Evolution and Creativity: Why Humans Triumphed - Matt Ridley, WSJ.com

How did one ape 45,000 years ago happen to turn into a planet dominator? The answer lies in an epochal collision of creativity writes Matt Ridley [EVOLUTION] Masterfile Human evolution presents a puzzle. Nothing seems to explain the sudden takeoff of the last 45,000 years—the conversion of just another rare predatory ape into a planet dominator with rapidly progressing technologies. Once "progress" started to produce new tools, different ways of life and burgeoning populations, it accelerated all over the world, culminating in agriculture, cities, literacy and all the rest. Yet all the ingredients of human success—tool making, big brains, culture, fire, even language—seem to have been in place half a million years before and nothing happened. Tools were made to the same monotonous design for hundreds of thousands of years and the ecological impact of people was minimal. Then suddenly—bang!—culture exploded, starting in Africa. Why then, why there?

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Exploring the Brain’s Role in Creativity - Neuropsychiatry Review, Fred Balzac

Being one of the true geniuses of the modern era, Albert Einstein recognized that a useful method for understanding the brain’s role in creativity was to study the brains of highly creative people. He also realized that there would be a great deal of interest in examining his own brain after his death, so he willed that his brain be removed before cremation. However, nearly all of the 240 blocks into which Einstein’s brain was dissected were lost and never analyzed. Thirty years later, the Brodmann’s area 39 portion of Einstein’s brain was analyzed histologically by Marian C. Diamond, PhD, and colleagues. They reported that this area of Einstein’s brain contained a higher proportion of glial cells versus neurons, compared with the brains of control subjects. Assuming that the paucity of cortical neurons was not the result of aging (the control subjects were significantly younger than Einstein at the time of his death), how did the loss of neurons relate to Einstein’s creative genius?

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The 4 Elements of Visual Grammar: How To Communicate Without Words | Van SEO Design

I often use the phrase “visual design” when describing what we do as web designers. Recently I came across what I think is better phrase, “communication design.” When we design and build websites our goal is usually to communicate something to an audience. Communication requires language. That language can be aural as in the spoken word, it can be gestural as in sign language, or it can be visual as in design. The more you understand any language the better you can communicate using that language. The visual language of design is no exception. Design elements are like letters and words. When we add design principles and apply them to our elements, our words, we form a visual grammar. As we learn to use both we enable ourselves to communicate visually.

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Technology and Creativity - Why I Returned My iPad - Peter Bregman - Harvard Business Review

A little more than a week after buying the iPad, I returned it to Apple. The problem wasn't the iPad exactly, though it has some flaws. The problem was me. I like technology, but I'm not an early adopter. I waited for the second-generation iPod, the second-generation iPhone, and the second-generation MacBook Air. But the iPad was different. So sleek. So cool. So transformational. And, I figured, since it's so similar to the iPhone, most of the kinks would already be worked out. So at 4 PM on the day the 3G iPad was released, for the first time in my life, I waited in line for two hours to make a purchase. I set up my iPad in the store because I wanted to make sure I could start using it the very moment I bought it. And use it I did. I carried it with me everywhere; it's so small and thin and light, why not bring it along? I did my email on it, of course. But I also wrote articles using Pages. I watched episodes of Weeds on Netflix. I checked the news, the weather, and the traffic. And, of course, I proudly showed it to, well, anyone who indicated the least bit of interest. (That could be a whole post in itself. We proudly show off new purchases as though simply possessing them is some form of accomplishment. Why? I didn't create the iPad. I just bought one.)

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21 Evidence Based Ideas About How Great Bosses Lead Innovation - Stanford d.school

My Stanford colleague Hayagreeva (Huggy) Rao and I have been leading an executive program at Stanford every November for the past four years that is called Customer-focused Innovation. In the mornings, we discuss the theory and practice of innovation with the executives. In the afternoon's, Perry Klebhan from the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (which everyone calls the Stanford d.school) leads the group as they go out into the world to try to tackle read world problems -- such as improving the experience of visiting a gas station or buying a car. For this program, Huggy and I put together a list of 21 evidence-based ideas about how great bosses lead innovation. We would love to hear your ideas about ways great bosses spark innovation as well a concerns -- and extensions -- related to these ideas: 1. Creativity means doing new things with old ideas.

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