Adventure Brains

Why do some of us seek more adventure than others? An article on what adventurous brains are like.

“In fact, we may owe the continued existence of the human species to those crazy adventurers who weren't content to squat around and eat bugs with a long stick—the ones genetically inclined to seek out the better-tasting protein, the greener pastures, the prettier mates from unfamiliar territory.

There was also, of course, something adaptive about staying in the grotto to doodle with chalk rather than fight the mastodon. And so, many of us have some 'fraidy-cat genes, too… Witness free climber Steph Davis, who frequently jumps off objects in a ‘squirrel suit’ and last summer broke her pelvis jumping (with Ted) off our very same W Hotel.

..When we drop into a stream's tongue or thread a mountain bike between rocks, all our senses buzz to life. The garage-band noise in our head fades away. .. ‘I have trouble feeling where the river stops and my body starts,’ he says. ‘I feel very calm. It's a Zen state. I surrender.’ Or, as kayaker Trip Jennings, who's pioneered first descents on rivers all over the world, puts it, ‘I feel focus but also a sensation of freedom and intuition. I love that first stroke, when you're fully committed.’"