that his or her health has improved, even if the medicine they received was fake.

prefrontal cortex The area of the brain that is most actively involved in thinking.

recall The process of consciously retrieving a memory from the brain.

receptor A structure that responds to a stimulus such as touch, light, or temperature.

recognition The process of identifying familiar knowledge when it is presented to you.

reflex An automatic reaction by nerves that triggers movement—for example, in response to sharp pain.

retina The sheet of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye.

robot A mechanical device that automatically performs a task under the control of a computer. Often used to describe a machine that resembles a human.

sensory Having to do with the senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

somatic sensory cortex The part of the brain that analyzes nerve signals from the skin, muscles, and joints.

spatial Having to do with shape and space.

stereotype A fixed idea or image of something, often based on very little evidence.

telepathy The ability to read the mind of another person, probably through experience and guesswork rather than true mental communication.

thalamus The part of the brain near its base that acts as a relay station for information from all the senses except smell.

therapy Any treatment designed to relieve physical or psychological illness.

3-D (threedimensional) The term used to describe objects that have volume, with the third dimension of depth as well as the two other dimensions of height and width.

unconscious Having to do with mental activity that does not involve any thought.

Wernicke’s area The part of the brain that interprets sound and visual data, vital to understanding language.

ANSWERS

78–79 Mastering mazes The one-hand rule

6–7 Your amazing brain

Perfect pair

A

Do you remember?

Shapes A and F fit together to make the hexagon.

F

1. The shower 2. Running, skiing, swimming, playing soccer 3. His lungs 4. Red 5. His cat 6. Fish 7. One 8. Cat, dog, fish, bird, snail, rabbit 9. Bacon and eggs frying 10. An injured finger

Right or left?

Feel lost?

If you got more than six answers right, your memory is in great shape.

Trial and error

66–67 Do you remember? Recognition vs. recall Step 1

Step 2

1. Israel—Jerusalem 2. France—Paris 3. India—New Delhi 4. Russia—Moscow 5. Czech Republic—Prague 6. Germany —Berlin 7. Afghanistan—Kabul 8. Canada—Ottowa 9. Denmark—Copenhagen 10. Argentina—Buenos Aires

1. Spain—Madrid 2. Ireland—Dublin 3. China—Beijing 4. Sweden—Stockholm 5. Iraq—Baghdad 6. Netherlands—Amsterdam 7. Japan—Tokyo 8. Italy—Rome 9. Egypt—Cairo 10. Greece—Athens

Amazing mazes

68–69 Paying attention Spot the difference

Who’s who? Freddy is Tortoise B.

Over and under

80–81 Puzzling patterns

90–91 Brainteasers

All alone

Carnival money

Two at a time

The one creature that doesn’t appear twice is the wasp.

The three boys initially paid $10 each, or $30. They are then given $3 back, which means they paid a total of $27 (the $25 entrance fee plus the $2 pocketed by the sales assistant). The $27 added to the $3 refund equals $30, so there’s no missing money. In the puzzle, the $2 taken by the assistant is added to the $27 to create confusion.

Brother 1 and Brother 2 cross together, taking two minutes. Brother 1 returns, taking one minute. The father and grandfather cross together, taking ten minutes. Brother 2 returns, taking two minutes, then Brother 1 and Brother 2 cross together, taking two minutes. 2 + 1 + 10 + 2 + 2 = 17, so they should get to the train just in time.

Thinking ahead Each part of the sequence begins with two yellow cupcakes and ends with a purple cupcake, and the number of pink cupcakes in between increases by one each time. The yellow cupcakes at the beginning of the sequence are at numbers 1, 5, and 10—the difference between the numbers increases by one each time. This means the next yellow cupcakes starting a new sequence will be at 16, 23, 31, 40, 50, 61, 73, 86, and 100. So the 49th cupcake will be purple and the 100th cupcake will be yellow.

A face in the crowd

The frustrated farmer The right door

The farmer crosses first with the chicken and leaves it on the other side. He then returns, picks up the fox, and crosses again. Then he swaps the fox for the chicken so that they are not left together, and takes the chicken back. He then swaps the chicken for the grain and takes the grain across, leaving it with the fox. He then returns, picks up the chicken, and takes it to the other side.

