Welcome, all, to An Educated Guess

“Guessing before proving! Need I remind you that it is so that all important discoveries have been made?” — Henri Poincaré (and he should know)

My name is Jeroen van Baar and I’m a neuroscientist, mental health researcher, and writer based in Amsterdam and Washington, DC. I work for the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (the Trimbos Institute) and was previously employed by Brown University.

I love research and believe it is dangerously underused. We can do much more to let scientific insight inform how we solve societal issues. So I started An Educated Guess to create something I missed online: a place to discuss the research behind big questions in an accessible and collaborative way.

What to expect

Every Friday, you’ll receive a newsletter with research updates that might pivot your perspective on a current issue. We’ll illuminate the most important trends of our time by thinking across research fields, translating ideas into beautiful visuals, and capitalizing on the knowledge of the community. Some of the topics I’m starting out with are mental health, climate change, AI, and culture; but this list will likely change and grow over time.

Each post invites the readers to participate in the analysis so we end up learning even more from one another. For more on the value of a community of curiosity, check out this post (one of my earliest ones):

Why I'm moving my research online

Jeroen van Baar

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Oct 6

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Most importantly, this newsletter is designed to be easy and fun to read and listen to. Please feel free to join the conversation in the comments by sharing your own experience of asking a question.

How to join

You have options. As a free subscriber, you will receive all posts directly in your inbox and will be able to participate by commenting below. As a paid subscriber, you will help me free up time to write more thoroughly researched essays and you will get access to exclusive chat threads and video calls. Whatever way you choose to read, you are welcome to join the conversation on An Educated Guess.