Latest news with #ThomasHenryHuxley
Times
11-08-2025
- Science
- Times
See the Galapagos from Hermes, the newest luxury catamaran
'There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self,' the prominent English scientist Thomas Henry Huxley once said. Nicknamed 'Darwin's bulldog' for his pugnacious defence of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, Huxley believed that we shouldn't claim to know things for which there is no evidence. Brought to world attention 190 years ago, when the 26-year-old Charles Darwin arrived at the Galapagos during his five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, the Galapagos has proved itself over the decades to be one of the world's finest places to see wildlife. Thanks to the foresight of the Ecuadorian government, who in 1959 made the archipelago a national park, today its unique biodiversity has been conserved, making it the world's finest natural laboratory for studying evolution. 'There has never been a better time to visit the Galapagos,' Pablo Vargas, one of the certified naturalist guides, tells me, as we stroll along the copper sands of Rabida Island. Thanks to development projects that have brought together scientists and grassroots volunteers, the islands' conservation data is now certainly impressive. The numbers of endemic wildlife are increasing each year and invasive species (the pigs, goats and rats brought to the islands by passing ships) have been eradicated, in large part due to work undertaken in tandem with Leonardo DiCaprio's charity Re:wild. A preservation-first approach to tourism has also been developed, bringing conservation-minded visitors to this fragile region of the planet, and in turn raising much-needed funding. One of the newest ships to transport high-end visitors around the islands from this May is Hermes, a 50m catamaran that bridges the gap between expedition-style cruise ships carrying up to 100 passengers and smaller local boats. It was launched, said Esteban Velásquez, the second-generation CEO of the Ecuadorian, family-owned, Via Natura, because he recognised that the ultra-rich weren't being catered for when cruising the Galapagos. 'On the cruise liners you're just a number, while the small boats lack amenities,' he explained. While there are private superyachts for charter in the area, he added, restrictions are tight. Which makes Hermes — built in Ecuador and exclusively operated in the Galápagos — the first of its kind. The equatorial sun is riding high as I approach the yacht on a speedy tender, and I catch sight of the first of the full-height tinted windows that give the multihull a distinctly superyacht aesthetic. There is also a distinctive fourth deck — on which passengers can dine on private tables, while observing nightly visitors such as sea lions sleeping on the aft deck near big-billed pelicans and, in the water, circling Galapagos sharks. Inside Hermes, the collaborative vision of Velásquez, his wife, and the interior designer Gabriela Soto of the Dallas-based DeLeo & Fletcher Design manifests in a contemporary cocoon of air-conditioned comfort. The interior is decorated in shades of oatmeal and cream, with wood and brushed stainless steel. There are Ecuadorian touches — headboards carved by Ecuadorian carpenters and soap dispensers hewn from local stone; as well as a library, a mosaiced hammam and sundeck hot-tub. There are 12 butler-serviced double guest suites, each with a private balcony and whirlpool bath in which, on my second morning, I soaked while watching a blood orange sunrise. The two master suites, which also have capacious walk-in wardrobes, can interconnect to an additional bedroom or a private lounge. Across all four decks guests can enjoy the views of wildlife, which last year drew a record 330,000 visitors to these islands. Within minutes of touching down on Baltra Island, I glimpsed the mustard-hued scaly form of a land iguana crawling through tall grass. Across the next four days, the wildlife sightings kept on coming: a Porter's tortoise (its hulking carapace slowly marching across petrified magma cannonballs), a flock of shrimp-pink flamingos, a red-breasted lava lizard (tiptoeing past a razor snake), swooping cactus finches, divebombing frigatebirds (the bully boys of the skies), and nesting pairs of blue-footed boobies (one male giving a nonchalant display of a mating dance).On our third day, on a late-afternoon beach landing on Sante Fé, we found ourselves alongside a colony of sleeping sea lions, their barks and coughs reverberating across the sandy shore. The previous day, we'd snorkelled among them, small pups whipping rings around us in a show of aquatic acrobatics. Each guided snorkel session served up bucket-list marine life: black- and white-tipped reef sharks, sea turtles, octopuses and darting shoals of sturgeon fish. For those wanting to see the Galapagos in style, Hermes' five-star services will be a welcome addition to the fleet. Sadly, though, counter to what Huxley hoped, there was no evidence to show that the journey had improved me. After four days of massages, attentive butler service and guided activities interspersed with cold glasses of soursop juice, I had been spoilt for life. A six-night, all-inclusive cruise on Hermes ( through the Galapagos costs from £8,624pp, excluding flights, (or £163,853 for private charters of up to 20 guests) through
Forbes
04-04-2025
- Science
- Forbes
From Huxley To Type A Skills Of Collaboration
