For Yet Better Science

Nina Marie Tandon is an American biomedical engineer. She is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone. She currently serves as an adjunct professor of Electrical Engineering at Cooper Union and is a senior fellow at the Lab for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering at Columbia. 

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin  (born  Cecilia Helena Payne ;  May 10, 1900 –  December 7, 1979) was a British-born American  astronomer  and  astrophysicist  who proposed in her 1925  doctoral  thesis that  stars  were composed primarily of  hydrogen  and  helium .  Her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the scientific wisdom of the time, which held that there were no significant elemental differences between the  Sun  and Earth. Independent observations eventually proved she was correct. Her work on the nature of variable stars was foundational to modern astrophysics.

In this position paper, I argue that the main purpose of research is to discover and report on phenomena in a truthful manner. Once uncovered, these phenomena can have important implications for society. The utility of research depends on whether it makes a contribution because it is original or can add to cumulative research efforts, is rigorously and reliably done, and is able to inform basic or applied research and later policy. However, five serious “diseases” stifle the production of useful research. These diseases include:  significosis , an inordinate focus on statistically significant results;  neophilia , an excessive appreciation for novelty;  theorrhea , a mania for new theory;  arigorium , a deficiency of rigor in theoretical and empirical work; and finally,  disjunctivitis , a proclivity to produce large quantities of redundant, trivial, and incoherent works. I surmise that these diseases have caused immense harm to science and have cast doubt on the role of science in soc

The news is full of stories detailing the negative impact humans have had on the environment and the potential peril of precious natural resources, such as water, that sustain life on this planet. But John Sabo, director of the  Tulane ByWater Institute  and professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering at the School of Science and Engineering, is one of a new vanguard of scientists who are moving away from analyzing the problems to finding solutions to them.   

Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs.

Philippa "Pippa" Marrack, FRS is an English immunologist and academic, based in the United States, best known for her research and discoveries pertaining to T cells.

Understanding the fundamentals of conducting good science, that will have an impact, is the goal of every aspiring scientist. Providing a wealth of tips,  How to be a Better Scientist  is the book to read if you want to succeed in this competitive field.