whither long-term basic research?

The Ottawa Citizen has a good piece today, unhelpfully titled What would Darwin think?, which is actually about the difficulties of doing long-term basic research in our deliverables-oriented age.

Before he considered evolution, Charles Darwin spent 10 years dissecting barnacles and thinking. At his village estate, there were rooms devoted to barnacles, plus a sandy path on which to walk and think. Barnacles led to the big idea -- eventually.

Scientists today don't have time for big picture thinking: They say they are under too much pressure to produce, produce, produce.

The result, some say, is a flood of little discoveries that often aren't very useful, while the big picture goes ignored -- especially in medicine and biology.

Previously:
September 28, 2006  the Economist on Mike Lazaridis and the importance of basic research