The Engine of Scientific Discovery: How New Methods and Tools Spark Major Breakthroughs
Abstract. How do we spark new scientific discoveries? Why do some breakthroughs seem even accidental? And most importantly, how can we accelerate them and
The Engine of Scientific Discovery: How New Methods and Tools Spark Major Breakthroughs
Abstract. How do we spark new scientific discoveries? Why do some breakthroughs seem even accidental? And most importantly, how can we accelerate them and
Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science
In Reinventing Discovery, Michael Nielsen argues that w…
What stories should we tell about scientific progress now?
In search of the mysterious fruits of basic science
Guest post: If you’re going to critique science, be scientific about it
Loren K. Mell Editor’s note: This post responds to a Feb. 13 article in The Atlantic, “The Scientific Literature Can’t Save Us Now,” written by Retraction Watch cofounders Adam Marcus and Ivan Oran…
The Scientific Contribution Graph: Automated Literature-based Technological Roadmapping at Scale
Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Scientific contributions are rarely developed in isolation, but build upon prior contributions, such as problem framings, experimental methods, and empirical findings. Understanding these prerequisite relationships is important for studying scientific progress, and for automated scientific discovery systems that must reason about which existing capabilities can be used to develop new ones (e.g. Lu et al., 2024; Jansen et al., 2025b; Baek et al., 2025).
The Discovery Engine: A Framework for AI-Driven Synthesis and Navigation of Scientific Knowledge Landscapes
Scientific progress relies on the effective accumulation, synthesis, and critical evaluation of knowledge. Traditionally, the well-documented, peer reviewed publication served as the primary standard for filtering and disseminating credible findings within the scientific community. Recently, however, we are witnessing an unprecedented acceleration in research output, a veritable explosion of scientific publications across all disciplines [1]. Yet, this very abundance creates a paradox: the sheer volume threatens to overwhelm the mechanisms designed for its assimilation and synthesis. Researchers, even within highly specialized subfields, face an almost insurmountable challenge in keeping abreast of relevant developments, integrating disparate findings, and identifying the truly novel signals amidst the noise [2]. This information overload contributes to disciplinary fragmentation, hindering the cross-pollination of ideas essential for disruptive innovation [3]. Furthermore, persistent concerns regarding "reproducibility crisis" [2], predatory journals, inflation of research areas[4], growing retractions and the potential influences of bibliometrics on research direction [5] highlight systemic challenges in validating and prioritizing scientific contributions to fundamental knowledge.
Decolonising Science Reading List
In the last couple of weeks, a lot of people have been asking me about what I’ve been reading as reference points for my commentary on the…
This is why @atproto.science is so relevant rn This compilation of essays indicates that scientists are most frustrated by insufficient “community tools and resources... Essential infrastructure for sharing, maintaining and building on existing work and data is also badly underdeveloped." >
What Scientists Said: Results from Astera's First Essay Competition
asterainstitute.substack.comCollection
Updated 3d
To do with posts about scientific discovery and the science of discovery
reimagining science
Science reform initiatives/proposals
re-commoning science
participatory science
The release of #ClaudeDesign left me wondering what a tool like this could look like for academics (rather than designers) I then used Claud…
What if paper reading and reviewing was interactive and visual? Tools today assume a very passive way of engaging with a paper: you open a…
The Robyn Dawes Institute for the Improvement of Science
What stories should we tell about scientific progress now?
Open Science Foundation
Science Works
Flywheel
The Dissemination of Scholarly Information: Journals, Open-Access and Distributed Filtering
Profit, cost, price, learned societies; further thoughts on Samuel A. Moore's Publishing Beyond the Market
Publishing Beyond the Market: Open Access, Care, and the Commons
Authorship, division of labour, material and digital form; thoughts on Samuel A. Moore's Publishing Beyond the Market
Bioregionalism, Commoning, and Relationalized Finance | David Bollier
Reclaiming the Computing Commons
The Drain of Scientific Publishing
How can citizen science reduce psychological distance to science? Insights from three projects in contested environmental contexts
Nova Scotia’s Experiment in Research That Solves Real Problems
iNaturalist accelerates biodiversity research
Why Do We Call It Participatory Science? | Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Peer Production in Citizen Science: A Community-Centered Approach on the Example of Personal Science
Practical recommendations from a multi-perspective needs and challenges assessment of citizen science games