Ambition Is An Expensive Impulse, One That

Operating-room Errors Hold A Special Terror For Patients, If Only Because They Seem Like The Most Avoidable Kind Of Complications. The Occasional Horror Stories Of Patients Who Have The Wrong Leg Removed Or The Wrong Knee Replaced Generate The Most Headlines, As Do Tales Of Patients Whose Identities Are Mixed Up Entirely.

Indeed, The Best Way To Think Of Willpower Is Not As Some Shapeless Behavioral Trait But As A Sort Of Psychic Muscle, One That Can Atrophy Or Grow Stronger Depending On How It's Used.

The Brain Sits Snugly Inside The Skull, But It's Not A Completely Flush Fit - There Is Still A Layer Of Fluid Between Bone And Soft Tissue That Serves As A Natural Shock Absorber. Some Shocks, However, Can't Be Absorbed, And When The Head Gets Clobbered Too Hard, The Brain Can Twist Or Torque Or Rattle Around Inside Its Skeletal Casing.

The Vexing Thing About Human Behavior Is That When We Say We Know We Should Do Something, We Really And Truly Do Know It. It's Hard To Be 50 Lbs. Overweight Or Smoke A Pack A Day Or Feel Miserable Every Moment You Spend At Work And Not Understand In A Deep And Primal Way That Change Is In Order - And That In Some Cases It Could Even Save Your Life.

The Mind Of The Polyglot Is A Very Particular Thing, And Scientists Are Only Beginning To Look Closely At How Acquiring A Second Language Influences Learning, Behavior And The Very Structure Of The Brain Itself.