Big Bacterial Biology Breakthrough
Craig Venter has done it again. His team replaced the DNA of one bacterium with the DNA from another of a different species - and transformed the host into the donor.
The transplanted DNA took over its single-cell host in about three days. The resulting bacterium was indistinguishable from the donor species, the researchers reported in the online edition of the journal Science.
“This is the equivalent of changing a Macintosh computer to a PC by inserting a new piece of software,” said Craig Venter, a maverick geneticist and senior author of the study.
This is the first step in designing new synthetic lifeforms. As stated before, Venter’s goal is to build an organism that bioprocesses organic material and produces biofuel.
Sphere: Related ContentTwo Vastly Opposing Views on Brainstorming, Pt. I
To become a better innovator I try to assimilate and integrate different points of view on innovation and the creative process. One of the traditional cogs of innovation is the practice of brainstorming, the group ideation technique invented by Alex Osborne in the 50s. Contrary to what you might think, brainstorming is a well-defined process with specific rules and procedures. The goal of brainstorming is not to generate ideas - it’s to generate NOVEL ideas, using thinking tools that force you to change perspective and collaborate.
I recently found two vastly opposing views on brainstorming from two very respected sources - each forming the basis of a unique creative philosophy. I find their views illuminating, as it helps focus on what makes brainstorming work, and what makes it fail.
On the pro side of brainstorming is IDEO, the nationally reknowned design group. Brainstorming is integral to the IDEO way - “the idea engine of IDEO’s culture.” In the book The Art of Innovation, there is an entire chapter devoted to IDEO’s brainstorming philosophy. A 60-90 minute brainstorming session jumpstarts every project. I found a couple of notable things in their approach:
- They often don’t begin a session until the team researches the problem at hand. Field investigations and fact finding precede ideation. This serves two purposes - better problem understanding, and better quantity/quality of ideas.
- They cover the walls and tables with paper and include toys to amuse and cheap materials to make rough prototypes.
Other than that they conduct fairly tradition ‘Osbornian’ sessions. The sessions are remarkably short and focused, probably due to the field work, and springboard them directly into the rapid prototyping phase. Their tips include:
- Focus on a well-honed problem statement
- Defer judgement (a component of all effective brainstorming sessions)
- Number your ideas
- Build and jump - transition to other focus areas when discussion tapers off
- Prepare the space for lots of ideas
- Warm-up groups that aren’t used to the process
- Use lots of visuals - mindmaps, diagrams, etc
They also discuss several ways to effectively kill brainstorming sessions:
- Letting the boss set boundaries - eliminates wild ideas
- Taking turns speaking
- Using only ‘experts’
- Doing it off-site
- Making it too serious
- Taking notes instead of giving ideas
The results of their proven process are undeniable: IDEO tops out at one of Top 20 most innovative companies in the world every year. If ‘Do What Works’ is your mantra, you couldn’t find much of a better model than IDEO.
Which makes it doubly surprising that perhaps the most ardent ‘Do What Works’ disciple in the nation, Doblin Inc., hates brainstorming with a passion.
Next: why Doblin hates brainstorming.
Sphere: Related ContentMore On That Air-Powered Car
Here’s a cool video on the air-powered car coming out of India:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFbKINlXzRk]
With all our efforts focused on electric cars, it’s sad that ideas like this are overlooked. If widely available, air driven cars would immediately fill a huge niche for local commuting. All you need to refuel is an air compressor, which you can get anywhere. Plenty of range for work/school/shopping, plenty of top speed for brief hops on the interstate. Cheap to operate. Low first cost. Zero emissions. Free air conditioning.
Two liabilities: 1) needs some work on the crash safety aspect, and, almost as important, 2) needs someone like IDEO to come up with a body design that looks a lot less…dorkish. The last one in the video is OK, the rest look meh.
Sphere: Related ContentAdvanced School for Innovators, Part II
Well, I’m back. The second ever Advanced School for Innovators (ASfI) is over.
Due to lack of time and marginal video connection, I wasn’t able to post during the school. In a nutshell:
There was a regular School for Innovators in session when we started rolling in Thursday night. We plugged in to the innovation sessions and worked with the students through Saturday morning. Sessions normally run from 7 AM to 12 AM so we were pretty busy.
The ASfI started Saturday morning and last until today. Many advanced innovation sessions, plus each of us got to present a topic of our choice. I presented on linear idea generating techniques for individual and group creativity. On Sunday we rock climbed - rock climbing is a staple of the SfI training regimen (I had a lousy rock climbing day).
