How I Rewired My Brain to Be Fluent at Math

Plus: this week’s Behind the Scenes with Phil Jaekl; the brightest-ever explosion; the fine line between life and not life; a new doorway to the brain; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( EDITORS’ CHOICE October 30, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! This Sunday, read some of the most popular stories in Nautilus—and watch this week’s Behind the Scenes with Phil Jaekl below [JUMP IN](   [ASTRONOMY]( [Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter]( A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT—“brightest of all time”—appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation. BY JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN On Sunday, October 9, Judith Racusin was 35,000 feet in the air, en route to a high-energy astrophysics conference, when the biggest cosmic explosion in history took place. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Enhance Your News Reading Ecosystem]( Every day [Refind]( picks 5 links from around the web that make you smarter, tailored to your interests. Loved by 100k+ curious minds. [Sign up for free]( to get smarter every day. [Subscribe Today](   Popular This Week [NEUROSCIENCE]( [The Fine Line Between Life and Not Life]( If the brain can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality, what can? BY PATRICK HOUSE [Continue reading →]( [TECHNOLOGY]( [A New Doorway to the Brain]( Neuroscientists can now explore the “wild west” in our heads in incredible detail—a boon to medicine and understanding what makes us tick. BY ELENA RENKEN [Continue reading →]( [COMMUNICATION]( [The Kekulé Problem]( Where did language come from? BY CORMAC MCCARTHY [Continue reading →]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math]( Sorry, education reformers, it’s still memorization and repetition we need. BY BARBARA OAKLEY [Continue reading →](   Crushed by Negative News? Don’t despair—solutions are everywhere. [Reasons to be Cheerful](, an editorial project created by David Byrne, highlights the smart, effective solutions that make the world a better place. [Subscribe]( to the newsletter for weekly updates on the good that’s happening around the globe. [Learn More](   BEHIND THE SCENES [Phil Jaekl Takes Us Behind “I Didn’t Know My Mind Was So Strange Until I Started Listening to It”]( Not long ago, a [viral meme]( captured Phil Jaekl’s imagination. Someone had posted on social media a discovery they’d made—that some people, unlike them, don’t “hear” themselves speak internally. This person was blown away when they realized other people can’t listen to their own inner speech. The funny bit is that it goes the other way—some people who can’t listen to their inner speech are shocked to hear that other people can [hear themselves talk in their heads](. Having been trained as a cognitive neuroscientist, Jaekl tried to make sense of this. Wasn’t the capacity for hearing inner speech important cognitively? “I was wondering,” [he told me recently](, “‘If somebody doesn’t innerly speak, then there should be some consequences or something measurable.’” So he got in touch with, among others, Russ Hurlburt, a psychologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who studies inner experience using a technique he pioneered called Descriptive Experience Sampling. This is a data-gathering practice he coaches his participants to execute. “I woke up one morning,” Jaekl said, “and there was an email in my inbox saying, ‘Hey, Phil, do you want to actually try it and see for yourself? And then you can discover things about your own inner speech perhaps, if you do innerly speak.’” [In our conversation](, Jaekl explained the peculiar experience of being a participant in Hurlburt’s experiment, which involved extensive interviews with the psychologist. Hurlburt grilled Jaekl on the notes he jotted down for each “sampling”—a journal entry about what exactly was on Jaekl’s mind when the beeper he wore for the experiment would unexpectedly go off. “He really wants you to get down to the details and be clear about what you’re saying,” Jaekl said, of Hurlburt. “I think it makes a big difference with him if you’re confident or if you’re not confident. If you’re wavering on what you say, then he has different ways of asking the same question, or he listens to you very carefully to see if you repeat something, but describe it slightly differently.” Jaekl also discussed how surprised he was to find that, often, he had nothing to report. “I began to think that there was something wrong with me,” he said. “Russ told me—and I completely agree using my own cognitive neuroscientific knowledge—that there’s no reason why you have to be experiencing something at any given moment.” That’s because our brain blocks out sensations that aren’t, at the moment, relevant—like the feeling of your back against the chair, or your feet on the ground. “And it doesn’t have to stop at that. Your mind can be blank. I’m not about to say that I was often in a meditative state, but that’s the first thing that I discovered about my mind while doing descriptive experience sampling.” More remarkable, for him, was uncovering that he sometimes could listen to two parallel streams of inner speech. “I was rehearsing the combination of my bike lock and I was wondering if I should wear this earpiece in my ear while entering a bank.” He was weirded out writing this experience down. “I was like, ‘Hey, I was talking to myself, but with two separate voices.’” [Watch here](. —Brian Gallagher, associate editor   [“We’ll all be long dead before we get the chance to do this again.”]( [Astrophysicist Eric Burns reflects on witnessing the brightest-ever explosion.](   More in Astronomy [This Planetary Scientist Is Always Reaching for Something Big]( Persistence, says Lindy Elkins-Tanton, has led to her success in science. BY KRISTEN FRENCH Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a planetary scientist who studies the evolution of the terrestrial planets and life on Earth, fell in love with science as a girl because considering the vast scales of time and space inherent in studying geology gave her some solace from her personal troubles—it made them seem small and surmountable. [Continue reading →]( [Gravitational Waves Continue to Astound]( Seven years after their discovery, the ripples in spacetime have opened new windows on the universe’s deepest secrets. BY SIDNEY PERKOWITZ When Galileo Galilei first pointed a small telescope at the heavens in 1609, he began a revolution in astronomy. [Continue reading →](   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   GIVEAWAY [Discover What Marine Masterpieces Lay Below the Waves]( Nautilus is proud to partner with Phaidon to bring you [Ocean: Exploring the Marine World.]( Published by Phaidon, this stunning book explores our relationship with the marine world. To celebrate the release, five lucky people can win this compelling book. To enter, follow [@phaidonpress]( and [@nautilusmag](, then tag a friend on our [Instagram post](. The contest runs through 10/31, and five winners will be randomly selected. See the full rules [here](. Additionally, as a member of the Nautilus community, you can [purchase your copy today]( receive 20% off with code OCEAN20. [Claim Your Discount](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2022 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.