February 3, 2014
Members of biology departments and laboratories, synthesis centers, and other places that host biological research might be puzzled by the suggestion that they become "ushers." To help people to their seats in a darkened lecture hall? To call for quiet during an argument? No: What Amy K. Wolfe and her colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory mean by "usher" is to actively guide research projects toward real-world application. Their article in this issue, "Insiders' views of the valley of death: Behavioral and institutional perspectives" provides vivid insight into what so often goes wrong between discovery and realized value to society—or, more likely, does not go at all. Read more here.
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