Curiosity-Based Research

In this TED presentation, UC Berkeley biologist Robert Full shares his fascination with feet. His research on the subject is something he's calls "curiosity-based research." He was just curious about feet, so he looked into it. And wouldn't you know, he and his colleagues have found new and useful technologies.

So often we have to justify a research project - which, to me, always feels like a paradox: deciding how to use information we don't have yet. If we don't know it, how can we be expected to know its uses? It's putting the cart before the hose if you ask me.

The most useful research, I've found, is the kind that doesn't predetermine uses. Instead, we let the knowledge leads us.

Anyway, random thought for the day.