“Dr. Heidegger's Experiment” is a short story by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is the story about four troubled elderly people who are given the opportunity to return to their youth and enjoy their former, more beautiful self. The idea of youth in this story, however, goes much deeper than that. Youth is used as a metaphor for psychological growth, recklessness and human nature. This short story explores the idea that mistakes, by their very nature, come with youth, and even if someone can go back in time, they are likely to make the same mistakes.