Discovery Awaits the Mind That Pursues It
The Insightful Scientist is now officially a business! It’s been a long journey to get to this new phase. Our headquarters are located in one-of-a-kind Hawai’i. But we couldn’t be more excited to evolve from a personal website to a new organization on a mission to help researchers…
We don’t realize how much of our thinking we lose until we try to tell someone else how we came up with an idea. The harder we try, the more the details get swept into a simplified 2-minute story that sounds logical. The messy truth – the real chain of…
The “powerful patroness” – a person who steps in at just the right moment with a gesture that gifts us momentum – is a necessary companion to the Master-Apprentice approach in science. The phrase came to me years ago when I realized how much of our scientific path is…
On how to define and categorize all aspects of scientific discovery. This is the first post, in a series of 23, that outlines a complete conceptual framework for scientific discovery. Building this architecture helps answer two key questions: “What is a useful definition of scientific discovery for active scientists?” and…
On why skills give the most value of all the elements in a scientist’s repertoire. This is the fourth and final post in a four-part series. In an older post I defined “skills” as “procedures you use to channel caring into doing.” After I finished my first college degree…
On why knowledge is the easiest ingredient to add to a scientist’s repertoire. This is the third post in a four-part series. In an older post I defined “knowledge” as “recognizing what you don’t know.” How can a black woman write from the perspective of a white man who would…
On why mindset is the most effortful part of a scientist’s repertoire. This is the second post in a four-part series. In an older post I defined “mindset” as “caring enough to find out what you don’t know”. I was reminded of mindset while cleaning up my old archived files…
On why activities should be the largest part of a scientist’s repertoire. This is the first post in a four-part series. In an older post I defined “activities” as “tasks you complete to finish skilled procedures”. One day when I was in high school an English teacher gave our entire…
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…
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…