Serendipity, Error, Exaptation and Innovation

 


In the world today, there are several products and services we use in our everyday lives that came from an unexpected fortunate discovery and errors. Serendipity is an unsought, unintended, or unexpected but fortunate and desirable discovery that is of great benefit and happens by accident. Serendipity is the right word to describe accidental inventions. An incredible invention that is very beneficial to society and came about by accident is the invention of champagne. Champagne discovery is associated with the cold winter temperatures in the northeastern region of France, where champagne was first created. In producing wine, the cold temperatures in the winter often interrupt the fermentation process of the grapes, leaving dormant yeast cells, which will awaken in the spring when temperatures get warmer and start the fermentation process all over again. The byproduct of this fermentation process is carbon dioxide which remains trapped in the bottled wine, causing intense pressure that may result in an explosion of the bottled wine (Liger-Belair et al., 2008). However, for the bottles that survived the pressure, the wine contained bubbles, and this was not the kind of wine the wine makers intended to make. However, this sparkling wine with bubbles, now called champagne, has become very popular and is associated with celebrations. Given the worldwide perception of class, nobility, and royalty associated with champagne, the wine is consumed worldwide and reflects luxury and celebration (Moncel, 2021). Champagne has risen to be one of the most expensive wines that exist, and it is produced with different qualities that reflect directly in the price.

To err is human and given that we are human beings, we are always pruned to make errors. An error is an act that involves deviating from the truth or intended outcome unintentionally. However, making mistakes has proven to be the best path in progressing forward with anything we are engaged in doing. This is because the errors we encounter as we progress inspire us to work harder to correct the errors while identifying new areas of unsuspected truths along the way (Siegfried, 2020). Some of the errors we make have also led to important discoveries, for instance, cornflakes. Cornflakes came about by a mistake made by the Kellogg brothers, John and Will. They were boiling grain but erroneously left the pot of boiled grains on the stove for several days causing it to ferment. The mixture turned moldy. After eliminating the mold, the product that emerged was a dry and thick cereal. The molded mixture rolled out into thin sheets produced thin flakes that became tasty and crispy when dried in the oven (Pruitt, 2019). This crispy and tasty dried dough is now called cornflakes, a popular breakfast cereal.

Exaptation is the process that revolves around performing a function that is different from the one that was intended, thereby leading to an intentional repurposing of events to achieve a new objective. In Biology, exaptation is used to describe traits that are co-opted for use in cases other than what they were initially meant to be used for. For instance, umbrellas were created to shade us from rain. However, today umbrellas can also be used to shade people from the sun's rays on a hot day. This was not the original intention of creating umbrellas; however, umbrellas could be repurposed to shade people from the sun's scorching heat.

                                                                 References

Liger-Belair, G., Polidori, G., & Jeandet, P. (2008). Recent advances in the science of champagne bubbles. Chemical Society Reviews, 37(11), 2490-2511. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2008/cs/b717798b/unauth    

Moncel, B. (2021). What Is Champagne? TheSpruceEats. https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-champagne-1328734         

Pruitt, S. (2019). How an Accidental Invention Changed What Americans Eat for Breakfast. History. https://www.history.com/news/cereal-breakfast-origins-kellogg           

Siegfried, T. (2020). These are science’s Top 10 erroneous results. ScienceNews. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/science-top-10-erroneous-results-mistakes         

 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Space Tourism: An Adventurer’s Dream

  This video showcases what space tourism is at currently and what we expect it to be in the near future. Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes, and different types of space tourism exist; orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism. There is a growing possibility for a more adventurous escape to the stars in the future which gives way to space tourism for everyone and not just for the few billionaires. Currently, space tourism is in its infancy, and only a few billionaires and celebrities have made it to space for vacation, given the high cost of embarking on such a vacation. However, within the next 10 years, space tourism is expected to boom. The rapid development of the internet and technological advancements in the space industry with the involvement of the private sector companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Space Perspective, and Axiom Space will make the dreams of an ordinary man going on vacation to space a reality. The video also ...
Read more

Sociotechnical Plan for Space Tourism

Image
Space tourism refers to any commercial activity that offers customers direct or indirect experience with the outer space for pleasure or recreation  (Ferreira-Snyman, 2014) . In this era of the coronavirus, there was a collective feeling of missing out on the way we live our lives as remote work and shopping became very popular. As a result, people missed out on their routine activities such as taking vacations with friends and family, going out for sport games to name a few. This gave us the edge to look for convenient avenues we could escape to when the world becomes chaotic, as it is often said ‘necessity is the mother of invention’  (Tomassini et al., 2021) . There is a growing possibility for a more adventurous escapes to the stars in the future thereby giving way to the idea of space tourism for everyone and not just for the rich few. Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes, and different types of space tourism exist; orbital, suborbital, and lunar ...
Read more

The Rise and Fall of Toys “R” Us

Image
  Retrieved from alamy.com Toys “R” Us founded in 1948 by Charles Lazarus, was one of the world’s leading retailers of kid’s toys, educational products, baby merchandise, and other children’s products (Forbes, 2022) . This store was the leading toy chain store in the United States in the 80s and 90s. This baby toy chain store enjoyed a significant market share within the United States as its concept of having specialty mega toy and baby products aligned perfectly with the demand in the American markets. Going national, Toys "R" Us quality and affordable products drove many other toy retailers out of business. However, by the early 2000s, the tables turned and the once-mighty toy giant was no longer the nation’s premier retailer for toys. High discounted retailer chains, Walmart and Target and online sites like Amazon, together with other smaller retailer shops, brought better quality and more affordable toy products to the market thereby beating Toys "R" Us in marke...
Read more