WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: Have all the good ideas already been discovered? 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.440 Hey, everybody, it's me Josh, and for this week's s 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:07.240 Y s K Selects, I've chosen an episode from two 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:10.960 thousand and ten. Have all the good ideas been discovered? Uh? 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.360 It's an interesting one and in a strange way, it 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.160 ties into the planned Obsolescence episode we released recently, even 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:21.040 though it was recorded almost ten years before. And I 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.760 want to make a note it's possible that the listener 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.880 male person who wrote in in this episode actually predicted 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.880 the coming of the wildly popular site. Damn you auto 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:37.000 correct proved me wrong at any rate. Enjoy this episode. 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.040 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of My 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:51.240 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.840 I'm Josh Clark. With me as always is Charles W. 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.000 Chuck Bryant. And that makes the stuff you should know. 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.640 That's right, Yes it is not. They're imitators. I wonder 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:03.840 how many times I've said that that makes the stuff 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.160 you should know. No, that's just the whole spiel, the 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.840 whole opening. Hey, you welcome to the podcast. Well you've 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.800 said it about two hundred and seventy. Sometimes I think, 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:14.640 luckily we have them all saved, and we could count. 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.400 We do I don't know if it's lucky though, Chuck. 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.040 That's a lot of shows, dude, we should do something 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.480 special for three hundred. That's like, that's a lot of shows. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.200 It is that makes me proud. Okay, well, do you 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.440 think maybe we could get some cake around here or something? 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:33.560 Shrimp cocktail? No, I'm allergic to shrimp now, remember I know, 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.319 but I still like to throw it out there. Actually, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:40.759 I had a shrimp wanton the other day and nothing happened. Really, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.240 I ate a wanton with shrimp and nothing happened. So 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.240 it's just like tiny little bits of shrimp. And I 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.160 don't know. Either that or I'm getting stronger. Maybe so 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:54.960 superhuman you might say, trans human speaking of human Yes, um, Chuck. 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.920 There is a recent study that came out in part 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.760 from one of our universities here in the city, Emory 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.680 right down the street, great school. There's been this problem 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.920 that's been plaguing researchers for a really long time, and 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.120 that is, at the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic period, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.320 which is about two points seven million years ago, we 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:25.240 started using sharp rocks as bashing and cutting tools. So 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:27.959 we figured that out. Okay, you can take a rock 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.280 that's technology. That's not horse, that's technology. Yes, okay, you 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:33.960 can take this rock and you can use it to 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.679 open a coconut or the head of someone who's wrong. 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.280 Do you using an implement to complete attack? Well, specifically 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:47.160 sharp rocks? Okay? It took two million years the end 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.800 of the Lower Paleolithic period before we figured out that 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.360 we could actually attach to handles to these things. And 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:58.000 tournament how long it took? Yes, And this is baffled scientists, like, 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.920 how could it possibly have taken can two million years 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.799 to go from using your hand to attaching a stick? 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.079 You know, this doesn't make any sense. So, um, well 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:14.239 they were dumb back then. Well a dumb is close 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.480 to it. They would literally were lacking the region of 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:22.120 the brain needed. Apparently, according to this new study. Um, 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:26.880 they they basically, we developed a region in the right hemisphere, 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:32.920 specifically the supra marginal gyrus, which allowed us to go, hey, 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.280 let's put a handle on this. And after we did that, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:38.640 we moved out of Africa and started colonizing the rest 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.640 of the world. So that's they've pinpointed the region of 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.880 the brain that is specific to innovation, too specific to 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.480 um stone toolmaking. Okay, I thought you meant innovation in general. No, like, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.680 that's where your ideas come from. No, give me a 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:53.920 second old rent all time. Shoot, did I ruin it? 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.400 It's okay. Um. So we go from can't figure out 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.560 how to attach a handle to a sharp rock? Okay, 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.480 a million years we figured that out. We leave Africa 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.160 and we start colonizing the rest of the world, and 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.720 all of a sudden things start entering light speed, right, 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.720 And it seems like over the last couple hundred years, 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:17.240 you know, especially since the Industrial Revolution, our ability to innovate, 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.360 to grasp new ideas, to understand the world around us, 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.640 has just been hitting this hyper speed, and a lot 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.640 of people wonder if we've reached a point where all 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.159 the ideas, all the good ones at least, have already 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:36.640 been discovered, all the we understand how everything works, and 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.839 there's really just figuring out how to dot the eyes 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:43.040 and cross the teas right right. There was actually a 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:48.159 guy who famously said in guy named Charles Buell. He 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.080 was He was the commissioner of the Patents Office. That's 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.280 attributed to him, I should say, But he said something 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.800 like everything that can be invented has already been invented, 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.359 and he said this in a memo, basically like you 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.039 should go ahead and shut down the patent office. He 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:09.720 clearly had never considered the snuggy Josh or anything that's 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.000 been invented since. So here's what I'm gonna say. I'm 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.839 gonna go ahead and give you my summation early on. Okay, 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.359 is that I think people think at various times in 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.960 history that they've plateaued, and then I think things happen. 