Jul 10, 2017
In this interview with KGNU's Claudia Cragg, world-renowned
astrophysicist and author Mario Livio investigates perhaps the most
human of all our characteristics—curiosity—as he explores our
innate desire to know why.
Experiments demonstrate that people are more distracted when they
overhear a phone conversation—where they can know only one side of
the dialogue—than when they overhear two people talking and know
both sides. Why does half a conversation make us more curious than
a whole conversation?
In the ever-fascinating Why? Mario Livio spoke
in depth to scientists in several fields to explore the nature of
curiosity. He examined the lives of two of history’s most curious
geniuses, Leonardo da Vinci and Richard Feynman. He also talked to
people with boundless curiosity: a superstar rock guitarist,
Queen's Brian May, who is also an astrophysicist; an astronaut with
degrees in computer science, biology, literature, and medicine.
What drives these people to be curious about so many
subjects?
Curiosity is at the heart of mystery and suspense novels. It is
essential to other forms of art, from painting to sculpture to
music. It is the principal driver of basic scientific research.
Even so, there is still no definitive scientific consensus about
why we humans are so curious, or about the mechanisms in our brain
that are responsible for curiosity.
Mario Livio—an astrophysicist who has written about mathematics,
biology, and now psychology and neuroscience—explores this
irresistible subject in a lucid, entertaining way that will
captivate anyone who is curious about curiosity.