When struggling to solve a problem, the brain slips into "focused mode." The trick, says Barbara Oakley, author of A Mind for Numbers, is zooming back out into "diffuse mode" so that larger neural networks can toss the problem around and, hopefully, come to a solution. Salvador Dalí and Thomas Edison did so by taking the briefest of naps; Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, by heading out for a walk. These and other tricks for learning are the subject of Oakley's book and another—How We Learn, by New York Times science writer Benedict Carey, who writes that forgetting is the greatest ally of learning.

Read excerpts of the books, do activities, and take a quiz at sciencefriday.com/learning.

To Master Test Material, Give Your Brain a Break

Ryan Rykaczewski describes one of the most massive migrations on the planet, driven by the sun. Image by Tintinnidguy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

#ExplainTheSun  - The Largest Migration on The Planet

Once, there was the ordinary incandescent light bulb. It shone brightly, but wasted much of the energy put into it as heat. Then came the compact fluorescent. And as costs have dropped, consumers have increasingly been switching to light-emitting diode (LED) technology for many lighting applications, in an ongoing search for a more efficient bulb. Now, in work published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers report that nanophotonic devices may be able to breathe new life into old incandescent technology. Marin Soljačić and Ognjen Ilic, two authors of the study, explain how they’ve been able to “recycle” some of the incandescent bulb’s wasted heat and re-emit it as visible light, boosting efficiency.

For the Lowly Incandescent Bulb, a Ray of Hope

Science, technology, and other cool stuff from public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people. From WNYC Studios.

To Master Test Material, Give Your Brain a Break

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