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Quick Studies

Learn, Stanford style, without going back to class. Presenting Quick Studies, a monthly collection of articles, videos and podcasts curated exclusively for you.

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Culture and the Mastery Mindset
Are you more concerned with learning a new hobby for its own sake, or with demonstrating your competence in said hobby? According to new research, the difference can have everything to do with the culture of your work environment.
Read the Stanford News article  »

 

 

Why Kids Need to Separate from Their Parents
"The cultivation of a willingness to defy, debunk, or just plain old disappoint one's parents, that is the absolute precondition. . . for intellectual and emotional freedom." Literature Professor Terry Castle argues that today's college students are too close to their parents.
Read the Chronicle of Higher Education article  »

Gearing up for a Conflict, or Retreating for a Treat?
New research reveals why some conflicts make you angry, energized and ready to fight, while others leave you drained and exhausted—and yearning for chocolate.
Read the Stanford Graduate School of Business article  »

Watch

Stanford Wires Up Vintage Sports Cars video
Zoom! At Laguna Seca Raceway, Stanford researchers are using modern sensors on antique sports cars to help build the cars of the future.
Take in the Stanford University YouTube video  » (2 min.)


Where Google Gets Its Ideas video
Look for ideas everywhere. Iterate a lot. Spend time (20 percent of it) dreaming. Marissa Mayer, '97, MS '99, Google's vice president of search product and user experience, reveals the company's success secrets.
Check out the YouTube interview  » (49 min)

The Best Is Yet to Come video
As life spans grow exponentially, there's reason to rejoice. Why? Because, according to psychologist and Center for Longevity Director Laura Carstensen, "Older people are happier."
Listen to the TEDx Talk » (12 min.)

Listen

Solar Power in a Suitcase audio
Laura Stachel and Hal Aronson, co-founders of WE CARE Solar and winners of the Tech Awards 2011, describe the plug-and-play solar system they designed to provide power in hospitals around the world.
Listen to the NPR podcast  » (35 min.)

Reinventing the Lecture audio
Techwise Conversations host Steven Cherry interviews artificial intelligence professor Daphne Koller, PhD '94, about the benefits, costs and logistics of online education.
Tune in to IEEE Spectrum's Techwise Conversations podcast  » (13 min.)

Is Stanford Too Close to Silicon Valley? audio
Nicholas Thompson, '97, talks with New Yorker journalist Ken Auletta about the pros and cons of Stanford's entrepreneurial culture, the future of education and the so-called campus duck syndrome.
Take in the New Yorker Out Loud clip  » (25 min.)