It’s a bit humbling to consider only about 20 of us have been through the ASfI. I have several new perspectives on innovation, guiding creative people, and myself that I will share in future posts. Right now I think I’m at a crossroads, philosophically, and have much to consider. In the meantime, I’ve got a few things brewing on some books I’m reading and a rather testy video. Plus a very full mailbox.
Sphere: Related ContentAdvanced School For Innovators, Part I
Tomorrow I’m heading to Estes Park, CO for a rare opportunity to learn advanced innovation skills with a select group of School for Innovators graduates. Hard to resist a classroom that looks like this:
Training his held at the historic Elkhorn Lodge, right beside a sacred Native American site called Old Man Mountain. It involves 12 hour days and some intense outdoor activities like rockclimbing and mountaineering. The Lodge has wi-fi so I’ll post an update every day as time allows, to give you a flavor for what we’re getting into.
Oh, and here’s a good shot of our instructor:
Self-Healing Materials
Taking a cue from nature, materials scientists and engineers are using nanotech to create a new generation of self-healing materials. This has the potential to be one of the most revolutionary innovations of the information age. Imagine a automotive coating that repairs corrosion and minor dints/dings by itself. Clothing that heals its own rips and tears. Mechanical parts that don’t wear out. Self-repairing roofing and siding. This has the potential to extend the life of products across the board by an order of magnitude.
Think of how this kind of innovation could be put to use in your business - what opportunities would it create?
Sphere: Related ContentPareto Analysis of Two Diet Plans
This past Mother’s Day I was looking for a book on metabolism in a bookstore. I found a book called Ultrametabolism and leafed through it. It went beyond explaining how metabolism works by structuring an entire diet plan around it. I went ahead and bought it and, after reading, made a mindmap to try and keep track of the many recommendations it made. As you can see, it got pretty complex. Start at the ‘7 Myths’ topic and work your way around clockwise to get a flavor for what you’re getting into if you follow this diet plan. My history with diets is that the more complex it is, the less likely I’ll adhere to it.
A couple of weeks later I found a nearly identical diet plan entitled No Flour, No Sugar. However, the mindmap detailing this plan was somewhat less complex. While both diet plans recommend diets high in fiber, protein, and beneficial fats, the simpler one determined that the biggest bang for the buck is experienced by merely eliminating all sugar and flour from the diet. If you’ve visited the Arsenal page, you’ll recognize this as a Pareto analysis - determining the 20 percent of what you do that yields 80 percent of the benefits. No Flour, No Sugar is essential a Pareto version of Ultrametabolism, and therefore a lot easier to do.
Of course they disagree in some areas - Ultrametabolism recommends a lot of supplements and hates sugar substitutes, while NFNS eschews supplements and allows artificial sweetners. True to its name, NFNS allows all carbs so long as they are not sugar or flour, even starches like rice, potatoes and polenta. Ultrametabolism concentrates heavily on fiber-filled carbs, recommending a goal of 50 grams per day.
As an innovator I naturally try to integrate the best from both. My approach was to take NFNS as a base, add a fiber supplement called konjac root recommended by Ultrametabolism, add more fish and lean meat, and choose fiber (nuts and whole wheat crackers mostly) over starch whenever possible. But as a minimum I stick with NFNS and the konjac supplement and still get the majority of benefits - a great approach for eating out.
And before you ask - as of Father’s Day I’m down ten pounds.
Sphere: Related ContentWhy We Need Electric Cars, Part II
In the first installment I discussed the three main paths we are taking to rid ourselves of the need for oil, concluding that the electron economy holds more promise than either the biofuel or hydrogen economy. I also talked about some innovations on the supply side that will make electricity more renewable. This installment discusses advances in battery tech that make various forms of electric cars more practical.
The past two years have brought a quiet revolution in high performance battery technology. The basic problem is: how do we make 1) high energy-density batteries that 2) recharge quick enough to make you want to give up your gasoline powered car? And the solutions have been developed largely due to nanotechnology, and rethinking the fundamental assumptions of how batteries are built and recharged.
Two approaches are gaining steam. The first the development of high performance, safe lithium batteries. Two companies are targeting their new battery technologies for the hybrid/full electric car markets - A123 and Altairnano. A123 got off the starting blocks faster with their nanophosphate lithium ion cells, because they are better geared for mass production. The new cells set new performance standards in nearly every important category. They’ve nearly eliminated cycle degradation - new cells are testing out at 300,000 cycles successfully. This means you don’t have to replace the battery pack during the life cycle of the car, avoiding a major maintenance expense. They are also targeting the widest possible market, offering separate products for full electric cars, plug-in hybrid electric cars, and plug-in hybrid CONVERSION KITS. You’ll be able to take a three year old Prius and upgrade it to 150+ MPG.
