The Explorer’s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavours, and the Blank Spots on the Map

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Why is it that we’re sometimes drawn to the blank spots on the map—or, more prosaically, to ordering unfamiliar dishes at a restaurant? In this talk, journalist Alex Hutchinson will dig into the ancient patterns of human migration and modern theories of neuroscience that explain the itch to discover new things, expressed not just on the slopes of Everest but in the ways we work, play, and live. New evidence also suggests that having an exploratory mindset has a powerful impact on brain health. To navigate what scientists call the explore-exploit dilemma, then, the best approach is to be “optimistic in the face of uncertainty”— even if it means getting lost sometimes.

Alex Hutchinson is an award-winning science journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of Endure and The Explorer’s Gene. He is a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail, Outside, and Canadian Running on fitness, endurance, and outdoor adventure, and his writing also appears in publications such as The Atlantic, the New York Times, and Canadian Geographic. Before journalism, he completed a PhD in physics at the University of Cambridge then worked as a quantum computing researcher with the U.S. National Security Agency. He also competed as a long-distance runner for the Canadian national team. He lives in the west end of Toronto, focusing his exploring efforts along the banks of the mighty Humber River.