Cardano & Scientific Research

Meta-analysis, umbrella and systematic reviews mainly obtain conclusions from studies where hypothesis are validated, thus skewing research.

Control and solving of RQ issues (e.g., exclusion of «bad» results, databases hammering, Rosenthal effect, ethics in experimentation).

Blockchain technology can contribute to the improvement of RQ by building decentralized applications, that researchers, peer-reviewers and the public can use to solve the abovementioned (among others) RQ issues.

Scientific research involves thousands of people. There are about 30,000 scientific journals worldwide. Every year, circa 2.5 million new scientific papers are published. The total number of scientists on the planet is estimated to be around 9 million. Therefore, maybe, key metrics can be rooted in these numbers, compared with the scientists' adhesion to blockchain technology.

Many scientists are (or ought to be) aware of a vast range of problems with general scientific research. 

Some researchers may do not like to think about it, but the conclusions from the top of the pyramid's research are biased. Hence, political, marketing, economical (among other) decisions, may not obtain the desired results, thus affecting negatively (instead of positively) the public.

Academic institutions, government entities, and various companies all do research in natural sciences (that examine nature in its broadest meaning, e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics), social sciences (that investigate persons and society, e.g., anthropology, economics, psychology, sociology), and formal sciences (that deal with symbols guided by rules, e.g., logic, mathematics, statistics). Moreover, engineering, computer science, and medicine are examples of applied sciences that make use of current scientific knowledge for practical reasons.

Thus, because scientific research have several domains and many subdomains, this challenge has the potential to grow immensely, as scientists understand the potential of blockchain technology to improve the quality, and quantity, of scientific research in general.

However, this may not be an easy movement. Science is becoming more and more politicized (i.e., the governments, industries and advocacy organizations utilization of legal and/or economic pressure to affect scientific findings, how they are distributed, published and/or interpreted). To attract greater attention for viewpoints that have been undercut by scientific data, tactics such as altering the subject, omitting to accept facts, and capitalizing on scientific consensus uncertainty have been (unfortunately) utilized.

Yet, Cardano may have a word to say regarding RQ. Cardano can be a pioneer in this field, by contributing to the solving of issues in RQ in a decentralized, innovative, and secure way, thus helping to increase RQ's, and, more importantly, contributing to better macrosystemic decisions and higher quality standards of living.

The budget encompasses a desirable initial number of five good projects, with a mean of $20,000 for each.

Challenge amounts should only be proposed in increments of $25K. Other amounts not in these increments will be rounded up. E.g. $27,500 will be rounded up to $50,000.