Hot spots are local excitations in strongly interacting systems, corresponding to a local concentration of energy-density. In Phys.Rev. Letters 32 (1974) 630, Weiner conjectured that in peripheral nucleon reactions, on the surface of the nucleon hot spots can be created, which manifest themselves through an asymmetry in the production of mesons. Experimental evidence for this effect was reported by Goldberg in Phys. Rev. Lett.43 (1979) 250. This approach was extended to nuclear reactions, where it has become one of the main models of heavy ion reactions. In Phys. Rev. C 31 (1985) 1515, Fowler, Raha and Weiner suggested a dynamical explanation for hot spots in rotating nuclei in terms of solitary waves, in analogy with the “Great Red Spot” in Jupiter.