Daniel Coyle travels to Russia's top tennis player factory in search of how to grow a super-athlete. "Deliberate practice means working on technique, seeking constant critical feedback and focusing ruthlessly on improving weaknesses." The article starts off a bit slow but gets interesting a few paragraphs in.
"Shy people may be quiet, but there's a lot going on in their heads. When they encounter a frightening or unfamiliar situation -- meeting someone new, for example -- a brain region responsible for negative emotions goes into overdrive." (via mr)
Rejected "grandmother cell" suggestion -- that individual neurons respond to single concepts -- may be true after all. "For things that you see over and over again, your family, your boyfriend, or celebrities, your brain wires up and fires very specifically to them. These neurons are very, very specific, much more than people think."
