Research funding should reward unpredictability

Particle-physics experiments can cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars and with that kind of money at stake, debates over which projects are worthy of funding can be heated and complex. While those who make big funding decisions try to be as objective as possible, the physicist Bruce Knuteson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, believes that agencies would have a much better idea of where to spend their money if they quantified the "scientific merit" of particular research proposals