The prisoner should ask each of the guards, “If I asked the other guard which is the door to freedom, what would he say?” If the door to freedom is the red one and he asked the guard who told the truth, the guard would say the blue door, because he would know the other guard would lie. If he asked the guard who always told lies, the guard would lie and say the blue door. Either way, the answer would be the same—they would both reveal the door with the lion behind it, and the prisoner should take the other door to freedom.

Find the treat She should choose Jar 2. 1. Lentils 2. Cookies 3. Flour

4. Beans 5. Pepper 6. Rice

Who passed the package? Stacey started the game.

Spot the sequence

92–93 Thinking inside the box

A blue, an orange, and a blue flower complete the sequence.

Tips and tricks 3 6 2 7

Missing pieces The four missing puzzle pieces are J, K, G, and F. J K

G

8 1

1 9 2 3 5 4

Starter Sudoku 4 7 8 6

5 9

2

8

Slightly harder

1

7

6

4

5 3

4 9

9 3 1 7 8 6 5 7 6 1 2 4

3 5

9

4

5

8

6

7

3

1

2

2 8

5

8

2

9

7

6

1

3

4

7

2

5

3

8

4

6

1

3

2

5

9

4 7

9 1

4

3

6

2

1

8

9

5

7

6

1

9

7

4

3

5

6

2

8

4

9

8

1

6

7 2

6

2

9

5

8

1

7

4

3

5

4

1

7

9

2

7

5

3

6

4

9

2

8

1

9

8

7

6

1

3

5 4

8

1

4

7

2

3

5

9

6

3

6

2

8

4

5

9 1

16

21

7

17

15

Perfect pairs

7 15

8 15

6

3 5

2

3

1

5

9

17 17 19

28

6

3

9

6

9

7 4 4

14

13 14 11

8

9 8

8 2 7 5 6 9

2

8

9

5

6

7

3

4 1

7

3

1

9

5

4

8 2

9

1

5

8

4

2

7

3 6

3

5

8

2

4

7

3

6

9

1 5

8 6

3

5

3

2

4

7

1

6

9 8

2

4

6

8

2

5

9

1

7 3

7

7

9

1

6

8

3

2

5 4

15

27 25

8

9 1 4 3 2 8

6

12

3

8

6 7

Getting tricky

4

9

3 5 1 4

8

Now try this

What to do F

9

3

21 11

8

28

7

3 5 16 18

9

6

8

17 13

6 7

15

8

5

8

6 15

7

29 9

9

17 17

7

28

9 24

7 9

5

4

9

8

3 17 9

8 7

6

8

8

2 1

9

187

96–9 97 Think of a number Puzzliing pyramid 120 70 30 25

Pass or fail?

Eleven strawberries balance one pineapple and three bananas.

Susan receives ten points for each of the correct questions, which gives her 150 points. But she got five wrong and five points are deducted for each, making a total of 25.

50 26

44

The weighing game

14 5

24 12

9

12

150 – 25 = 125

9

3

Susan has passed the test.

Only one chance 54 x 3 = 162

Flower power Add the three largest numbers and then multiply them with the smallest.

5 10 05 6 7 105 8

Pineapple = 5 strawberries Orange = 4 strawberries Apple = 3 strawberries Banana = 2 strawberries

Dazzling stars

Pieces of eight

Multiple fractions

888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000

The answer is 5.

1

2

3

4

102–103 Seeing in 2-D

104–105 Thinking in 3-D

Up and down

Different angles

Four triangles

Basket A will move up a and nd Basket B will move down.

The two matching shapes are A and F.

The pencils are moved into a 3-D shape called a tetrahedron (triangular pyramid) with a triangle at the base and three triangular sides.

Five into four

A

F

View from the top Upside-down triangle e

The correct overhead position is F.

Bottoms up The color of the face-down side in the third picture is green.

Equal division Boxing clever Box C shows the correct pattern of fruit.

188

Find the shape Shape A shows the remaining pink section.

128–129 Are you a creative spark? A dotty challenge

114–115 Having a word Odd ones out ǩcat and cone 7KHUHVWDUHERDWUHODWHG ǩstapler and ruler
Quick comparisons ǩ%LUGLVWREHDNDVKXPDQ LVWRPRXWK ǩ(\HVDUHWRVLJKWDVQRVH LVWRVPHOO ǩ,QLVWRRXWDVRIILVWRRQ ǩ3HQLVWRLQNDVEUXVKLVWRSDLQW ǩ7ULF\FOHLVWRWKUHHDVELF\FOH LVWRWZR

Like and unlike LIKE ǩKXQJU\DQGVWDUYLQJ ǩWLUHGDQGVOHHS\ ǩVFDU\DQGVSRRN\ ǩVLOO\DQGIRROLVK

UNLIKE ǩSUDLVHDQGVFRUQ ǩHGJHDQGFHQWHU ǩUDWLRQDODQGLOORJLFDO ǩOHDYHDQGUHWXUQ

Natural talent

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Lateral thinking

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144–145 What makes you tick?

