
How to Think Like Einstein
Season 4 Episode 7 | 3m 6sVideo has Closed Captions
We explore some practical tips for boosting your creativity and generating ideas.
It seems like some people have so many great ideas – like Albert Einstein, who as well as changing everything we know about the whole of space and time, also took a stab at fashion. Rest assured there are ways that the rest of us can be more creative, too. We explore some practical tips for boosting your creativity and generating ideas.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

How to Think Like Einstein
Season 4 Episode 7 | 3m 6sVideo has Closed Captions
It seems like some people have so many great ideas – like Albert Einstein, who as well as changing everything we know about the whole of space and time, also took a stab at fashion. Rest assured there are ways that the rest of us can be more creative, too. We explore some practical tips for boosting your creativity and generating ideas.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThis is a blouse.
But not like just any blouse.
It has two sets of buttons, so it can still fit you if you put on a few pounds.
But, the real reason why it's a very special blouse is its creator... Albert Einstein.
The same man whose theory of relativity fundamentally changed everything we know about the whole of space and time, also took a stab at fashion.
And at developing a novel refrigerator And an automatic camera And a waterproof garment So why do some people have so many great ideas?
And how can the rest of us be more creative?
Creativity is the result of large brain networks that interact with each other to generate random thoughts, change them and merge them.
And this happens through three key mental skills: bending, breaking and blending.
Bending is when we imagine things in new ways or remember them in distorted ways.
Breaking is when we take an idea and break it into pieces.
And blending is when we mix a few ideas together.
And, well, some people are pros at these three Bs.
They might be equipped with a stronger creative machinery in their brain.
In a 2017 study, researchers found those who score high on creativity tests have more connections between brain hemispheres.
Another study showed stronger communication between brain networks in people who come up with many original answers to a question, a skill called divergent thinking.
And in another 2016 study, researchers monitored the brain while people solved questions from the Remote Associates Test, which involves coming up with a word that is associated with three seemingly unrelated words in each question.
People who were better at making connections between distant words showed stronger physical connections between a frontal region of the brain and distant regions through long-range neural pathways.
But remember you are not stuck with the brain you have.
Your brain networks are flexible and you can practice creativity.
Here's a recipe: The raw material for creativity doesn't come out of thin air, but from your memories and experiences.
Read more, pay more attention, travel... to feed your imagination.
Take more in.
Your first idea, or even the 10th, is almost guaranteed to fail.
Keep generating ideas.
When trying to solve a problem, experiment with getting too far out with your imagination, and come back to the ground with fresh eyes, and hopefully fresh ideas.
[take a curious look at ice cream and fish in each hand] And don't forget to surround yourself with interesting people.
Even the smartest brains still need other humans to be creative-- on top of the network of brain regions inside any one person's brain, we need a network of humans, our society, for creativity to flourish.
Follow these steps and you'll be equipped to brew a great idea.
And in the process of fueling your brain, if you happen to fuel your body a little too much... remember that you can always upgrade to the second set of buttons on your Einsteinian blouse.


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