including shock jock howard stern, actors richard gere, goldie hawn and heather graham and the lead singere rock band weezer. what do these people know about that we don't? meditation. are you saying that we can rewire our brains to be happier and nicer, basically? >> we can rewire our brains to be happier and nicer. >> reporter: if i meditation, i might get nicer? >> yes. >> reporter: at the university of wisconsin madison where they have one of the most cutting edge neuroscience labs on earth, the dalai lama himself granted permission for his monks, master med day or thes, to have their brains studied. lead researcher richie davidson and his colleagues were amazed by what they found. this is pretty wild. this is the activity in your brain when you're sitting there doing nothing and when you meditate -- >> there's dramatic change. >> reporter: but you don't have to be a monk or a buddhist, for that matter, to benefit from meditation. one study that came out earlier this year looked at regular people that took an eight-week course in meditation. after just eight weeks, the parts of their b