by Josef Firestone

Created on: October 29, 2008

How to know when a moment of inspiration

is a good idea?

Whenever scientists are asked to make predictions on how long it's going to take for an important research to be completed and applied, so the general public can enjoy the fruits of years of their intensive work,

the answer is almost never a definitive one.

Medical questions such as 'when are we going to find the cure for cancer, aids, or diabetics?' Are answered with we know a lot, we came a long way, within 10-20 years' etc...

Surprisingly enough is the tempo almost always faster than the cautious time limit predicted.

Other fields where the public is waiting for conclusive results are aging, genome research, neuroscience, astronomy, physics and many more.

The reason a scientist is cautious in his prediction, is not his lack of confidence or knowledge.

Some of the great researchers enjoy a quality called Serendipity-

The lucky tendency to find interesting or valuable things by chance.

History tells us that almost all fields of science accelerated after big breakthroughs due to moments of great inspiration by great men such as:

Newton - Law of gravitation.

Darwin - Theory of evolution.

Fleming - Discoverer of penicillin.

Janski Establishing that Radio Waves are coming from space.

And lately the discovery of Mirror neurons by Giacomo Rizzolati and colleagues Fadiga, Fogassi and Gallesa in the university of Parma Italy 10 years ago.

The last is a good example of inspiration - the researchers

have noticed accidentally' that the same neurons were active in a monkey's brain when he was reaching for a peanut and when he watched a researcher reaching for a peanut (the accident).

This unexpected discovery has brought a new dimension into neuroscience research, aiding in understanding our ability to learn language, a better view of autism, contributing to theory of the mind, and in general helping us to comprehend the great evolution the brain-mind has gone through the last 250,000 years. And all because a researcher was tempted to grab a peanut!

How could anybody anticipate that?

A lot of the great discoveries and breakthroughs in men's history were a result of inspiration but not only that - needless to say, normally it was just the spark that ignited many years of hard work.

The average man and woman, the 'ordinary' one, that lives in suburbia or anywhere else for that matter, goes to work 5 days a week and comes back to his home and family (or not) leading a 'normal' life with this or the other belief and opinion is also doing

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