ABSTRACT
A clear way of judging if an idea can lead to a significant discovery is to ask whether anyone would care about the results that one might obtain, beyond his or her own satisfaction. This is referred to in grant proposals as who are the likely beneficiaries? This criterion can be good and sits easily with research questions such as how to arrive at noncarbon energy sources or a cure for a disease. The skill of good scientific judgement, and whether an idea is good or not, is whether it would involve acquiring detailed results that are too minute and pernickety to be of any real value. A good way to see a significant chance for change is where there is a puzzle or even a controversy or a crisis in a field. Another important measure of whether a scientific research advance is significant is whether it has impact.
