Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

If you’ve gotten goosebumps when hearing a story about a stranger’s selfless heroism, or you’ve felt your chest swell at a concert, when the audience’s voice and the musician’s instruments align, you have felt awe. And, according to professor Dacher Keltner, who has spent his life studying it, it’s one of humankind’s most unifying traits:

In most organizations, contradictions are treated as problems to be fixed. But what if they’re actually the point?

It's no wonder great writers swear by messy first drafts.

Richard Fain — Chairman and former CEO of Royal Caribbean Group — explains how a tongue-twister helped boost his company’s fortunes.

Marine Tanguy — author and founder/CEO of MTArt Agency — argues that viewing and creating art has profound benefits.

In “Warhead,” neuroscientist and national security adviser Nicholas Wright explains how the brain navigates warfare and why it is our ultimate weapon (and instrument for peace).

“Deep down the natural endpoint of this whole goal of looking for planets is to answer the question: are we alone?”

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Sleeping better helps you think better, which helps you live better. Three experts explain why quality sleep is imperative to brain function, problem solving, communication, and more.

What happens when your boss decides to weaponize positivity in the workplace?

Life's "in-between" stages pack unique cognitive benefits — if you know how to tap into them.

“The media is 10x more likely to describe experiences of being alone as negative, as compared to positive.” Psychologist Ethan Kross shares how reframing the idea of loneliness can help us feel more peace when we’re on our own.

The incredible story of how the US Army began the march toward generative AI in 1943 — and what it means for your business today.

In this expert class, writer Maria Konnikova explores how Sherlock Holmes's rational sleuthing techniques can be applied to real-world science, enhancing our understanding of memory, creativity, and problem-solving.

In this class, Natalie Nixon, founder of Figure 8 Thinking, explores her 3i Creativity Model, a framework designed to enhance individual creativity and drive organizational innovation for greater relevance and success.

This class, led by experts like Natalie Nixon and Jonah Berger, teaches the transformative power of questioning—through shadow, open, and bridging inquiries—to enhance relational intelligence, foster authentic connections, and promote effective leadership and collaboration in personal and professional contexts.

This class emphasizes that effective leadership relies on fostering psychological safety and trust, encouraging genuine commitment through empathy, delegation, and intrinsic motivation, while providing practical strategies to inspire meaningful engagement and resilience within teams.

Led by experts like Peter Diamandis and Jane McGonigal, this class teaches participants to harness innovation and creativity through clear goal-setting, a challenge mindset, and the effective use of deadlines, fostering a culture of productivity and empowerment.

This class explores the link between neurobiology and productivity, teaching participants to optimize willpower and focus through strategies like meta-awareness, the Pomodoro Technique, and the importance of rest, while experts share insights on achieving peak performance amidst modern distractions.

"If you're interested in human performance, what you want is something that's reliable and repeatable, and thus you want neurobiology because neurobiology gives you mechanism."

How can the brain — a piece of matter — love? Physics and chemistry explain the material world, but they can’t explain why it feels like something to be alive. This is the mystery of consciousness, according to these experts.

A conversation with Dr. Susan Schneider on the AI risks we’re not talking about and why the fixation on AGI is misplaced.

Neuroscientist Rachel Barr shares her favorite books on the brain and how they shaped her approach to the field.

A dialogue with Angus Fletcher — author of the bestseller "Primal Intelligence" — exploring the unique engines of human progress.

Reality TV star, music producer, and serial entrepreneur JoJo Simmons on the power of listening and the massive benefits of switching off.

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

A conversation about intelligence and consciousness with philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith.

“Because of the efficiency worship that we have developed in our industrial age, we are now seeing procrastination as a character flaw rather than what it is, a signal that is worth listening to.”

From Apple to Airbnb to OpenAI the generalist mindset has been an invaluable source of advantage — and we can all learn from these successes.