Creativity as a core component of the scientific process: We distinguish the two modes of science, hypothesis generation and hypothesis testing, highlighting the central role of creativity in the former.

Improvisational science: Borrowing concepts from improvisational theater – including the “yes, and” rule – we discuss the mechanics of ‘talking science’ and explore the creative powers unlocked through discussing ideas with colleagues, highlighting the roles of encouragement and a suspension of criticism.

The two languages of science: Science reporting is precise. But the language of discovery is different. It thrives on analogies, metaphors, and anthropomorphisms, which exploit intuitive powers that human brains evolved in response to social interactions. We discuss and exercise the intentional stance, the role of metaphors in reasoning, and translating between the two languages of ‘Day Science’ and ‘Night Science’.

Questions and contradictions: A discovery is unexpected – an unknown unknown – and often does not fit neatly into a ‘knowledge gap’. A crucial step in many discoveries is the invention or refocusing of a scientific question, and we explore ways in which questions may be formulated or rephrased, often in response to a contradiction between data and expectations.

The data-hypothesis conversation: The creative process thrives on an attitude that encourages exploration and speculation. Science relies on a back-and-forth between data and ideas, and the two corresponding modes of investigation overcome each other’s limitations.

Interdisciplinarity & Renaissance minds: Disciplines and fields are historical constructions, representing just one way of clustering knowledge. We explore the ‘expert’s dilemma’ between disciplinary day science expertise and interdisciplinary night science creativity, which often involves the import or export of ideas and technologies between fields.

Openness guides discovery: There is a huge difference between how scientific research actually progresses versus how it's typically presented. While funding bodies and institutions require detailed, linear research plans, real scientific discovery follows an unpredictable, evolutionary process, with unexpected findings and feedback leading a project in new directions. Successful research requires openness to experience and the willingness to adapt.

Itai Yanai, Professor of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, New York University, USA and 
Martin Lercher, Professor of Computational Cell Biology, Institute for Computer Science & Dept. of Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany have developed the course together.
Martin Lercher will be hosting the session on site at HHU.