aroraborealis

I should also say that I strongly believe that enthusiasm is a definitional component to brains, at least within certain ranges of both scales. PhD students in my world range from bright to brilliant. The bright ones are the ones that don't make it. I'm increasingly convinced that the missing ingredient is a kind of enthusiasm (passion, drive, curiosity, there's lots of ways it can be shaped) that it's just not possible to be brilliant without. I don't think the brilliant ones come to us with more brains our knowledge than the bright ones, but something about how they engage with the learning is what makes the difference.