Ming-Chien Chyu, PhD, PE, Founding President, Healthcare Engineering Alliance Society (HEALS), and professor at Texas Tech University. getty "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." - Thomas Henry Huxley, 19th-century biologist Thomas Huxley's quote illustrates the concept of T-type skills in skill management, which emphasizes the importance of both a deep specialization in a particular area, i.e., a knowledge of 'everything about something' (the vertical stroke of the "T"), and a breadth of skills and knowledge in related areas, i.e., 'something about everything' (the horizontal bar of the "T"). In the context of Huxley's quote, different skill types represented by letters from the English alphabet can be characterized as below: • I type (one vertical stroke but no horizontal bar): Know everything about something but little about other things. • T type (one vertical stroke and one horizontal bar): Know something about everything and everything about something. • H type (one vertical stroke connected to another vertical stroke by a horizontal bar): Know everything about something and everything about another thing. • π, m or comb type (multiple vertical strokes and one horizontal bar): Know something about everything and everything about several things. • X type (strokes in different directions): Know everything about several things across disciplines. The categorization of personal skill types above only characterizes a person's knowledge and expertise. It does not account for a person's ability in creativity and innovation, which are crucial for progress and success in business. As Bob Iger of Disney aptly stated, 'The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation.' Creativity is the ability to explore new ideas, while innovation is the ability to execute those new ideas. A person's ability in exploration and execution is directly addressed by the type E skill set, which encompasses the four E's: experience, expertise, exploration and execution. Experience and expertise are basically covered in the above skill types (I, T, H, π, m, comb and X), but exploration and execution skills reflecting an individual's ability in creativity and innovation are uniquely addressed by the type E skill set. Expertise plays a crucial role in both exploration and execution. In the exploration phase, deep knowledge allows for meaningful manipulation and novel combinations of knowledge based on the fundamental rules and principles within a field of expertise to produce creative solutions. However, expertise alone does not guarantee creativity. Deep specialization can sometimes lead to "expert blindness," hindering the ability to integrate diverse or new perspectives, challenge established norms and, ultimately, stifle creativity. Most recruiting processes mainly evaluate the candidates' experience and expertise, while the abilities of exploration and execution can be more difficult to assess. We can identify a candidate's potential for exploration through several key indicators. These include motivation, innovative thinking, strong curiosity, open-mindedness, asking insightful questions, flexibility in problem-solving, quickness in generating diverse ideas and originality of solution. Beyond exploration, it is even more important to execute the innovative ideas generated, as all good ideas mean nothing without execution. We can identify the capacity for execution through several key traits: a keen interest in experimentation, meticulous planning, a clear focus on objectives, a willingness to embrace risk and a resilience in the face of failure. While the above skill type categorization provides valuable insight into individual personal skills, it doesn't explicitly address how effectively individuals can contribute to the organization through collaboration with others. We need to expand our focus beyond these personal skill characterizations and prioritize strategies for maximizing each person's skills within a team context. When two individuals with different specialties collaborate on a project, they need to develop a shared understanding and work together toward a common goal. This requires a set of interpersonal skills that I call "type A skills of collaboration.' We can visualize this by representing the two experts with two strokes that converge at a single point (i.e., the goal). This unique convergence, not featured in any other skill types, is then solidified by a horizontal bar symbolizing collaboration. The resulting visual representation forms the letter "A." The type A skill set refers to the interpersonal ability of an individual with specific expertise to collaborate effectively with another expert. It includes open-mindedness, communication, collaboration, respect, adaptability, active listening, empathy, problem-solving, conflict resolution, reliability and accountability. Type A skills are the foundation of effective teamwork. A team can only be truly effective when every member collaborates effectively with all the others. Assessing type A skills of collaboration solely from resumes can be challenging. Resumes often emphasize personal accomplishments and may not explicitly highlight collaboration or teamwork. If a candidate primarily discusses their individual abilities without referencing collaborative experiences with others, it could suggest potential limitations in their type A skills. Note that the type A skill set of collaboration is different than the type A personality. The former refers to a collaboration state between two individuals working together, while the latter describes an individual's personality traits. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to machines offering increasingly reliable expertise in a growing number of fields. As a result, employees who rely solely on personal expertise skills (I, T, H, π, m, comb, X, etc.) may find their roles being replaced by AI if they haven't already. However, AI cannot replicate the exploration and execution skills found in the type E skill set or the interpersonal collaboration skills of the type A skill set, at least not in the near future. Therefore, employees and job seekers should prioritize developing these skills as a strategic way to future-proof their careers. • Beyond the personal expertise skill types I, T, H, π, m, comb, and X, the type E skill set further encompasses an individual's capability of creativity and innovation. • Beyond the personal skill sets, the type A skill set is further identified and outlined as an interpersonal skill set of collaboration, a crucial element of successful teamwork. • Businesses should develop effective strategies to assess, recruit, and improve employees' type E skills of creativity and innovation, as well as type A skills of interpersonal collaboration.
