Scientific endeavors are often associated with astronomical numbers: The Large Hadron Collider required $4.75 billion to build, the Curiosity rover was $2.5 billion, the Human Genome Project was $5 billion, and the Global Positioning Systems cost $2 million a day to operate. However, there are several scientific discoveries that had more modest beginnings but nevertheless had notable impacts.
Decoding genetic principles with peas
One of the most groundbreaking insights into genetics came from an unlikely source: a monk named Gregor Mendel (1822-1884). He had trained at the University of Vienna, where he studied math and science, to become a science teacher. Starting in 1857, Mendel studied peas on a small five-acre land in his monastery for eight years. He carried out careful experiments where he pollinated the plants, saved the seeds, and studied the offspring. Mendel looked at seven distinct characteristics: plant height, seed shape and color, pod shape and color, and flower position and color. His observations showed that some characteristics, such as taller height or yellow peas, were dominant and could mask the recessive traits, such as green peas. His work revealed that genetic traits do not blend. Instead, they are inherited from the parents as discrete units and remain separate, resulting in strict mathematical ratios. Unfortunately, his work was not recognized during his lifetime; it gained prominence in the 1900s when other botanists and geneticists began to study the principles of heredity. Despite the immense implications of his findings, Mendel’s experiments were essentially conducted in his backyard and, as plant enthusiasts will recognize, the cost was next to nothing.
Studying animal behavior
Another research area that lends itself particularly well to low-cost discoveries is studying animal behavior—whether it is to investigate how wasps find their nests or understanding mimicry in snakes. For example, Niko Tinbergen, a Dutch biologist and the recipient of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology, studied wasp navigation by using pine cones to help orient the wasps towards their nests. Similarly, three American researchers, David Pfenning, William Harcombe, and Karin Pfenning, used elegant experiments to pursue the question of why some harmless snakes mimic dangerous ones. The group presented the predators in the region with models that did or did not resemble the mimics and found that the predators left the mimics alone only if the region also contained the dangerous snakes. Otherwise, the models of the mimics were attacked. Although this kind if research does not require fancy equipment, there are significant costs in terms of time and labor.
Using mirrors to help amputees
There have been some therapies in the field of medicine that were astounding in their simplicity and effectiveness. For example, a small fraction of post-amputation patients experience painful phantom limb sensations. Unfortunately, several treatment options including medication, acupuncture, and hypnosis do not seem to help. In 1996, V.S. Ramachandran and D. Rogers-Ramachandran introduced a new therapeutic technique that used a mirror box, which contains two compartments separated by a mirror. In the set-up, the patient inserts a whole appendage into one side and the “phantom” appendage into the other. The brain then creates the image of two complete appendages. Over time, the brain learns that the phantom limb is paralyzed, which reduces the phantom pain and helps the amputee regain control over a missing limb. The technique is commonly used for other disorders such as cerebral palsy.
Making carbon flakes
Even some Nobel prize-worthy discoveries can be based on simple, cost-effective techniques. In 2010, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for creating a thin flake of carbon. Although the form, known as graphene, has the thickness of just one atom, it is the strongest material in the world. Even more amazingly, it is stiffer than diamond and yet can be stretched like rubber, according to Geim. So how did the researchers make this wonder material? With the help of regular adhesive tape. They repeatedly peeled away strips from graphite (found in pencils), another form of carbon, to create graphene. Scientists are now using graphene to make lightweight and strong materials that can be used in airplanes and satellites.
As a society, we have much to gain from low-cost research because it makes the practice of science inclusive.
There are several unanswered questions that no amount of fancy equipment or money can solve. For example, our knowledge of the Earth’s biodiversity is tragically inadequate, even though it is one of the least expensive areas of research. Coupled with the irreversible loss of species due to human settlements, we will never know all the answers. “Wait a minute!” you might exclaim at this point. “If low-cost research is so valuable, why do researchers spend so much time and effort into getting grants for fancy experiments?” Well, for some questions the expensive equipment is essential to perform the research, but that’s not all. Unfortunately, low-cost experiments are also not respected. Although researchers from economically backward but biodiversity-rich countries are ideally placed to discover new species, they are often under pressure to use their meager resources to enter a losing competition with laboratories in advanced countries, according to Raghavendra Gadagkar, a professor of ecological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science.
As a society, we have much to gain from low-cost research because it makes the practice of science inclusive. The paper microscope, developed by Manu Prakash, which costs less than $1 to build is a great example of how even non-scientists can be given the tools to investigate their surroundings with a scientific eye, or how even low-budget labs can be facilitated to run cost-effective projects. Encouraging such research will diversify our questions, which ultimately enriches our understanding of the world.
Author:
Ananya Sen is currently a science writer at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. She completed her Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021. She is an ardent reader and will happily discuss anything from Jane Austen to Gillian Flynn. Her travel goals include covering all the national parks in the U.S. with her sidekick Oscar, a Schnauzer/Pomeranian mix.
Editors:
Roopsha Sengupta is the Editor-in-Chief at ClubSciWri. She did her Ph.D. at the Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, and postdoctoral research at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, UK, specializing in the field of Epigenetics. During her research, she was involved in many exciting discoveries and had the privilege of working and collaborating with a number of inspiring scientists. As an editor for ClubSciWri, she loves working on a wide range of topics and presenting articles coherently, while nudging authors to give their best.
Sumbul Jawed Khan received her Ph. D. in Biological Sciences and Bioengineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where she studied the role of microenvironment in cancer progression and tumor formation. During her post-doctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she investigated the gene regulatory networks that are important for tissue regeneration after damage or wounding. She is committed to science outreach activities and believes it is essential to inspire young people to apply scientific methods to tackle the challenges faced by humanity. As an editor, her aim is to simplify, translate, and excite people about current advances in science.
Illustrator:
Andreia Rocha did her M.Sc. at Universidade do Algarve in Faro, Portugal, in Oncobiology and moved to Vienna to complete her thesis at IMBA where she studied stem cells and focused on working with organoids while using them as cancer models. Currently, she is a research assistant at JLP Health, a startup company based in Vienna, Austria. She is also passionate about communicating science through art and illustration and wishes to combine the two careers in the future. You can visit her website and follow her on instagram.
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