On Creativity and on Humor

A couple recent finds:

First, Krista Tippett of On Being conducts a dense and beautiful interview of Rex Jung, an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He's a Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Positive Neuroscience Project, based at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr Jung speaks on "Creativity and the Everyday Mind."  It is difficult to summarize all they cover in this wide-ranging conversation.  However here is the introductory text to the podcast:  "How do we prime our brains to take the meandering mental paths necessary for creativity? New techniques of brain imaging, Rex Jung says, are helping us gain a whole new view on the differences between intelligence, creativity, and personality. He unsettles some old assumptions — and suggests some new connections between creativity and family life, creativity and aging, and creativity and purpose."


An interesting tidbit from this interview is that their research shows strong correlation between humor and other key indicators of creativity.

This, in turn, reminds me of another recent interview.  This one, by Shankar Vedantam of NPR, is with Robert Lynch, an anthropologist and stand-up comedian.  It delves into the connection between humor and human bonding:

 An Anthropologist Walks Into A Bar And Asks, 'Why Is This Joke Funny?'