160–161 Body talk

Male or female brain?

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Body clock

118-119 Words aloud

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INDEX A acting 159 addiction 162 adrenal glands 156 advertising 149 aerial perspective 29 agreeableness 141, 143 algebra 95 alphabets 120 Alzheimer’s disease 173 ambidexterity 15 amygdala 63, 156 anatomy 135, 184 animals 10, 168, 170, 176–177 pet training 178–179 Anning, Mary 146–147 Archimedes 126–127 Aristotle illusion 54 art 13, 32, 67, 121, 128, 134 artificial intelligence 181 association 64, 70–71, 76, 184 free 88 attention 60, 62, 64, 68–69, 184 attention deficit disorder 134 axons 16–17, 184

B babies’ development 172–173 bacteria 106, 184 balance 35, 52–53 Baylis, Trevor 106 benzene molecule 57 Berger, Hans 18 birds 10, 176, 177 blind spot 25 blindness 44, 60 blood supply 11 body clock 145 body illusions 54–55 body language 159, 161

190

Braille 44 brain activity 6–7, 139 evolution 168–169 growth 172–173 and language 112 left and right sides 12–15 male or female 144 structure 10–11, 19 waves 18–19 weight increase 77 brain damage 173, 174–175 brain stem 10, 41, 184 brain surgery 174–175 brainstorming 130 brainteasers 90–91 brain waves 127 Broca’s area 19, 112, 184

C calligraphy 121 Carver, George Washington 84–85 cats 179 cells 16, 184 nerve cells (neurons) 16–17, 62, 76, 172, 184 nucleus 16, 185 cerebellum 11, 184 cerebrum (cerebral cortex) 10–13, 19, 40, 63, 139, 172, 184 Champollion, Jean François 122–123 chess players 21, 57, 180 chimpanzees 176 chips, potato 107 Chomsky, Noam 113 cochlea 35 color 25, 27, 29 communication see language computers 87, 180–181 conditioning 76, 184 confidence 164 conscientiousness 141, 143

consciousness 139, 39 149, 184 1 animals and 177 conversation 116 cornea 24 creativity 126–133 criminals 48, 81 crocodiles 177 crying 153 Curie, Marie 21

D Darwin, Charles 126, 170–171 dendrites 16, 17, 184 diagrams 130, 131 dogs 176, 177, 178 dolphins 177 dreams 57, 150–151 Dunlop, John 107

E ears 19, 34–37, 52 Edison, Thomas 107, 127 Egypt, ancient 78, 122–123 Einstein, Albert 72–73, 133 emotions 6, 152–153, 158–161 controlling 165 environmental skills 83 Escher, M. C. 32 evolution 168–171, 184 exercise, benefits of 131, 157 experiments and games blind spot 25 body clock 145 body illusions 54–55 brainteasers 90–91 creativity 128–129, 132–133 giving instructions 182–183 left and right brain 14–15 magic tricks 50–51, 98–99 male or female brain 144

mazes 7, 78– –79 memory 6, 6 64–71 numbers mbers 92–93, 92 96–99 optical illusions 26–27, 29, 30–33 patterns 80–81, 102–103 personality test 142–143 smell and taste 42–43 sounds 36–37 spatial skills 6, 102–105 touch 46–47 words 114–115, 118–119 extroversion 141, 143 eye contact 158 eyesight 24–25 dominant eye 15 influence on smell and taste 43 left and right brain 12–13 mental processing of images 19, 28–29, 60–61 visual skills 66, 112, 119, 130 see also optical illusions

F facial expressions 152, 158–159, 160–161 faith 88 fear 61, 156–157 female qualities 56, 144, 152 fight or flight response 156 fingers 44, 46–47, 144 Fleming, Alexander 106 focus, mental 165 foot, dominant 14 fossils 146–147, 170 Freud, Sigmund 151 frontal lobe 11, 184

