My guess: There's sort of a gold rush dynamic operating in science. Once in a while someone finds a idea or creates a technique that is a breakthrough, and attr

My guess: There's sort of a gold rush dynamic operating in science. Once in a while someone finds a idea or creates a technique that is a breakthrough, and attracts more people to explore all the problems where it can be used, just like someone finding a gold nugget in a stream not previously known may start a gold rush in that particular location. Once the gold is depleted, people should go away prospecting for other locations, for new mines to be opened. But science today is like miners clinging to a depleted location, working hard trying to squeeze something left in the refuse pile, because in publish or perish culture, seeking new prospects (straying away from mainstream "depleted" topics) became too risky. A few years studying an Ill known topic that may be a dead end (just like most streams have no gold) can leave a hole in your publication record big enough to end your career.