One of the great characteristics of the sciences, from astronomy to psychology, from anatomy to zoology, is that every generation builds on the work of those that preceded it. As Isaac Newton put it in 1676, “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” This regular knowledge transfer happens—most commonly—because of schools. It begins with reading, writing and arithmetic in the earliest grades, and it continues all the way through our formal college education, where students with the right combination of talent, interest and funding can enroll in courses on neuroscience,...