G Galen of Pergamun 10 Galileo Galilei 20

Gandhi, Mahatma 154–155 Gardner, Howard 83 genetic traits 140 geniuses, famous 20–21 agricultural pioneer 84–85 evolutionist 170–171 geologist 146–147 linguist 122–123 musical prodigy 38–39 political activist 154–155 scientists 20–21, 72–73, 108–109, 134–135 geology 146–147, 170, 184 geometry 94 Gilbert, Charles Allan 32 goals, personal 164, 165 goldfish 179 goose bumps 53 Greeks, ancient 10, 20, 87, 95, 126–127, 175 guinea pigs 178–179

H habits 162–163 hairs 44–45, 53 hamsters 178 hands 13, 15, 45, 46, 135 hearing 19, 34–39, 112 hieroglyphs 122–123 hippocampus 63, 103 Hippocrates 175 Homo habilis 169 Homo sapiens 169 hopping rabbit illusion 55 hormones 10, 144, 145, 184 hypothalamus 10

I illness 148, 181 illusions body 54–55 magic tricks 48–51, 98–99 optical 26–27, 29, 30–33 imagination 13, 127 imitation 77 individuality 140 insight 13 instinct 88, 149, 168, 176, 184 instructions, clear 182–183

intelligence 82–83 of animals 176–177 artificial 181 emotional 153 evolution of 169 interpersonal skills 82 intrapersonal skills 83 intuition 56–57, 184 invention 106–109, 126–127, 128–129, 134 IQ (intelligence quotient) 83

J Jefferson, Thomas 21 jellyfish 168 jet lag 145 jigsaw puzzles 80 joint sensors 53 Jung, Carl 148

K Kakuro 93 Kasparov, Garry 21 Kekulé, August 57 Kevlar 107

L labeling 61 language 7, 12, 82, 112–123, 169 animals and 177 Wernicke’s area 18, 19, 112, 185 lateral thinking 129, 130 learning 76–77, 116 left-handedness 13, 135 Leonardo da Vinci 134–135 lie detection 159 light and shade 29 limbic system 41, 184 lip reading 35 logic 86–91, 184 luck 89, 126

M machines 180–181, 182 magic tricks 48–51, 98–99 male qualities 56, 144, 152 Mandela, Nelson 155, 173 map reading 100 mathematics 12, 82, 94–99

mazes 7, 78–79 memory 6, 7, 62–63 animals and 177 games and exercises 66–71 improving 64–65 long-term 62, 63, 64, 76 nerve cell networks 62, 76 repetition as aid to 77 sensory 62 short-term 60, 62, 63, 64, 66, 68–69 visual 66, 67 vivid 62 mimicry 77, 184 mnemonics 64 motion sickness 52 movement 7, 19 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 38–39 muscle sensors 53 music 12, 13, 34, 38–39, 77, 82 and nature and math 95

N natural selection 170–171 nature as inspiration 128, 135 math and 95 and nurture 140 navigation 100–101, 103, 177 Neanderthals 112 nerve endings 44, 45, 52 nerve impulses 16–17, 184 nerves 16–17, 44, 184 nervous system 16, 184, 185 neurons (nerve cells) 16–17, 62, 76, 172, 184 neuroticism 141, 143 Nobel, Alfred 106 nose 40–41, 42, 54 numbers 94–95 puzzles 92–93, 96–99

O O’Brien, Dominic 70 octopuses 177 old age 173 olfactory bulb 40, 41 openness 141, 143 optical illusions 26–27, 29, 30–33 organs, internal 52

P pain 17, 45, 52 parallax 28, 185 parietal lobe 11, 185 patterns 80–81, 102–103 penicillin 106 Penrose’s triangle 33 perception 148, 185 personality types 140–145, 185 perspective 28, 185 PET (positron emission tomography) scans 19, 185 pets, tricks for 178–179 phantom limbs 53 philosophy 87, 185 phobias 88–89, 185 pictograms 121 pins and needles 55 pitch 34 pituitary gland 10 placebo effect 148, 185 play, creative 133 politics 21, 154–155, 173 practice 77 prefrontal cortex 19, 63, 156, 168, 169, 185 prejudice 185 racial 61, 84–85, 154 pressure waves 34 prodigies, child 21, 38, 185 programs 162, 185 computer 87 prompts 163 psychoanalysis 150, 151 psychology 30, 49, 141, 144, 148–149, 185 Pythagoras 20, 95