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.120 People come along innovators, and then they reach new heights 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.600 and they go, oh, well, we didn't know that, and 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.680 we there are new ideas, right. It's it's almost umb. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:40.599 It almost displays a shameful lack of historic awareness to 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.279 say we've reached the end of all of our good ideas. 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.960 It's just silly. It's just ask him to be made 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.720 a fool of yeah, or for people to maybe people 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.080 do that on purpose, to go the innovators and to 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:56.120 say no, yeah, right, using reverse psychology exactly, that's how 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.280 innovation works. Yeah, you might as well just give up 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:03.599 reverse psychology drive innovation. There are people though, that say 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:08.919 that technological that real technological innovation has been stalled for 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.839 quite a while. Yes, after the nineties computer revolution. Everything 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.160 else since then has kind of been like, uh, packaging 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:22.600 it and better looking cases and sleeker designs, and it's 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.040 all like design oriented it is or marketing oriented marketing. 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:31.760 These these guys, Cedric Lagare and Eric Virdo, we're both 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:36.160 with scheme of business school. Um basically say, smartphones. Yes, 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.680 they seem incredibly new and cutting edge, but really they're 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:44.440 just the packaging of several already extant technologies into a 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.480 really sharp looking handheld device. But that's still a new idea. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:50.880 I would argue it is still a new idea. But 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.520 I think what their point is is saying, like, but 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:57.159 before the late nineties and before the eighties, let's say, 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.880 with computers, but especially the tech boom of the tele 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.640 com boom of the late nineties, like this stuff wasn't around. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.360 Like it's not true innovation. It's it's kind of repurposing, right, 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:10.840 And what you were saying, like the cosmetic changes to 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:15.280 a computer. Um. One of the reasons why they believe 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.120 that this is going on is because we've come to 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:23.920 a point in the computer revolution. I think, chuck, where um, 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:28.080 it's not you can still make tons of cash just 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.560 by changing the casing of a CPU. Yeah, there's like 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.000 no money in innovation basically, is what I got from 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:38.040 this one article is that innovation costs more than it's 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.240 worth when you can just repackage what you've got in 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:45.640 a sleeker design and people buy it up exactly. Um. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.440 These two authors of this article, UM predict that we're 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.200 gonna have two trends that will drive innovation. I guess currently, right, Yes, 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:57.880 that consolidation where basically, like especially with I think they're 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.560 talking just about computers. Yeah, because they're saying the big 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.160 hardware firms are going to all consolidate all of the 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.680 smaller hardware firms to where they'll just basically be like 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.280 the big three or five, and that will leave it 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.080 to the software firms to compete and innovate. So we'll 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.160 see more innovation in the software side row than the 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.600 hardware side, right. And they're also saying that, um, the 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.600 green boom is going to drive innovation. That makes sense, 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:28.400 like coming up with sustainable packages. Are sustainable solutions? Yeah, totally. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:30.800 One of the other things they pointed out thought was 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:35.040 interesting was the they said they said the tech uh 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.360 they call it the tech refresh cycle is too small 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.959 right now. So what's happening is they'll say, Um, you 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.160 like your CD, well you're gonna love the the Super 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.120 Audio CD or Blu ray. You like your DVD, You're 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.520 gonna love Blu Ray. But guess what's coming up after 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.320 blue ray. It's gonna be like Super Blue Ray. It's 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:57.640 happening so fast. People aren't abandoning their current systems. They're 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:58.840 just like, you know what, I'm gonna hold on because 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.040 I don't want to be the guy stuck with the 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.040 laser disc player in a couple of years. So all 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.280 of a sudden, the same thing happens. No one's buying it, 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.520 so it's not worth as much money, which means that 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.200 nobody's putting any effort into it and money into it. 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:15.320 So innovations. Right. And there's a guy um named Edmund 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.640 Phelps who's a professor of political economy at Columbia University, right, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.640 and he's basically kind of saying the same thing. He's 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:28.120 saying that, um, there's not enough money going toward innovation. 