Flatlands, thinking outside the box, blue-sky thinking, all had their day, or so I thought until I read this week’s New Scientist magazine. It seems that the imagination of Edwin Abbott in 1884, is still sparking current research trends. In his novel, a world populated by two-dimensional shapes is wowed by the concept of a sphere, exploding their perception of the blinkered world in which they live. Science fiction has spawned many wonderful real-world inventions. I mean, wh