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In 1966, psychiatrist Stuart Brown began his first day of teaching at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The same day, a 25-year-old engineering student and former Marine sharpshooter climbed to the top of a tower on the U-T Austin campus and shot 46 people. Brown was assigned by the state to investigate the incident. He discovered that the sharpshooter, along with many of the other convicted Texas murderers he investigated, were all from abusive families, and they never played as kids.

The importance of free, imaginative play has been studied extensively since, and science reporter Melinda Wenner wrote about the importance of play in Scientific American Mind magazine. She joins us for a round-up of this and other stories she’s following.

Melinda Wenner in Scientific American: "The Serious Need For Play"

Popular Science: "Freezing the Heart to Save the Life"

Scientific American: "Obesity's Tie To Childhood Earaches"

(Photo courtesy yoz via Flickr/Creative Commons)