Does genius have a secret? Chances are not, but there are similarities that make them smart, creative people who are willing to push boundaries. This is how geniuses should be. We will tell you about six people who, in their own way, are helping to transform the world, including a teenager who was able to develop an innovative prosthesis, a woman astrophysicist who hunts for a "second Earth", and a scientist who wants to preserve the memory of humanity in its DNA. Their thinking stands out from their peers.
Look for indirect paths
If aliens live on a distant planet, then our optical telescopes are simply unable to see them. But maybe we shouldn't. Sara Seeger, an astrophysicist at the University of Massachusetts, is looking for a "second earth." She suggested that we could have discovered other life in this century if we paid attention to the atmospheres of exoplanets. These are fairly small objects that are close to bright stars. If they are indeed home to extraterrestrial life, it becomes clear why we were never able to detect it. However, Sarah Seeger doesn't stop just because no one has done it before. She is currently looking for these atmospheres in the universe, which may carry indirect signs of extraterrestrial life.
Don't be afraid to tell the hard truth
You all use the global delivery network to purchase many essential items, from the clothes you are wearing right now to the gadgets you use to read those words. Unfortunately, this activity creates a cacophony of noise in the sea, and it turns out to be fatal to marine life.
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Michel André from the Technical University of Catalonia once encountered a dead whale on a beach in the Canary Islands. It turned out that the reason for such an event was the noise from shipping. It is ships that carry out the transportation of goods that are supported by our consumer society.
This is an unpleasant truth, but Andre believes that it is necessary to take appropriate measures and difficult decisions to correct the current situation.
Learn on your own
A person with a truly creative mind often feels like discovering the unknown on their own, rather than waiting to be spoon-fed. This is exactly the case of the teenager Easton LaChapelle, who created a brain-controlled prosthesis. Its development is much cheaper than analogs existing in the world. It all started when Easton became interested in robotics at the age of 14. Easton created the prosthesis using the already well-known 3D printing technology. Despite the fact that the production of the prosthesis turned out to be relatively cheap, this did not affect the quality in any way. Each finger of such a "hand" is capable of lifting up to 22 kilograms. It is connected to the brain using a special wireless system.
Bridges, people and industries
Having at least one talent can lift you to the top of the profession, but real innovation appears when a person is ready to try himself in another field. For example, Anite Goel of Nanobiosim is developing a tricorder that can be used to diagnose diseases outside the hospital. This technology has the potential to completely change our understanding of what healthcare should be. The research she is conducting exists at the intersection of three completely different fields of activity - nanotechnology, physics and biomedicine.
Look beyond the horizon …
People with exceptional consciousness and ability can transcend their immediate surroundings and see things in the long term. In a sense, they can look beyond the horizon.
For Robert Grass, a scientist from Switzerland, this path is simply necessary. After all, he, together with his colleague Reinhard Heckel, is trying to find a way to store human knowledge inside DNA, which would allow them to exist forever. According to the scientist, such encoded "texts" can be stored for about two thousand years if the ambient temperature is 10 degrees Celsius. But already at -18 degrees, information may be available even after several million years. Grasse plans to write DNA data about everything that man could create. For this, he intends to select the most valuable texts that could potentially be useful to historians in the future. In addition, this information should reflect the state of society at this stage of its development.
Remember to look around for inspiration
Sometimes our obsession with new and innovative doesn't allow us to see the inspiration that is near us. Jill Forrant of the University of Cape Town decided to create drought-tolerant crops that could be without water for a long time. This problem is quite serious given the climate change that is currently taking place.
Forrant realized that she already knew how to do it, thanks to what she had seen as a child. It was a plant that can come back to life after months or even years without water. Now she is studying whether the genes of this wonderful plant can be passed on to crops.