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Oops - Carbon 60

Listening to Howard Kroto talking about the research that led to the discovery of a new form of Carbon molecule, Carbon 60, (which has the same resilient geodisic structure like a soccer ball and which has the potential to be many times stronger than steel while a fraction of the weight - a bridge from England to France being viable, for instance) he asserted the role chance plays in research and science funding that is too specific will miss the real breakthroughs - which come about from being open to mistakes and accidents.  When I'm editing I make mistakes pretty regularly and so knew exactly what he meant, it's when doing something wrong that something unexpected reveals itself, and is often more interesting than the original idea being worked on.  I'm not sure I have the 'vision' to recognise anything of real significance and seem to waste a whole lot of time and effort travelling down cul-de-sacs.  I only know they are cul-de-sacs, though, when I get to the end of them.





C60 solution image by Alpha six from Germany