basic research
"Basic research is like a baby. You don't know at which age the result is to come.You don't ask, why do you feed the baby."
The linked file is in German.
"The fundamental reason for this is that basic research is like defense: a pure public good which the private sector can support only in limited ways. The government, therefore, should provide the necessary support for this"
"When you get right down to it, basic research is like Renaissance art: it's bankrolled by states and princes.
An unrecognized da Vinci or Michelangelo had to win the patronage of a Medici or Borgia. A researcher has to win a grant from NIH or Hughes or Gates. Applied research can find backers on the open market, but advancing the great work of fundamental science depends, in a way, on the kindness of strangers"
"Funding predominantly targeted research is like looking for your car keys only in lighted areas of the street. You are missing a whole lot places where the keys could be. Science is similar. Basic research is like adding new light posts-it opens up areas of research we didn't even know we could explore. "
"BASIC RESEARCH is like a spark that lights a fire. That fire is called translational research and development. Once sparked, the harnessed power of the fire can be applied for many useful purposes. "
Basic research is some what like building a large public library. Such libraries often have thousands or hundreds of thousand of books, magazines and journals. Each book took a lot of work to produce and may or may not have any future relevance. But when you add up all this information and make it accessible, it provides a stepping stone for other researchers and students who may be able to derive useful products or ideas or maybe more basic research.
"Biologists still let the winding road of research guide their steps. On occasion, regulatory bodies had acted retrospectively-after Nuremberg, Tuskegee, and the human radiation experiments, external enforcement entities had told biologists they weren't allowed to do that bad thing again."
METAMIA is a free database of analogy and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search. The subject matter can be anything. Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged. The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with the stark literalism of a relational database. Metamia is like a girdle for your muses, a cognitive girdle.