3 ms·
I liked the "There are many compelling reasons to push for publishing "uninteresting" or "negative" results. Efficiency is one obvious reason: Scientists need
by 75dvtwin 8y ago
I liked the
"There are many compelling reasons to push for publishing "uninteresting" or "negative" results.
Efficiency is one obvious reason: Scientists need not waste time testing hypotheses that have been repeatedly shown to be false.
…
But perhaps most importantly, without negative results, evaluating whether a purported scientific discovery is true is simply impossible.
"
- gus_massa 8y agoExperiment 1: Ceramic are good conductors. Result: false Experiment 2: Ceramic are superconductors. Result: false What is your conclusion?
- toufiqbarhamov 8y agoMaybe it’s a topological conductor under high pressures? Is there some kind of dopant or glaze which could improve conductivity? Is it a very good insulator? If so, maybe those properties could be useful. I’m being a bit facetious, but too many great discoveries have a backstory like, “We thought Jello might cure cancer, but it turns out not to. During the course of our investigations though we realized it was a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s.” Sometimes going back to solved problems with new tools and insights is valuable.