For this blog post, I wanted to give some innovation examples, either from personal experience or from something we read, that was achieved through serendipity, error, and exaptation. As I could not think of something from personal experience, I had to read about things. The following is what I found:

Serendipity

            I found an interesting article about how plastic was invented. The article states that in 1907, a chemist named Leo Hendrik Baekeland tried to invent insulation material that would be cheaper and ended up with a moldable material (the first fully synthetic plastic) that he found could be heated up with high temperatures and not get melted or distorted (Science History Institute, n.d.). I thought it was interesting to read how plastic started and how it was perfected over time. I learned that the negative side of plastic is that it was bad for the environment. There were years and decades of concern for the environment and public health. Plastic stays forever in the environment so the issue is how to make plastic more biodegradable.

Error

            I found an article that told of the history of Coca-Cola and how it was accidentally invented by a chemical enthusiast named Pemberton who was trying to find opium-free alternative painkillers by mixing coca and cola wines together and he ended up with a recipes of cola nut extract and damiana, which is a herb that is known to treat headaches and other illnesses, and he sold it as a tonic that would cure headaches (Olaniran, n.d.). Pemberton has great success with the tonic, but the public felt it caused alcohol addiction, so he had to make the formula non-alcoholic, and experimented with blending a base syrup with carbonated water, apparently accidentally creating the first formula that will lead to what we call coke today (Olaniran, n.d.).

            I found it interesting that the initial formula contained a small amount of cocaine in it as it was legal at that time and most medication at that time contained cocaine. It caused a big stir and another reason why Pemberton had to change the formula and call it a fountain drink. Although carbonated drinks with syrup are known now to be unhealthy, coke is still one of the most popular drinks.

Exaptation

            For exaptation, I found an article about duct tape. I had no idea it went through so many changes. In this article, it states that duct tape was first thought of in 1943 by a mother of two named Vesta Stoudt who was concerned for her son’s lives and wrote a letter to president Roosevelt to come up with something like adhesive fabric tape to use to keep ammunition box sealed, and this lead to Johnson and Johnson developing the first duct tape in history (PPM Industries, 2017). The first duct tape was made of duck fabric with a plastic coat. The tape was used in the military as well as NASA, and in households. Through the years, duct tape was repurposed a few times until it is how it is made today. Duct tape has multiple uses, and unfortunately, some of these uses are typing people up in kidnapping and such. Not a pleasant thought.

            Serendipity, error, and exaptation in regard to innovation to me mean that inventions, or findings, are done by making errors, inventing something useful and it turns out more useful than originally planned and also to get a brilliant idea to make something that works well, and later it is redone to make it even more efficient. I believe a lot of things that started this way, turned out to be things we depend on greatly in society. Serendipity, error, and exaptation are all just different types of discoveries in innovation. Serendipity is usually a scientific discovery that happens with opportunity and wisdom, error discovery is when something accidental happens that leads to a discovery that is helpful or needed, and exaptation means that something has already been invented, but a new variation of the repurposed invention is designed to be more efficient.

NOTE: the photo in the blog post is from Google Images. I did not make nor design it myself and it does not belong to me.

References

Olaniran, O. (n.d.). The accidental invention of the Coke drink. Health News: http://www.healthnews.ng/accidental-invention-coke-drink/

PPM Industries. (2017, February 14). The long history of duct tape. PPM Industries: https://www.ppmindustries.com/en/news/long-history-duct-tape

Science History Institute. (n.d.). Science Matters: The Case of Plastics. Science History Institute: https://www.sciencehistory.org/the-history-and-future-of-plastics