Yeah-- but who knows what that research will eventually spawn otherwise. Serendipity works, but it's darned inefficient to learn things that: a) nobody knew that were technically "unknown" and b) weren't really the point of the investigation.

By my estimates, though, that accounts for at least 40% of citations that a paper eventually earns in some fields. grin


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.