Why Scientists Can't Ignore Foil-Covred Tables: Turning 'Annoying Habits' into Industry Strengths

I recently saw the LinkedIn post below by Kashif Ahmed where he used a video of a family throwing a spaghetti and meatballs meal directly onto a foil-covered table, before preceding to messily eat it, as the intro to a lesson on having the courage to ‘swim against the tide’.

The first thing I thought when I saw this though was "Oh that food is going to get cold very quickly, as the foil will conduct away the heat source. Maybe they should have used cling film". 

Then I stopped myself, and remembered to refocus on the main reason for the post!

Scientific thinkers do this all the time.  Break down whatever they see in day-to-day life into a series of scientific concepts. Much to the annoyance of their non-scientific friends, peers and loved ones.

But all is not lost… Could this ‘annoying habit’ actually be a strength in industry?  

1. The scientist’s instinctive ability to break down complex problems into fundamental concepts (e.g., analysing heat loss through foil) can be invaluable in industry for troubleshooting, optimising systems, and improving product design.

2. The ability to question the default choice (e.g. foil vs cling film), can lead to innovation and better solutions in industrial processes or product packaging.

3. And finally, scientists are used to iterative thinking and are comfortable with complex, non-linear problem-solving. Which can be ideal for R&D, quality control, and strategic planning.

So, for all the non-scientists suffering with the scientist’s view of the world, all I can say is "bear with us".  We do get there in the end, even if the path is slightly more tortuous than first envisaged!.

P.S. After reading this post, the scientists amongst you will probably be still obsessing over the deliberate spelling mistake I placed in the title 😉