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Science is losing its ability to disrupt

The decline in truly revolutionary research may have serious implications for humanity

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Rather than minting revolutionary ways of thinking, science and technology are increasingly polishing the same conceptual pennies.

Rather than minting revolutionary ways of thinking, science and technology are increasingly polishing the same conceptual pennies.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS

Anjana Ahuja

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There is, according to an eye-catching metric doing the rounds, a malaise at the heart of the scientific enterprise. This noble pursuit seems to be slowing down in its ability to disrupt convention.

Evidence of that deceleration, according to the metric’s creators, can be spied in decreasingly novel patent applications.

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