R radio, wind-up 106 radiotherapy 175 rats, pet 179 reading 120–121 reasoning 86 verbal 117 recall 66–67, 185 involuntary 63 receptors 44–45, 185 recognition 66–67, 71, 185

1 191

reflexes 17, 45, 185 relativity, theory of 72–73 relaxation 157 religion 88 repetition 77 retina 24, 25, 185 riddles 129 robots 180–181, 185 rocket science 108–109 Rosetta stone 122–123 routine 163 Rubik’s Cube 101, 105

S saliva 40, 43 scanning techniques 19, 174–175, 185 scientific thinking 12, 82 self-awareness 138–139 of animals 177 semicircular canals 35, 52 senses 6, 19, 24–57, 185 shapes recognition of 15, 29 rotating (3-D) 101 sharks 168 sign language 112, 177 sixth sense 56–57 skin 44–45, 53

sleep 10, 18 dreams 57, 150–151 sleepwalking 151 smell 40–43, 63, 148 snakes 61 social skills 116, 140, 153 somatic sensory cortex 19, 44, 53, 185 soul, concept of 138 sounds 34–37 space conditions in 37, 42 rocket science 108–109 spatial skills 6, 13, 82, 100–105, 185 spectrum 25, 185 speech see language spinal cord 16, 17, 185 sports 82, 101, 164–165 squirrels 176 stapes 35, 36 stereotypes 61, 185 stomach 52 storytelling 117, 119, 128, 132 stress 148, 157 strokes 173, 174 Sudoku 92 superstitions 89 surgery 174–175

T taste 40–43 taxi drivers, London 103 tears 153 telepathy 56, 185 temperature 47 termites 176 testosterone 144 thalamus 10, 41, 44, 156, 185 thinking 7, 18, 60–61 conscious and unconscious 61 creative 130–131 energetic 131 inspired 57 language and 117 lateral 129, 130 logical and illogical 86–91 machines and 180–181 mathematical 12, 82, 94–95 in pictures 100 rational 12 scientific 12, 82, 117 visual 130 3-D (three-dimensional) 100–101, 104–105, 185

tire, pneumatic 107 tongue 40, 43, 112 toolmakers 176 touch 44–47 treasure hunt 133 triggers 163 tumors 174, 175 twins 56, 140

U unconscious mind 148–149, 185 universe 95

V Velcro 106 visual skills 66, 112, 119, 130 see also eyesight visualization 164 vocal cords 112 von Braun, Wernher 108–109

W Wernicke’s area 18, 19, 112, 185 wheel, invention of 107 Williams, Venus and Serena 21 word games 114–115, 118–119 writing 12, 120–121, 135

Credits DK would like to thank: Niki Foreman, Karen Georghiou, Fran Jones, Ashwin Khurana, and Eleri Rankine for editorial assistance; Johnny Pau for design assistance; Stephanie Pliakas for Americanization; Jackie Brind for the index; Stefan Podhorodecki for photography; Steve Willis for retouching; Mark Longworth for additional illustrations; Tall Tree Ltd for design; Jaime Vives Piqueres for help with the POV programme. The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their photographs: Key: a–above; b–below/bottom; c–centre; f–far; l–left; r–right; t–top akg-images: 108tl, 109tl; Alamy Images: Third Cross 59cla (carousel); Paul Doyle 64br; Richard Harding 58cb (spider); Interfoto 87tl, 122cla; Andre Jenny 85bc; Photos 12 148cl; The Art Archive: 122ftl; The Bridgeman Art Library: Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Médecine, Paris, France/ Archives Charmet 10bl; British Museum, London, UK 122cl; Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, USA 21cb; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble, France/Peter Willi 123clb; Natural History Museum, London, UK 171tl; Corbis: Alinari Archives 134cr; Bernard Annebicque 107clb; ArcticImages 175cl; Artiga Photo/Flirt 140tr; Bettmann 21bl, 38bl, 39cr, 39tc, 73crb, 73tr, 84bl, 84crb, 84tl, 85 (background), 108bl, 135 (background), 135clb, 147tl, 154cr, 155c (background), 170c, 171bl, 175bc; Bettmann/Underwood & Underwood 21tl; George W. Ackerman/Bettmann 85tr; Adrian Burke 77crb; Chris Kleponis/Zuma 87tr;

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