You know how raw cauliflower sometimes gets those little black spots on the surface?

It's oxidation, not mold, so there's no danger in eating it that way, but it looks less than

appetizing, and using a knife to cut away the

exterior makes the cauliflower look weird. One day I was out for a walk just letting my mind wander,

and for some reason it occurred to me that I could maybe shave those spots off with a microplane

grater meant for spices. I was interested to get home and give it a try, and straight up thrilled

about how well my idea

worked. And ever since, I've wondered why creative insights seem to happen out of nowhere. From

KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris Boyd. We've all had those aha moments. Maybe yours

have been more substantial than my life hack, but I'll take what I can get.

We can't really predict them in advance, but are there things we can do to prime our brains for

inspired ideas? John Cunoz has done a lot of work on this. He is professor in the Department

of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Director of the Creativity research lab at Drexel University.

Together with Yvette Cunios, he published an article about this in Scientific American

titled The Brain Science of Elusive AHA Moments.

John, welcome to think.

Thanks. Thanks for inviting me.

Is there a scientific definition of an aha moment?

Yes. Different people have slightly different definitions of it, but they all

center around the idea that an aha moment involves some new idea, a new solution to a problem,

a new perspective that pops into one's consciousness suddenly. And that's a little bit different

from the popular definition.

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