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:32.719 But rather than the the onus being put on consumers 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.560 not buying blue rays out of fear of looking like 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:41.360 laser disc jerks, um, it's actually government and big business 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.360 that's not pouring money into small innovators. Yeah, he said 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:47.600 that's the innovation is the only thing not subsidized by 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.520 the United States government, which he says is actually attacks 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.079 in a way because it's not being subsidized. Sort of 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.679 a reach, you could definitely, Yeah, I think a lot 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.560 of these guy's points are a reach. But, um, what 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:04.280 he's suggesting is if the government isn't pouring money into 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:08.960 big business so that they can pour money into I 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.880 guess small venture firms. Um, these people who are in 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.800 their garages aren't going to take you know, risks, They're 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.920 not going to innovate. There's no incentive. Right. I disagree 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.680 with this. I dispute this because he's saying, like the 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.320 people who do work in their garages and you know, 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.000 are the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in the seventies, 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.760 that they were driven by this lust for money. And 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.160 I think that that's wrong. I think that people innovate 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.319 first and foremost to get this idea out of their 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.720 head and birth into reality. Right. I'm glad you said 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.760 this because I completely agreed. Regardless of what you think 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.280 of the Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg didn't invent Facebook. To make 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.160 gobs of money. He invented to make real friends. Yeah, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.920 to to innovate. And that's what that's my point that 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.480 you made is that these people in the garage, the 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.520 true innovators. They don't care if they have two pennies 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.440 to rub the other, right, They're still gonna be trying 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.319 to innovate and make a name for themselves and come 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.520 up with something awesome. Right. And now there are people 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.480 out there who are trying to innovate for you know, 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.600 the riches Snuggy. Sure, the guy who invented the snugg 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.560 he wasn't in his garage and just wanted to kind 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.720 of get this out or else I'm never gonna sleep. Yeah, 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.920 that's the people that are looking for the next get 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.880 rich quick thing. But I think you can also make 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:27.520 a point that, um, when you introduce money to innovation, 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:32.720 it leads to actual stagnation because when you introduce money, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:37.200 there's now, um something to lose, and people are less 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:39.440 willing to take risks, and risk is one of the 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.880 driving The willingness to take risk is one of the 0:11:41.960 --> 0:12:08.720 driving forces of innovation. You know, Yeah, stuff pholps had 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.360 a good idea, uh, and this will never happen, of course, 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.360 because it's a good idea to create the first national 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:18.320 Bank of Innovation all capitalized capitalized not all caps, but 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:20.720 each word is capitalized. He should do it all in 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.840 all caps with exclamation points. But basically, it would be 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:29.360 a bank that you could go and partner, you know, 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.079 as a startup company and partner with his bank for financing, 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.240 and you know, get I would guess some sort of 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.400 low interest loans to spur innovation. Right. That was a 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.640 great idea. So it is. It is a good idea, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.920 and this does happen in the real world, and the 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.800 government does pour money into innovation. He's not exactly correct 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.560 in that sense. And I also kind of resented that 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:56.000 he placed big business in between you know, people in 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.440 their garage innovating and you know, government subsidies that we 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.000 have to have big business give them the money and 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:04.960 then skimalt off the top and give it to this 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.520 guy in the garage. He's drawing broad strokes here. For sure. 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.600 There are government programs, and we'll talk about one from 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.920 the National Institutes of Health where the government says, hey, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:18.400 you have a really good idea, Mr or MS research scientists, 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.320 and we're gonna give you enough money to survive for 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.240 three years. Yeah, because the deal is you can always 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.200 get grants if you know, you put together a nice package. 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.080 But this program with the ni H what's it called 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.840 the New Innovator Award Director's New Innovator Award. This is 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.480 UH intended for people who have such a good idea, 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.559 but it's so new that they don't have the data 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.080 to write a grant where people would say, like, it 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.280 looks like you're onto something here, So they're sort of 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.079 throwing money at stuff that's like, you know, you're the 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.240 dude in the garage, and we believe in this idea, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.400 go see what you can find out, right, and we're 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.080 keeping big business out of the way. Yes, But now 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.080 that and I H owns you for the rest of 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.920 your career probably. So so let's talk about UM. There's 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.000 three people at u c l A that got these 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:07.400 grants recently and they're up to some kind of some 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.480 interesting one could say, innovative stuff. Right. They have some 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:15.319 good ideas, hugely innovative about how to UM approach problems, 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:20.160 like the professor Dino di Carlo. All these I think 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.520 