In an interview on the Italian television program, Che Tempo Che Fa, Italian neurologist and Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi-Montalcini talks about the brain and the importance of helping others. What do these two topics have to do with one another? According to Rita Levi-Montalcini, we can control our actions and emotions by using a different part of our brain.

To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .

Italian neurologist, Rita Levi-Montalcini, in an interview with Italian journalist and television anchor Fabio Fazio, states that “progress and research must continue; you cannot lock up the brain”. What would lead this prestigious representative of the international scientific community to talk about the brain and the need for altruism?

Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in 1909 in Turin, Italy. Although her father believed that women should not pursue careers, Rita graduated summa cum laude from the University of Turin Medical School in 1936, and then completed a degree for specialization in neurology and psychiatry in 1940. She received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery with colleague Stanley Cohen of Nerve growth factor (NGF). Since 2001, she has also served in the Italian Senate as a Senator for Life.

Her intellectual curiosity is not limited to the study of scientific theory; she has also always been interested in changes in human society. Her research is not conducted simply out of scientific interest. She also has a strong belief and message for our future: it is fundamental for people, from a scientific point of view, to have an objective that includes helping out those who do not have the privilege of belonging to the scientifically and technologically elite.

Rita discovered that man is born gregarious, because he is guided by the part of the brain that is dominated by the limbic lobe, which is characterized by emotion. But what are the implications of this observation? Our actions, which come from the emotional part of our brain, can result in harmful consequences. Therefore, behaviors derive from primitive impulses. Her conclusion is that we can use our neocortex to offset these behaviors. In other words, our future can be changed. We must strive for the control and usage of the neocortex instead of the limbic system, in order to control our actions and behaviors.

Our future can be found in our brain.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_QB_5MQCCk&NR=1

According to economist Alex Tabarrok, new ideas will feed the world through globalization. At a TED event, Tabarrok explains how a global market can increase the incentive to produce new ideas, which in turn will drive growth and prosperity.

To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .

“One idea, one world, one market.”

Free trade and globalization are definitely not new discussion topics. They are, however, ways in which we can turn the world into a prosperous community. At a TED event, economist Alex Tabarrok assures the audience that the “best is yet to come” through idea-sharing and globalization. Tabarrok is the co-author of the hit economic blog, MarginalRevolution.com, as well as the Director of Research for the Independent Institute. Tabarrok’s interest in economics, law, and public policy, has helped him brainstorm ways in which we can feed the world with new ideas.

The equation is relatively straightforward: new ideas drive growth. While an apple can feed one person, an idea can feed millions. In order to produce new ideas, people need to increase the incentive to create these designs. Tabarrok asks, how do we maximize the incentives? The answer is globalization; larger markets generate larger profits.

Tabarrok believes that ideas are meant to be shared. As more countries became wealthier due to globalization, it would allow for more idea creators, such as scientists and engineers. For far too long the United States has been the leader of ideas; if more people worldwide had the ability to generate new ideas, we could increase the number of idea creators and ideas could be shared by everyone.

The world must become more globalized in order to generate and share ideas. Through free trade and a global market, the world could become healthier and more prosperous than anyone could have imagined.

More Info:

• http://www.ted.com/talks/alex_tabarrok_foresees_economic_growth.html
• http://www.marginalrevolution.com

Is it possible to create live architecture capable of regenerating itself just like live organisms do? Thanks to her studies, vision, and ambition, Rachel Armstrong has made this idea more realistic. In fact, by using architecture that grows itself, Armstrong believes that we will be able to save Venice, Italy from sinking.

To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .

Rachel Armstrong has devised a way to bring architecture and biology together. She believes that it is possible to create chemically engineered building materials that can grow, self-repair, and respond to changes. These materials, Armstrong believes, could even be used to save Venice, Italy, one of humanity’s most beautiful cities which is slowing sinking in the ocean.

Armstrong refers to the current method of architecture as “old” and “Victorian”; inert objects such as concrete are used to construct our buildings and homes. While this may not seem problematic to most people, Armstrong does not consider this method sustainable. Instead, architecture should be connected to the natural world, and communicate with living matter. Since these materials do not naturally exist in nature, Armstrong is working to generate them from scratch. She researches “metabolic materials”, which are construction materials that possess some of the properties of living systems, and can be manipulated to “grow” architecture. These materials would be able to respond to changes in the environment and adapt accordingly.

Protocells, which are basically fatty bags containing no DNA and run by a chemical battery, are able to conduct themselves in a way that can only be described as living. They are able to move around their environments, undergo complex reactions, and follow chemical gradients. Using the protocell technology, Armstrong hopes to create sustainable, metabolic materials. Although this technology will take years to create and perfect, hopefully these materials will be used to save dying cities.

Venice, Italy is built upon wooden piles that have eroded over many years. As the beautiful city continues to sink, Armstrong hopes that the protocell technology will be able to reclaim the city by growing a limestone reef around the piles. These cells would be used for reinforcement purposes instead of just creating a reef in the canals.

