Have you ever wondered why some scientists seem to generate research-worthy ideas on cue while others struggle to come up with just one? It’s as if they both went to the same game arcade, but the creative scientist has unlimited funds and a Japanese gacha machine, while the struggling…
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Can Childhood and Personality Affect Our Scientific Creativity?
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Four Little Shifts to Notice Your Scientific Creativity
Our days can be a stream of never-ending emotional busywork and social obligations. Meetings, emails, and time-sensitive demands from others fill our digital inboxes. Requests for help, guidance, feedback, and involvement overflow our emotional inbox. On top of all that we’re supposed to be able to achieve “flow”: a timeless,…
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Ready to train your discovery skills in 2026?
I know, it’s been a hot minute since I posted on InSci! I’ve dedicated a lot of time to teaching. But wow has working with my students been a game changer for me. I’m finally ready to start crafting what I know into tools and trainings for others to pursue…
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Can Gamers Outperform Biochemistry’s Best Algorithm?
THE SHORT READ: The Question Can non-scientists help solve complex scientific problems that are tough to answer due to computational limitations? The Answer Yes, through innovative methods like participation in a multiplayer game where gamers direct scientific algorithms and innovate novel search strategies. THE LONG READ: The…
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Point of Origin
On the influence of tracking the evolution of your ideas on the pace of discovery. Have you ever moved, or had a big change in your situation, and when you started sorting through everything you wondered why you kept it all? I have been looking through all the…
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The Seduction of “Eureka!”
Many of us believe we struggle because we can’t come up with ideas. My new opinion is that having “breakthroughs” is not the reason why we struggle with scientific discovery. Knowing what to do after you’ve had a breakthrough is where you’ll have challenges. I have come across people…
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Spring and Well
On the website, I focus on how to foster your individual ability to make scientific discoveries. It’s your individual contribution that’s emphasized, even if you work as part of a team, group, or formal collaboration. If you’ve read many of my posts, you will know that I have so far…
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An Intangible Scheme
Why are categories so useful? When we think about things, especially when we try to understand why things are the way they are, we often try to put things into categories. We like to decide that certain elements fit categories A and B; we match certain processes to categories H…
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The Ugly Truth
I love a good mash-up, so let me ask you this: What do you get when you mash-up the ideas of two prolific female academics, one in social work and the other in theoretical physics? The answer is: my musings for this week’s post, which boils down to the phrase…
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Don’t Curate the Data
It’s tempting when we talk to others about our ideas to only want to share the good stuff. To only share the things we think are logical, sound reasonable, maybe only the things we think (or hope) will make us seem smart and focused. But this tendency to re-frame our…