💡 How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math

What’s popular and new this week in Nautilus. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( EDITORS' CHOICE Together with Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( Hello there Nautilus reader, and thanks for joining us. This Sunday, read one of the week’s most popular stories on Nautilus (about becoming fluent in math) as well as our latest articles—plus, check out your free story (on ranking heroes) and your question of the day (on messaging ET) below —Brian Gallagher Popular This Week [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 I was a wayward kid who grew up on the literary side of life, treating math and science as if they were pustules from the plague. [Continue reading →]( The latest from Nautilus [COMMUNICATION]( [How Whales Could Help Us Speak to Aliens]( Learning to decode complex communication on Earth may give us a leg up if intelligent life from space makes contact. BY CLAIRE CAMERON [Continue reading →]( [PHYSICS]( [Making Light of Gravity]( Physicist Claudia de Rham on her 3 greatest revelations while writing The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity. BY CLAUDIA DE RHAM [Continue reading →]( ADVERTISEMENT WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... Should humanity ever take the risk of responding to a signal we receive from space? Let us know! Reply to this newsletter with your response, briefly explaining your choice, and we’ll reveal the top answers. (This question was inspired by [“How Whales Could Help Us Speak to Aliens.”](). Top Answers to Our Previous Question (On What Happens to You in One of Your Recurring Dreams) • I constantly dream I am returning to the country of my birth where I spent the first 30 years of life. I’m dropped off in a place I know, but when I look around, everything has changed. There are new roads, new shopping centers, new rivers; it’s home but everything is wrong. – Pete B. • My recurring dream is that of being late to teach a class—I'm a retired Penn State mathematics professor. The room is highly unsuitable: No blackboards or whiteboards, lots of clutter, insufficiently open area to see all the students clearly (or them to see me), including no well defined desks. In many of these cases, I am supposed to be giving a test, but I lack the exams, and I'm trying to write it on the board (which does not exist or is cluttered or covered with items such as clothing or messes). – Michael E. • I am driving down a road that becomes an impossibly high and curving bridge, and then suddenly the car goes careening off the edge and I am airborne inside it, not sure whether I am flying or falling. – Kris A. • I always have the tsunami dream. I’m on the beach with some combination of loved ones; it’s a beautiful day, then it turns. I see a giant wave headed right toward us and I have seconds to figure out the who, what, when, where of surviving this monster. – K.M. QUOTE OF THE DAY [“Twain heard ‘hello’ in humpback and came over!”]( [Laurance Doyle tells Nautilus that scientists listening for ET assume they’re curious and want to make contact—perhaps just like Twain, the humpback that Doyle’s team, at Whale SETI, has communicated with.]( The Tree of Life: A Love Letter to Nature [PhotoVogue's 2024 Global Open Call]( invites artists worldwide to share works that celebrate nature's beauty and resilience. If you’re a photographer or videographer with a passion for the natural world [your work could be included in the 2024 PhotoVogue Festival in Milan]( and featured in an issue of Vogue. Additionally, the two artists who submit the most compelling and meaningful work will be granted $5,000 each. [The deadline for entry is April 29th](, so follow the link below for additional details. [Learn More]( Your free story this Sunday! [SOCIOLOGY]( [Why Einstein Just Got Ranked as History’s Greatest Hero]( Jesus Christ just missed the top five, coming in sixth. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER Two predictions of Albert Einstein’s—one scientific, one sentimental—have recently been confirmed. [Continue reading for free→]( Tales From the Underground “I can imagine the most surreal creature and there is a chance—however small—that it exists there.” That’s painter Carlos Hiller quoted in Cara Giaimo’s [story]( “What an Artist Sees in the Deep Sea” about the curious marine life thriving deep beneath the waters surrounding Costa Rica. There, undersea mountains provide a home to “everything from millennium-old corals to brand new baby octopuses.” Hiller accompanied scientists on an expedition to this mysterious ecosystem and painted what he saw over the course of 20 days at sea. Now you can [watch]( or [listen]( to the story of his odyssey, and who better to read about undersea mountains than the lead singer of an underground rock band? Join Tina Hallady of the Philly punk group Sheer Mag as she takes you on a voyage to the bottom of the ocean, through the eyes of an artist. You can also check out Sheer Mag’s latest album Playing Favorites from Jack White’s Third Man Records and catch them [on tour]( throughout May. [WATCH]( [LISTEN]( P.S. The former tyrannical ruler of Iraq Saddam Hussein was born on this day in 1937. He was ranked the third worst villain of world history in a [2015 cross-cultural survey involving 37 countries](. You could probably guess the world’s most revered hero in a few tries: Einstein. The authors’ findings suggest that excellence in science appears to be evaluated in a “pan-cultural” manner. I think that’s encouraging. As I wrote some time ago, “Maybe humanity—for all its tribalism and sectarianism—is united, at least, in its respect for a commitment to uncover the secrets of nature.” Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher Thanks for reading. [Tell us](mailto:brian.gallagher@nautil.us?subject=&body=) your thoughts on today’s note. Plus, if you find our content valuable, consider [becoming a member]( to support our work, and inspire a friend to sign up for [the Nautilus newsletter](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2024 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? [Unsubscribe](