Where Great Innovation Comes From & Why You Don't Notice What's Right in Front of You

Everyone knows that practice makes perfect. Or does it? Practicing is certainly important when you're trying to master something new, but research suggests there's another ingredient that can make practice far more effective. And the surprising part is that it involves not practicing. It turns out that what you do between practice sessions may be just as important as the practice itself. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/take-short-breaks-to-maximize-memory-and-learning

We tend to think great innovations happen when brilliant people have brilliant ideas. But the real stories are often much stranger. Accidents, spectacular failures, and discoveries that almost never happened have changed the world in remarkable ways. So what really drives innovation, and where might the next big breakthrough come from? Andrew Leigh, former economics professor at the Australian National University and Australia's Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, joins me to explore the surprising ways new ideas become reality. He also hosts the podcast The Good Life and is the author of The Shortest History of Innovation: From the Wheel to Gene Editing, AI, and Beyond—How New Ideas Shape Our World (https://link.amazon/B01K1qu64).

You can look right at something and still not see it. In fact, the more familiar something becomes, the less likely you may be to notice it at all. Think about the fire extinguisher in your office, the emergency exit at a place you visit regularly, or the little things around your home that have been there so long they've practically become invisible. Why does your brain tune out things that are right in front of you? And what important information might you be missing because of it? Alan Castel, professor of psychology at UCLA and author of Better with Age (https://link.amazon/B0iqnRuC5), joins me to explain the fascinating difference between seeing and noticing, why familiarity can make us surprisingly oblivious, and how to become more aware of the world around us.

The hands on an analog clock always move in the same direction — clockwise, of course. But why that direction? Who decided? There's no obvious reason a clock couldn't run the other way, and yet clocks all over the world follow the same convention. The explanation goes back much further than the invention of mechanical clocks, and once you hear it, the whole thing makes perfect sense. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/why-do-clocks-go-clockwise

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