One beautiful day, I showed up for work, where I had just been promoted. I was right in the middle of training a new girl, when my boss asked to talk to me for a second. After that conversation, you can effectively cross “had a good job” off my comfortable living checklist. No warning. In fact, just the month before I had received my fifth Employee of the Month award. I was speechless and so was everyone else. Seven of us were cut from my department that day. Later, I would discover that there were thousands of cuts companywide. I worked at a bank. A failing one.

When something like this happens to you, it’s natural to ask why. I reviewed all my work accomplishments. I thought about how I had been a top performer every month since I was hired and about how they gave me the highest rating on my review. What had I done wrong? What could I have done better?

The truth is that sometimes we search for a logical explanation in a situation that can’t be understood. The only way to move past it is to have confidence in the job you did as an employee and understand that you are a victim of an unfortunate circumstance.

Speaking of writing, with all of the extra time on my hands, I reunited with the long lost love of my life: writing.

I decided to pursue writing as an actual job. I designed a website and applied for writing jobs. I started getting more and more clients. It occurred to me that with some hard work I might be able to make a living doing what I love. So there I was, three months after the sky fell, thinking about how incredibly blessed I was. And this would never have happened had I not lost something in the first place.

Researchers have been looking into silicon carbide(碳化硅), a promising alternative material for the semiconductor (半导体) industry, for several years now. Size, weight and efficiency are three important factors for power electronic to fit in e-cars. Silion carbide meets all three factors. It is more efficient but leaves a smaller footprint than conventional semiconductors such as silicon.

Even so, silicon carbide isn’t to be found in any e-cars on the road today. This semiconductor material is still limited to research labs. To shift it from the lab to the factory, the Si on Carbide Module (模块) project has taken into consideration all the conditions of industrial production. The module's design is a good case: researchers at the Fraunhofer IZM are basing it on the structure of the classic printed circuit board that the industry has long favored. This should speed up its first display.

The module is also benefiting from the latest scientific advances. Instead of wire-bonding the semiconductor to the package, the researchers decided to put it directly in the circuit. The team also brought the potential customers on board for this development effort. In the project’s first year, they drew up a specification (规格) sheet illustrating the requirements for the module and semiconductor. The researchers worked closely with users, catering to their wishes when they determined the product specification.

Automakers, component suppliers and OEMS were directly involved in the effort to map out the power-electronic module’s size, layout and electrical circuits. The group sought to make the most of the space available in the vehicle’s power train. Lars Bottcher, group leader at the Fraunhofer IZM and head of the SiC sub-project, says, “The major goal is to advance the new semiconductor material silicon carbide to mass production.”

What Can We See in a Logo?

We see hundreds of logos on signs, vehicles, websites, and even on the clothes we wear. All of these logos are designed to attract our attention. They also help us remember a product or service connected to that image.     11    

Researchers gave 85 students a simple assignment to draw the Apple logo purely from memory. Surprisingly, only one student in the study could accurately draw the logo from memory.     12    

Researchers have developed a theory that they think might help to explain this blind spot in our memories.

Logos are typically designed to be simple and easy to recognize with a quick glance.     13     This process is known as “attentional saturation (注意力饱和).” Our brains actually signal us to ignore information we don’t think we will need to remember.

Even though the brain is accustomed to ignoring unnecessary details, it is also programmed for recognition.     14     This constant exposure leads to something scientists refer to as gist (梗概) memory. It means that our brain remembers the basic idea without all of the details. This general sense of memory has its own benefits. In fact, familiarity with a popular logo can even make people feel more comfortable about purchasing or using certain products.

Logos are everywhere we look today. A fancy design or a thoughtful color combination may be a good start for a logo concept, but there are other factors to consider.     15     A clever design may be interesting, but most people will forget the details—especially if our brains have anything to say about it.