If you ever wanted to make an unlikely neural connection it would have just to be cancer + microgravity. Meet Dr. Joshua Chou, Australia’s Researcher of the Year (2020) who recently discovered that cancer really does not like microgravity. In fact, under simulated microgravity conditions, the cancers that were tested died within 24 hours. Too early to say what the therapeutic potential of this is, but suffice it to say that it’s tantalising.

Even more intriguing is Joshua’s back story: the connection between cancer and microgravity was sparked by a random interaction with Stephen Hawking, who introduced the effects of gravity into Joshua’s oncology research. 

(To hear the full story, follow the CrazyPodcast link below).

If you listen closely to Josh’s narrative, you will hear the following pattern emerge:

1. 1. Preparation
      Josh spent years studying in the field of biomedical engineering and then specialising in mechanotransduction.
   2. Stimulation
      Interaction with another random discipline – in this case, theoretical physics and cosmology (in the form of Stephen Hawking) injects a seemingly-unrelated idea.
   3. Incubation
      Insights rarely strike when actively ‘working the problem’. For Joshua, the connection between microgravity and cancer was made when sitting quietly on a beach years later!
   4. Illumination
      The eureka moment strikes like a lightning bolt on a sunny day!
   5. Verification
      Now it’s off to the International Space Station to confirm whether the result is replicated in actual microgravity.

Ready to have your mind blown?

This process for breakthrough was articulated by Graham Wallas in 1926, long before we had neuroscience or any understanding of the mechanics of insight.