Altairnano, as I discussed earlier, is partnering with others to market a full electric vehicle, but they are mainly involved in the development of the lithium battery it uses. Their innovation is to apply nanotech-engineered materials to the battery terminals, eliminating impedements to fast recharge cycles. You can recharge a 50 kWh Nanosafe battery pack in as little as 10 minutes, given adequate charging capacity. This potentially eliminates another barrier to electric car development - inconvenience. If you can eventually recharge your battery in the same, or a bit more, time as it takes to refuel your gas tank, you’re more likely to consider buying an all-electric car - which one of the things I believe that ‘Who Killed The Electric Car’ got totally wrong.
In both cases, nanotech has been used to make lithium batteries more powerful, cheaper to manufacture, and charge faster. But what about the venerable old lead acid battery? Is it becoming the Edsel of the battery world? Not according to Firefly, who has developed a way to make lead-acid batteries that compete with lithium, performance wise, at a fifth of the cost. They did so by replacing the lead with a carbon-graphite foam. This dropped the weight substantially and increased the surface area to enhance material utilization. The result is a battery that is superior to its lead based counterpart in every way - and can slip directly into the existing automotive and high performance battery distribution network.
And then there’s EESTOR, the darkhorse that promises a totally new technology that makes batteries obsolete. They claim proprietary improvements in materials have made possible a super-powerful, super-cheap ultracapacitor. They are being extremely secretive, evoking shouts of ‘VAPOR!’ from the masses, but if they are for real they’ve got a disruptive innovation that will change the way we think about electric vehicles.
Assuming EESTOR doesn’t swoop in to save the day, there are two main challenges with all-electric cars. The first is initial cost. In a purely electric car, the battery is the most expensive single component (unless Firefly carbon foam batteries come about, but they aren’t as energy dense as modern lithium batteries so they take up more room). As you saw from the response to my earlier post, the Phoenix from Altairnano will clock in at $70K, while the Telsa Roadster is now up to $98K. To increase vehicle range you have to add battery capacity, which raises cost - there will be no cost effective way, in the short term, to market an electric vehicle with a 300 mile range. And the only way to take advantage of that range would be to exploit the fast-recharge capabilities of the newer batteries - bringing us to the next challenge…
The issue with fast-recharge batteries is finding a means to exploit their capabilities in a practical manner. To recharge a 25 kWh battery in 10 minutes requires a 150 kW power source. This means your local gas station will have to invest in recharge stations. While you’re waiting on them, you’ll have to settle for a much slower home-based recharge at 240 volts - a 30 amp circuit will recharge a 25 kWh battery in about 3.5 hours. That means effective range will be limited to daily commuting - a need met with a mere 40-50 mile electric range, or about 12 kWh. For longer trips you’ll need to keep that gas minivan.
This means the easier path for early widespread adoption of electric vehicles is via plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). The current series hybrid power plants being designed for the VentureOne and the Chevy Volt use a battery for daily use and a diesel generator for longer trips. The series PHEV satisfies all driving needs, and costs less due to the smaller battery requirement.
Since a whopping 75% of all driving is ‘local’ in nature (work, shopping, school, etc), the impact of shifting that mileage from gasoline to the electric grid would be nothing short of staggering. And because most recharging would be done during off-peak overnight hours we don’t have to worry about power company ‘brown outs’ during peak air conditioning season.
Would biofuels like cellulose ethanol have a place in this? Sure - in the short term, if we had a nation of PHEVs dropping the majority of our gasoline needs, the remaining requirement could be met with ethanol and/or biodiesel. And as batteries get less expensive and high-power recharging stations appear, we can move towards all-electric vehicles with bigger batteries. And one day, if hydrogen or other kinds of fuel cells become practical, you can do away with batteries altogether.
But the first step is the PHEV.
Sphere: Related ContentBruce Lee: Master of Innovation
A few years ago, when my stepson was still studying Tae Kwon Do, I bought him a book written by Bruce Lee entitled, “Jeet Kune Do - Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way.” A master of Gung Fu, Lee decided that any fighting ’style’ brings with it limitations. The book describes in detail how Lee developed his novel fighting philosophy and instructs the reader how to train for it.
The other day I found it sitting on a bookshelf. I hadn’t read it for years so I picked it up and started leafing through. Something near the beginning caught my eye, a quote that connected me to something I have posted before:
Simple things don’t work. However, from some of the formalized schools like Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, Thai boxing, Western boxing, how can I draw on their ‘essence’ and make them work for me (attitude, economy, good form, speed, power, etc.)?
Bingo! Lee was an innovator! He was using a creative thinking tool that I have referred to as lateral connections. By connecting with the essence of various other fighting styles, he was able to find something of value in each style (positive thinking is, as you recall, one of the distinctive traits of an innovator). He decided to use these essences as the basis for Jeet Kun Do.
