Funding is key to the scientific enterprise, but with budgets stretched and ever more proposals being put forward, the way in which the most forward-thinking projects are approved by funding bodies needs to evolve. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, has been criticized for playing it safe when handing out its grants and, from its own figures, seems more inclined to fund established researchers than new kids on the block. As the agency is the main funder of US biomedical research, this could prevent or discourage young talent, armed with new ideas, from staying in academia.
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