I think the reason is rather simple. Funding. I feel this is one of the two basic tricks that many many papers do to preemptively justify their existence. T

I think the reason is rather simple. Funding. I feel this is one of the two basic tricks that many many papers do to preemptively justify their existence. The other being the shoehorning of the hotbutton issue of the day and imagining some way the study addresses that issue. It was kind of weird watching the transition from when every second paper could obliquely assist in the fight against AIDS to now when they seem to assist in the fight against climate change. I feel like it is a minor dishonesty committed to combat the unreasonable requirement for every scientific discovery to be immediately applicable.