From 9a0d4d4278be73743b42d77e5a1b06a0c1455000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dane Sabo Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2025 21:41:19 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Auto sync: 2025-09-01 21:41:19 (1 files changed) A "Zettelkasten/Permanent Notes/Literature Notes/LIT-202509012125-how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md" --- ...how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md | 42 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 42 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Zettelkasten/Permanent Notes/Literature Notes/LIT-202509012125-how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md diff --git a/Zettelkasten/Permanent Notes/Literature Notes/LIT-202509012125-how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md b/Zettelkasten/Permanent Notes/Literature Notes/LIT-202509012125-how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ee58721e --- /dev/null +++ b/Zettelkasten/Permanent Notes/Literature Notes/LIT-202509012125-how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +id: LIT-20250819112550 +title: How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem +type: literature +created: 2025-08-19T15:25:50Z +modified: 2025-09-02T01:41:17Z +citekey: +--- + +# How to Choose a Good Scientific Problem + +## Authors +[[Uri Alon]] + +## Notes +Uri is all about the 'nuturing lab', which means a lab's +goal is not just to advance knowledge, but to nurture future +scientists. + +He describes problems on two axes: interest and difficulty. +Interest here means how much knowledge we gain from solving +the problem. He says grad students should choose easy +problems, with ideally low interest, then postdocs move to +high interest and easy (to save time), and finally new +professors move towards the hard problems with high impact, +as they have time to do so. + +Uri also argues that taking time to find a good topic is +time well spent. It can save a lot of time down the line. + +The inner and outer voices can lead to different ideas. +Outer voices are those of peers, the department, or speakers +at a conference-- but the inner voice is the more valuable +voice. That is your own voice. Uri descirbes the inner voice +is often something that needs nurtured, but can lead to +less laborious science, and more self expression. + +Finally Uri talks about the schema that should be considered +during research. It is not useful to think students will go +from A->B taking the shortest path. There must be room to +wander, as that is where new problems can be best found. +This is what really lets students grow.