Sciencespeaking topic
Your bones have a better strength-to-weight ratio than steel, but they aren't a solid mass; inside they're a living construction site, constantly torn down and rebuilt. They redesign themselves according to the force you put on them. So your skeleton is a living architecture shaped by the life you carry.
— bone remodeling
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- The prefrontal cortex and self-control: this last-maturing region reins in impulses and steers us toward long-term goals. Does the brake developing later than the gas pedal explain why teenagers take more risks?
- The amygdala hijack: Goleman named the way strong emotions bypass the prefrontal cortex and suddenly seize control. Why do we feel it wasn't me about the things we say in anger?
- Cue reactivity: in addiction it's not the substance but the cues that recall it, a place, a smell, that ignite craving. Why does someone who quit struggle again years later on an old street; is memory itself addicted?
- The trust game: why is entrusting money to a stranger sometimes rational and often risky? How do societies build trust, and why do they lose it?
- A system's strength is sometimes in its weak links: a job, a piece of news, a new idea comes to you not from your close friends but from the distant acquaintances you rarely see. Because your close friends already know what you know. Why do the things that change your life so often come from your weakest connections?