Articles on a variety of sources to provide people with new knowledge
What happens when the scope of a project is constantly changed? Well, usually complete and utter failure. In 1626, the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus was at war with Poland-Lithuania. In order to show Sweden's strength and naval dominance, he ordered the construction of one of the most powerful naval ships ever built. The Vasa. [...]
I just came across this fascinating TED video by Jens Burchardt, BCG's global expert on climate impact and low-emissions technologies. In it, he shows how much more expensive it is to produce carbon-neutral commodities, like steel. However, he also shows how small changes in our spending habits could have a huge impact on the advancement [...]
Usually, people are terrified about being wrong. But based on a breakthrough announcement in particle physics, thousands of scientists are thrilled about the prospect of some of our most deeply held beliefs being proved wrong last week. A team at Fermilab, a particle accelerator on the outskirts Chicago has recently announced new findings which hint [...]
If you ever had the feeling that products don't last as long as they used to, you might be right. It turns out that in order to keep consumers buying products year after year, some companies are actually deliberately reducing the quality of their products. In some especially nefarious situations, these companies may be updating [...]
Up until recently, most of the things we bought were designed by humans. Cars, computers, cans, chairs and cathedrals. Everything could be traced back to an individual or team who set out to design products with the ideal the combination of form and function. However, recently software has begun to find new ways to design [...]
Last weekend, I went into a clothing store for the first time in months. And I noticed that the cost of suit jackets, even for luxury brands like Hugo Boss, was significantly lower than I remember. Yes, there are sales on everywhere to try and get people to spend money at retail again, but this [...]
If you want to see an example of technical innovation, you need to see this video of NASA's latest rover touching down on the surface of Mars. In these 3 minutes, you see the result of hundreds of thousands of hours of human innovation and billions of dollars in research & development, to gently lower [...]
A lot of people think that in order to get better at something, you need to practice. What most people fail to realise though is how important it is to do the right type of practice. Take this example: Who would be a better driver? Someone with 45,000 hours over 25 years of experience driving, [...]
