WATCH: Alison’s Gopnik’s TED Talk on Babies, Science, Brains, and Play

We all love a good TED Talk, and this one fits the bill. Alison Gopnik, author of The Philosophical Baby, shares with us some fascinating scientific findings on how babies think. In fact, she says, showing an image of a baby, that some would say, “this baby’s thinking is like the thinking of the most brilliant scientist.”

Her research dives into the “sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play.” (TED) She gives a truly neat example of 15 month old babies versus 18 month old babies and – broccoli, and how 4-year olds are actually more successful at finding out an unlikely hypothesis than adults, when given the exact same task.

It’s more fun to watch than explain. *Note: The boy at around 4:30 is pretty funny.

Check out this TED Talk below, and see why being a baby “is like being in love, in Paris, after you’ve had 3 espressos,” and how thinking more like children might just be a great idea. Enjoy!