Sam Wang

Neuroscientist, Princeton University

Sam Wang is an associate professor, Department of Molecular Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute.

Wang grew up in California and studied physics at the California Institute of Technology. Seeking his Ph.D. at Stanford University, he switched to neuroscience. He has worked at Duke University as a postdoctoral fellow and aided political leaders as a Congressional Science Fellow. After completing his postdoctoral studies, he spent two years at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., where he learned to use pulsed lasers to study brain signaling before coming to Princeton.

Wang, who has published more than 40 articles on the brain in leading scientific journals. His educational reach extends past the laboratory and classroom in his books, popular articles and efforts to convey neuroscience to interested nonscientists.

How I Make Work Like Play

A good half the time, I’m doing what I want to do, which is very rewarding. It’s like play.

Is Willpower Innate?

Is willpower something that we’re born with and live with our entire lives?

Our Old Genes Have Collided with the Modern World

We have old genes that are well adapted to living in some previous environment that are constantly encountering new environments.

Parenting Books Are Often Worse for the Baby than a Glass of Red Wine

Stress at critical periods of development can be bad for the developing brain.

Two Neuropsychologist-Approved Stress Relievers

As long as the stress is transient, and then taken away, that seems to be a feature that leads to better stress responses later on.

What Hundreds of Studies Don’t Say About Birth Order and Personality

Family size is a much larger determinate of personality than the order of one’s birth.

Stupid Brain Tricks: How to Increase Willpower and Self Control

Brushing your teeth with the wrong hand can increase things that might matter to you much more, like sticking with an exercise program.

All Videos

Bilingualism Will Supercharge Your Baby’s Brain

Children exposed to two languages before their first birthday enjoy myriad cognitive benefits.

▸

2 min

—

with

Sam Wang

All Videos

How to Teach Your Child Self-Discipline

Two things that are intuitively obvious to most parents – the importance of teaching children self-discipline and the educational power of fun – are also unusually well-supported by science.

▸

2 min

—

with

Sam Wang

Surprising Science

Experiences Can Change the Brain

Studies in neuroscience over the last few decades have confirmed an idea originally suggested by philosophers and psychologists: how much the brain can change in response to our experiences.

Surprising Science

Why You Should Read Shakespeare to Your Children

Listening to Mozart does not improve your child’s cognitive development. Reading Shakespeare will.

Surprising Science

Why You Should Read Shakespeare to Your Child

Passive acts, like listening to Mozart, will not make your child smarter. On the other hand, active engagement–learning to play an instrument or processing words–improves mental functioning. For instance, there […]