Back to Darwin?

At a recent meeting on genomics in Berlin, one of the speakers said, ‘In ten years time, those with a hypothesis‐based approach to science will be equivalent to those who believe in the Flat Earth theory.’ Strong sentiments! But it was said with a conviction that chilled those among us who come from the ‘old‐fashioned’ style of research. Indeed, the Human Genome Project is undoubtedly a huge success and it has set an example of how brute‐force strategies in the life sciences can succeed. This is a message that is understood by all science policy makers. Ultimately, the Human Genome Project is the result of an industrial approach to amassing data. Cleverly coordinated robots and machines churned out sequences at a predictable rate. With a fixed charge per sequenced base, the total cost and progress towards the defined goal can be predicted and monitored. How much less amenable to project managers is the traditional way of performing research, where, by definition, the result is often a surprise. With the success of platform technologies, it will become increasingly difficult to convince assessment boards seeking simple management …