these people are younger than us by the way they 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.120 are UM. Dino de Carlo is working on ways to 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:31.280 basically apply heat or pressure or chemicals to very specific 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:37.080 sites in cells using nanoparticles and magnets, which is tough, 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.360 sounds like a winning idea to me. It is basically 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.320 one of the big problems we have with UM getting cells, 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:47.920 engineering cells to do specific things like UM, I don't know, 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.800 attack other cells for fun. Like if tell me that 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.320 wouldn't be like a big Christmas gift this year. If 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.880 you could like make cells fight with one another under 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:03.520 a microscope, UM, then what you have to basically try 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.720 to engineer the cell, you know, time after time after time, 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.840 and basically program it to do what you want it 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.720 to do. What de Carlo is coming up with is 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.840 a way to use UM very tiny magnets and even 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:22.000 tinier nano particles that can basically you my brain is 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.880 so small. When you move the magnet with a joystick, 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.920 it attracts the nano particles in a certain direction or whatever, 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.560 and you can have the nano particles apply heat or 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.320 pressure or a specific chemical to a specific site on 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.280 a cell and direct it to go attack another cell 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.000 for your pleasure. That's awesome, your amusement. So one point 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.360 five mill goes to uh de Carlo and for a 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.600 good reason. And for a good reason, the other winner, 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.640 one of the other winners was Hu Huang, And you 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.880 came up with, uh, basically, I'm gonna break this down easy. 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.360 Instead of saying, let me come up with a cure 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.240 for cancer, hu Wang said, let me come up with 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:06.920 a way to detect cancer so early, like way earlier 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.360 than we've ever detected it before, that we can stop 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.760 in this track, essentially curing cancer. And he's doing this, 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:17.800 actually I don't know. She's doing this um through uh 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:23.680 nano material called graphine that is just one atom thick. Yes, 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:28.400 graphing is like the super clearly not of this world material. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:31.880 It's literally a carbon atom thick. That's it. So, but 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:36.480 it is a biological sensor to tell you when cells 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:38.320 aren't doing the things they should be doing. So did 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.880 you know a graham of this stuff's flattened covers a 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:47.000 football field? Am, Wow, it's ultra light. That is thin, 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.960 my friend, it's one atom thin. So one point five 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.200 mail to hu Wang, Right, well, did you explain how? Oh, 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:56.760 let me let me try my hand at this. So 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.040 basically what you do is you, um, you put a 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:07.400 graphine conductor transistor UM in a cell and when these 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.960 biological markers, right say his stones or something like that, 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:15.120 start to accumulate, they're attracted to the graphing. And these, 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.680 by the way these biological markers are, we found are 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.320 correlated with the growth of cancer, the origin of cancer. 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.560 That's where they're starting. UM. And when some of these 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.800 markers like are attracted to the graphing, they create an 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.040 electrical charge that we can sense. And the graphine is 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.879 so thin but so highly conductive that UM. With just 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.560 a couple of these molecules attaching to the graphing, we 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:42.760 would be able to detect it and be like who right, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.880 We'd be like, oh crap, you have cancer, and we'd 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.560 cure it right then. Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, And 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:50.080 that's a good way to approach a cure for cancer. 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:51.800 If you asked me, did I explain that? Well? I 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.040 think so, I think. And the last winner this year 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:58.960 was Jin Hi Lee and Jin is trying to debug 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.760 the brain circuit useing. You know, we have the Wonder Machine, 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.679 which is our favorite thing in the world. Fm r I, 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:08.840 which measures UH measures measures blood and oxygen levels in 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.760 the brain. So it tells you. These areas light up 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.080 there called bold signals blood and oxygen level dependent. They 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.920 light up to correspond a certain brain right, And we've 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:21.760 talked about this before, Like you're seeing that there's more 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.159 oxygen that's going to that part of the brain. So 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.280 we've assumed this is the basis of the f m 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.840 R I. If it has more oxygen being delivered to it, 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.240 that must mean that that region of the brain is active. 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.720 When you show somebody a picture of you know, their kid, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.399 like being carried away into a van, that you know, 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.040 that's the fear region right there. Um, that doesn't really 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:47.360 say anything though, and it doesn't it doesn't implicate well 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.680 it's it's not it's showing Okay, well there's more oxygen 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:53.679 in this region, right. What this is, um, What what 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:59.200 genuine Lee is looking at is, um, how what specifically 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.639 on the new ronal level is being activated? Right? And 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.359 he's using opt to genetics. So it's going to be 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:10.080 called the o f m R I. And that's beyond 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.720 even what we thought was the Wonder machine. So this 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.720 is the super duper Wonder machine. Basically, he's using light 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:20.760 to allow genetically specified neurons to be activated. Right, do 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.600 you know, um are one of our listeners that Emory 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.680 has been harping on us doing one on opti genetics 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.760 for a while. We should get this person in here. 