The current revolution in neuroscience is reshaping the way we see the world. Just as Darwin changed the way we thought about our origins, new research is altering our understanding of brain function and its effect on human behaviour.

In society and in our educational systems we tend to overrate IQ, writes David Hare. To paraphrase the multiple intelligences theory of esteemed psychologist Howard Gardner, we measure how clever you are (intellectually) rather than how you are clever (which could include loads of other talents, such as fixing a car or knowing how to build rapport with people).

Thirty years ago SGI President Daisaku Ikeda predicted that Africa would be the continent of the 21st Century. In a recent  interview with This Way Up, the inspirational leader of SGI Buddhists in Nigeria, Dr Bamgboye Afolabi, claims that the happiness-making machine is roaring into life across Africa

I was so moved by new film The Sessions, written and directed by Ben Lewin, that I felt compelled to share its brilliance. Admittedly the story, about a severely disabled man, a virgin hiring a ‘sex surrogate’, did not appeal to me. In fact if I had not borrowed a BAFTA screener from my boss I would not have paid to see it at the cinema. And what a loss for me that would have been.

Foodbanks are desperate for donations. Shocked after hearing that local children were fainting in class because their parents couldn’t afford to feed them properly, I sought out a foodbank in the Greater Manchester area. My provisions were repackaged immediately by a volunteer and handed out to sad, hungry-looking people in the long queue outside the church.

At the age of nine Larry Loyie was forced to leave his home in Alberta, Canada, and the traditional Cree way of life, to attend a boarding school where the goal of teaching was to wipe out his native language and traditions.

In his 50s he started to practise Nichiren Buddhism, and this became a turning point in fulfilling his dream of becoming a writer.