The title refers to the recent article by Yanai & Lercher. (Itai Yanai is a Professor at the NYU School of Medicine. Martin Lercher is Professor at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf at both the Institute for Computer Science and the Department of Biology. )
At the heart of science is a creative ‘night science‘ process, in which we haphazardly cobble together the ideas that will become its future building blocks. Despite the variety of creative approaches practiced by different scientists, one tried-and-true though often overlooked trick for generating new ideas stands out. It may sound trivial, yet it is as reliable as it is simple: talk to someone.
By talking with other people, we not only pool the information or ideas that each of us individually lacks, but we are also able to improvise new thoughts that are not accessible to us alone.
Two people who support each other’s thinking can travel far in their thinking without getting distracted.
With just one other person, it is also easier to be at ease and to enjoy the experience to get into a state of “flow“
The Idea of night science is elaborated in a great collection of editorials published in Genome Biology, called “NightScience“:
The public is familiar with the well-organized “day science” image of bench-working scientists, but they rarely know the true stories and creativity behind published tested hypotheses.
Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher discuss the exciting and significant parts of scientific research that occur behind the scenes, called “night science”.
Please also check out the associated podcast, where in each episode, Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher explore science’s creative side with a leading colleague.
So, where can you start to boost your scientific creativity?
An increase in a scientist’s abilities for creative interdisciplinary thinking is almost inevitably linked to a loss in expertise and thus credibility in their home field, reducing the acceptability of the work to their peers
“In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward a victory.”
Alfred North Whitehead
“I’ve made agents out of system 1 and system 2 because everybody finds it easier to think about agents – with propensities and traits – than about abstract categories. Agents make powerful subjects because they’re active and they do things.”
Daniel Kahneman, personal communication
“My brain is open.”
Paul Erdös
It wasn’t important that [Stephen] Hawking didn’t get the right answer; he asked the right question.
One of the most engaging podcasts on the NighScience list is from Tzachi Pilpel. I like the ideas he ponders, in summary: “go for a walk” and “talk to some-one – even if it is a conversation you have only in your mind“. Both ideas were already discussed in my blogs before.
Surtil : 