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:31.840 This is probably as closest forever going to come down 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.719 to do it. Uh. Well, it's a great idea though, 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:40.280 obviously because Jin Young Lee won one of the Innovator 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.080 Awards as well. Yes, and they give these out every year, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.880 so they clearly believe that we're not out of good ideas. 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:50.400 No excellent point the n I h No, and we're 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.400 not out of good ideas. So yes, Chuck, we we 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:56.679 you pick those out? You found those guys all right, 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.320 Well I didn't personally find them. You're like, these guys 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.800 should get the that and I found them. Um. There 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:06.800 are very good ideas out there, right, But there is 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:15.200 a debate that's raging in science UM about whether these 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:20.560 ideas like optogenetics or um, you know, using graphine or 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:26.679 nanoparticles to cure detect cancer. Um are these variations on 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:31.120 a theme? Are they applying cosmetic changes to a computer 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:36.440 rather than really creating new parts to it? Right? And 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:41.440 basically the question is, um are are are there any 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.560 more major discoveries for us to make or are these 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:48.560 really just basically remember I've always said, like we we 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:50.199 have the pieces on the table, now we just have 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.560 to put it together. Is that the point that we're at, UM? Well, 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.119 as you said we were, I did, and then we 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.040 started researching this, and I'm like, I wonder, I think 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.320 I still do believe that UM. But within that though, 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:04.880 there's so much that it's to me a little bit 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:09.399 like splitting hairs. Well, but you're absolutely right, especially when 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.880 you throw in the word discovered, right, Discovery indicates something 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:15.600 that's already out there. We just figure it out or 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:19.600 stumble upon it. Sure, and an idea necessarily kind of 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.200 UM invention leads Yeah, it leads to an invention. It's 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:48.960 something we we've created. Like technology, let's talk about discovery, right, 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:53.760 we have a lot of UM problems that are still 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:58.119 facing us and how we understand the universe, like human consciousness. 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.800 How do brain cells create our understanding of the world, 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.080 like what we see as reality? How is that possible? 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.800 And can we figure everything out? Well, that's the big question. 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:12.640 Is there there's a UM there's Like I said, there's 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.600 a lot of debate about whether or not we'll ever 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.639 be able to figure everything out? Or if the human 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:24.439 brain just simply isn't um programmed to understand the world, 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.760 uh fully, you know will will. So there's a guy 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.399 who's a physicist. His name is um Russell Standard, and 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:34.679 he's written this book called The End of Discovery, And 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:37.280 basically he's saying he says that we're in quote a 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:41.560 transient age of human development, right where we're past the 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:45.320 point where we figured out you can put a handle 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.360 on a rock and make it an ax. But we're 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.880 right before the point where we can no longer make discoveries, 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.199 not because we've understood everything or figured everything out, but 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:59.639 because we've reached the limits of what is noble for 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.480 the mean brain. Sure, but even that look at that 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:08.040 that part of the right hemisphere that developed and allowed 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:11.639 us to put the acts handle on, Right, who's to 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.439 say that our brain won't, that we won't reach that 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.600 point where we can't know anything any longer or I 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:21.119 can't know everything? And then uh, we evolve even further 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:23.919 and all of a sudden we're even better at um 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.840 understanding our world. Right, But will we end up eventually 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:33.880 coming to a point where humans understand everything and there 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:36.960 is no more discovery to make I say no, because 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:38.800 he points out in here and this is I think 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:42.199 very valid from the Midnight century, the nineteenth century. I'm 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:44.840 sorry they said that. A lot of people in science said, 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:47.040 you know, we've kind of debunked religion and philosophy and 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.640 all these things with scientific discovery. But he points out, 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:52.960 and I agree that even if you figure out all 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:56.400 the problems of science, which will never happen, there's still 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:01.720 human life and consciousness in the subjectivity of what goes 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:05.320 on inside a person's head. You're never going to solve 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:11.360 that's not solvable, right, That's what I argue. That's subjectivism. Yeah, 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:13.560 before I think I believe in that there, well, they're 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:17.399 the whole, I guess I I agree with you. Um, 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:21.120 there's this aspect of the universe that Kant called the 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:26.320 new Amenon new Amenon. Okay, that was specifically tailored from 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:29.720