How Does a Mathematician’s Brain Differ from That of a Mere Mortal?

Alan Turing, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, John Nash—these “beautiful” minds never fail to enchant the public, but they also remain somewhat elusive. How do some people progress from being able to perform basic arithmetic to grasping advanced mathematical concepts and thinking at levels of abstraction that baffle the rest of the population? Neuroscience has now…

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The Invention Of Retirement

In 1890, Haber writes, only a quarter of aged workers called themselves “permanently nonemployed.” Those who were often faced harsh conditions. Many in industrialized cities had no family resources to depend on, and, at best, might hope for help from a charitable group or old age home. To protect older workers from this fate, employers…

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