Not only does this technology seem plausible, it would be a great innovation for architecture. Now more than ever we stress the idea of being as eco-friendly and “green” as possible; what better way to connect with nature than with this technology? It is our duty to try to salvage historical cities, and metabolic materials may very well be the answer to our problems. Furthermore, as our world becomes more technologically and scientifically advanced, it should seem reasonable to update some of our older practices as well.

More Info:

• http://www.rachelarmstrong.me/
• http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_armstrong_architecture_that_repairs_itself.html

Innovation and strategy expert Gary Hamel shares his view that management itself needs to be reinvented in order to accommodate the new needs of business.

To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .

Gary Hamel, among the biggest experts worldwide of strategy and innovation, entices us to reflect upon the necessity of a renovation of management in order to organize and mobilize human capabilities. The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Hamel as the world’s most influential business thinker, and Fortune magazine has called him “the world’s leading expert on business strategy”.

Gary Hamel, among the biggest experts worldwide of strategy and innovation, entices us to reflect upon the necessity of a renovation of management in order to organize and mobilize human capabilities. The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Hamel as the world’s most influential business thinker, and Fortune magazine has called him “the world’s leading expert on business strategy”.

According to Hamel, the past certainties that every one carries within have had damaging effects in the organizational realities of today and the managers have to have new principles in order to overcome the difficulties that the economy foresees. Moreover, the web is demonstrating an incredible force when it comes to modifying inefficient organizational systems that become consolidated with time.

The authentic innovation is not that of products, process or strategy. The competitive advantage that lasts longest is that which derives from innovation of the organizational methods and the capacity of the people that head the agency.

It is difficult to imagine how something that has remained unchanged for so long could all of a sudden transform. However, we can’t ignore the changes that technology is bringing forth to the organizational structures, changing the relationships of those in power, democratizing the decision-making process, and counting on an ever more refined system of collective intelligence.

More Info:

• http://www.hsmglobal.com
• http://www.garyhamel.com
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVX8XhiR1UY

Andy Warhol’s biography is not just a series of events, but actually a story about life: it is the story of an existence tied to all that has been described as creative. Andy Warhol’s biography is the testimony of an artistic genius, who, thanks to its sensibility, has foreseen every artistic trend and period. Here are three tips for today’s artist from someone who knew how to live in the future, and still be successful in the present.

Born the son of a Slovakian immigrant, Andrew Warhola was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on August 6th, 1928. His talents were vast and plentiful: painter, sculptor, photographer, director, actor, music producer, television star, model, and advertiser. His life was a continuous search for the unknown, and lived in the future as if it were the present. Today it can be said that his life was a culmination of all that was innovative and radical in the 60’s, during the time of Pop Art and underground film, as well as in the 70’s and 80’s during the beginning of the postmodern era.

The famous Factory, where his paintings and films took form, was his private Hollywood; a forge of dreams, and a crossroad where friends, prostitutes, artists, and important gallery owners could all meet to share thoughts and ideas. It was the groundbreaking place for the fashion revolution, where it could all happen, and happened. Why was Warhol so unique? He had the extraordinary ability to penetrate the woven threads of contemporary culture and reveal both the positive and negative peculiarities of American society.

Who was actually the artist who changed contemporary art? Who knew how to live in the present, while always looking towards the future? From the depths of Warhol’s creativity and artistic genius, here are three tips about life and art:

More Info:

• http://www.warhol.org

Arnaldo Pomodoro is more than an artist and goldsmith; his brilliance comes from his innovative visions. Here are some valuable thoughts from the artist himself, his predictions about life, art, and the future.

The worldwide reputation of Arnaldo Pomodoro has humble origins. He was born in Morciano di Romagna, Italy on June 23, 1926. After the birth of his brother, Gio Pomodoro, another sculptor whose talent is recognized on an international level, his family moved from the beautiful countryside to Pesaro. It was here in this city where the brothers were able to study and produce their first artistic creations. Arnaldo served as a consultant for the restoration of public buildings in Pesaro, while studying stage design and working as a goldsmith.

After the death of their father in 1954, Arnaldo and Gio moved with the rest of their family to Milan, and began to immerse themselves in the art culture. His work was first exhibited that year at the Galleria Numero in Florence and at the Galleria Montenapoleone in Milan. In 1955 his sculpture was shown for the first time at the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s he executed commissions for outdoor sculpture in Darmstadt, New York, and Milan. In 1995 the Municipality of Rimini commissioned him to make a sculpture in memory of Federico Fellini; in 1996 the work Sfera con sfera of diameter 3.30 metres was placed in the United Nations square in New York; and in 1998 he received a commission to create the portal of Cefalù cathedral.

The list of his accomplishments and awards from Arnaldo’s career is long and prestigious. The portrait of his life that so far has been painted is one of an artist who expresses himself through his Italian identity, but is always ready to lead his talents in new and innovative directions. And what about his art? His art maintains its roots in the past, gives attention to the present, and is always one step closer to the future.

From the eyes of an artist, here are some reflections about art, the present, and the future:

More Info:

• http://www.fondazionearnaldopomodoro.it/