He went on to identify the pros and cons of each (writing in note style):
| Pro | Con | |
| Western Boxing | Efficient footwork, variety of punches, shoulder/chin in protection, all-purpose parry and block stance, conditioning, infighting, head and body movements | It has a set of restrictions and is designed to defeat an enemy in a certain manner |
| Wrestling | Leg tackle, uncrispy economic rush, protective shell while moving in, strangulation, holds, locks, ground fighting | Needs to add hair pulling, groin grabbing, eye poking, shin pinching |
| Karate | Tool development: balance, form - front kick, snap, thrust | Need to stress greater mobility and aliveness, need to modify upward snap - compare with savate |
| Tae Kwon Do | Kicking flexibility, turning heel kick, head ram, | Lacks contact, lacks broken rhythm and aliveness, lacks variety |
| Judo | Balance, osoto, foot sweeps, mat work, locks, chokes (note: study a few practical throws) | Needs to add hair pulling, groin grabbing, eye poking, shin pinching |
| Thai Boxing | Elbows, knees, actual combat | Punch not high caliber, poor left jab, uppercut non-existent, hook inadequate, gloves prevent use of finger jab and palm smash, lead foot attacks lacking, no grappling tactics |
| Wing Chun | Teaches economy of straight line, nucleus fighting, two halves of one whole | Oversimplification, lacks variety |
| Tai Chi | Esoteric, the flow | (none identified) |
| Gung Fu | Palm strike, variety to liberate | Needs to add power and be more contact |
| Fencing | Skillful use of front lead, timing and cadence, foil, saber, epee | (none identified) |
| Kendo | Zen approach, determined clash, footwork | (none identified) |
| Aikido | Flow, two halves of one whole, footwork |
Needs to add uncrispness to snap |
He found that the pros of some styles mitigated the cons of others, so in integrating the pros he was able to develop an complete, nearly formless fighting style, optimized for fighting in unpredictable situations. And it gave him a huge advantage over adversaries versed in only one or two styles, because he understood their limitations. You can see this at work in the film “Game of Death,” which was scripted to show his philosophy in action. He fights a series of opponents, each tougher than the last, each a master in a different style. He exploits their weaknesses and defeats each in turn.
In perfecting the art of Jeet Kun Do, Lee demonstrated strong creative thinking and the traits of a true innovator.
Sphere: Related ContentBusinessWeek’s 50 Most Innovative Companies
Here’s a big table showing the whole ball of wax.
I guess I don’t understand their interpretation of ‘innovation.’ What they have here is a bunch of large, well-established market leaders. Looking through the list, I can’t really see companies with breakthrough products or services. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, it was an improvement. Google has done some nice things like Google Earth but really they are just integrating commonly used apps into their core service offerings. Toyota is on there for their continuous improvement ethic - ‘doing better.’ Microsoft is the ultimate copier. Disney hasn’t had an original idea in years - Pixar does the heavy lifting for them. The Blackberry products integrate many existing functions into one device - phone, email, GPS, MP3, etc. And a big chunk of the list is retailers! I guess ‘innovation in customer service’ is import, too…
What I see here are a bunch of companies that innovate by improvement rather than breakthrough. Lots of copying and integrating. Those interviewed for the article value improvement over novelty - perhaps because it’s what their own companies are the best at doing. How a company like IDEO finishes so far down the list, who knows. No synthetic biology companies, either.
But the real head-scratcher for me is No. 7 - 3M. How can BusinessWeek name them the No. 7 most innovative company in the world, when they just got through telling us in another article that 3M can’t innovate effectively anymore.
And where are the companies producing the true breakthrough products? Where is Tesla Motors, who is first to market with a lithium battery powered all-electric exotic sports car? Not big enough or well-known enough to make the list, I guess. To me, if you’re going to do an article like this you need to balance out the list with an equal number of ‘rule-breakers.’ Seek out the companies that produce the bleeding-edge, distruptive products and services. Balance Efficiency and Improvement with Novelty and Breakthrough. You might have to dig a little deeper because these companies aren’t usually on anyone’s Top 100 list - they are the small wildcats who push boundaries.
ADDITIONAL: I just found a nice article on Wired that gives a different perspect on Apple’s ability to innovate. Money quote:
Apple is a pure design-driven company. By that I mean that they rarely produce an idea that is truly new, but when they launch a product or service, it tends to be so much better than existing products in the category that it comes off as legitimately innovative and create new markets.
Apple is a good example of the FCB Grid innovation techique. They’ll take a product like the PC and make it appeal more to the ‘feeling’ market through design.
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