Biomedical Research in an Age of Anxiety: Four Papers for Worried Minds

In this essay I review and summarize four older “thought” papers about how science is communicated and practiced. These papers were written by the Nobel Prize winner Peter Medawar, the eminent physiologist Julious Comroe, Eugene Robin a renowned clinical investigator, and David Horrobin an innovative scientist and early player in biotechnology. These papers all question how we frame what we do and tell stories about what we find. Several caution against excessive objectivity, hype, groupthink, and what we now call fear of missing out. They argue for imagination, creativity and critical thinking. While there are many threats to biomedical research beyond the control of individual scientists, I believe these papers offer insight about things we can do from the inside out to improve the practice and culture of science. I am also hopeful that insights from these papers, if broadly acted on, could help improve public confidence in and support for biomedical research.