Matti Jalasvuori

Academy Research Fellow, University of Jyväskylä
  • Finland

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News and Opinion On the Road Under the microscope

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Jul 19, 2017
Replying to Javier Campos-Gómez

Nice reflections. I have a folder in my PC called New Ideas where I deposit the ideas coming to my mind that I think are worthy to put to the test someday (by someone). I like the idea of an Idea Depository. The idea of a “gentleman agreement” though is maybe very idealistic, unfortunately. I understand it coming from a Finnish mind. The Finns are the most honest persons I have known (I lived in Kuopio for a while). I think the idea is great, but without a kind of regulatory mechanism to protect other’s ideas not many people will deposit their ideas hoping they could test them themselves. Who knows how many ideas have passed away with their creators in the history of mankind?

Good ideas... and perhaps you could flag your idea in the depository as "free to use" or "looking for collaboration" depending on what you are looking for. Anyway, I think the hypothetical depository would need to be hosted by some pre-existing authority such as a respectable publisher, notable research institution or so in order to give it the required initial leverage. 

Jul 18, 2017
Replying to Javier Campos-Gómez

Nice reflections. I have a folder in my PC called New Ideas where I deposit the ideas coming to my mind that I think are worthy to put to the test someday (by someone). I like the idea of an Idea Depository. The idea of a “gentleman agreement” though is maybe very idealistic, unfortunately. I understand it coming from a Finnish mind. The Finns are the most honest persons I have known (I lived in Kuopio for a while). I think the idea is great, but without a kind of regulatory mechanism to protect other’s ideas not many people will deposit their ideas hoping they could test them themselves. Who knows how many ideas have passed away with their creators in the history of mankind?

Thanks for the comment! We actually thought about the "gentlemen agreement" -thing quite a bit. As of such, idea depository would not be for any experiments that you think you could test yourself (even in the future), but instead for something that is maybe out of your field of research and you would realize that the idea will go to "waste" anyway. Any legal or official regulatory mechanisms might be just a major turn off for anyone to actually use their precious lab time and consumables to test someone else ideas. Name on a paper on the other hand do not cost anything, but would still be valuable for the idea-supplier. 

May 17, 2017
Maybe craziness is still an undervalued characteristic for a scientist ;)
Comment on Bad habits
Jul 13, 2016
Nice that this has been studied to some extent! I pretty much never ask my kids to wash their hands, which, to some, seems weird for a microbiologist working with 'superbugs'. Yet, they (kids) have always been surprisingly healthy. Of course, as a scientist, I have to admit that its most probably just good 'luck' :)
Comment on The power of ECT
Jul 12, 2016
Very nice science (and visualisation).

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