Can You Make Yourself Smarter?

Award-winning science journalist Dan Hurley investigates the new field of intelligence training, and asks: can we really boost our brain power?

For over a century, IQ scores were viewed as a cognitive glass ceiling - placing an upper limit on what a person could ever achieve in life.

Then, in 2008, the publication of a major study showed that "fluid intelligence" - the ability to learn, solve problems and get to the heart of things - could be significantly increased through training.

But have the claims coming from the burgeoning brain-training industry now become over-hyped?

Award-winning science journalist and author Dan Hurley investigates the field of intelligence training and chronicles the transformation in our understanding of a fundamental human trait - the ability to learn. Is a strict limit set for us on the day of our birth - or can we do something about it?

Speaker: Dan Hurley, award-winning science journalist and author of Smarter (Viking, 2013)

Chair: Joe Hallgarten, director of Education, RSA