This week, MIT launches a new initiative - titled Science Is Curiosity on a Mission - to make the case for the long-horizon, curiosity-driven science that has powered generations of American innovation. Through stories of scientists pursuing open-ended questions, the project highlights how fundamental discovery research sparks advances in medicine, technology, national security, and economic growth.
MIT News spoke with Alfred Ironside, the Institute's vice president for communications, about what inspired the effort, what's at stake for the U.S. research enterprise, and why curiosity remains one of America's greatest strengths.
Q: What is "Science Is Curiosity on a Mission," and why launch it now?
A: Science has been under threat for some time now, and public investment in discovery science has been flagging. We want to remind people in Washington and across the country what curiosity-driven science is all about, and why it matters so much in our individual lives and in the life of the country.
Science begins with curiosity - someone asking a question and refusing to let it go. History's most important discoveries did not begin with a commercial objective or a guaranteed outcome. They began because someone wanted to understand how the world works. Think Ben Franklin and his kite: This drive to discover goes back to the beginnings of the United States.
That's the story we want to tell, but in today's terms. We're spotlighting researchers whose years-long pursuit of core questions has seeded breakthroughs that have changed lives for the better.
We're launching this storytelling initiative now because public investment is declining, and in all the debates about funding what's gotten lost is an appreciation for the incredible gifts of curiosity-driven discovery science.
Over generations, the United States became the world's scientific leader by investing in research of this kind, especially at universities, where long-term scientific undertakings have time and space to thrive. In turn, those investments have created an extraordinary pipeline of innovation, the envy of the world.
When public investment in basic science falters, the long-term losses start right away - and cascade. Labs close. Young scientists leave the field. Entire avenues of discovery go unexplored. Those losses are not always immediately visible, but eventually we feel them through what's missing: treatments that never arrive, industries that never emerge, talent that migrates elsewhere.
Other countries understand this. They're watching us stumble - and they're growing their research investments aggressively. America's scientific leadership has been built over decades - and maintaining it requires similar commitment.
It's important to note that while this initiative to tell the story of discovery science was sparked at MIT, it is not about MIT. We want to spotlight university-based scientists across the country whose work is critical in advancing discovery, educating talent, and fueling innovation that benefits all of us.
Q: Why emphasize the idea of "curiosity"?
A: We start with curiosity for two reasons. First, it's a human experience we've all had, so everyone can relate to it. Everyone knows the feeling of just wanting to know why something happens or how something works. Second, it's the essential fuel that drives discovery science.
There's sometimes a tendency to talk about science in terms of outputs: breakthroughs, startups, commercial applications. Those things matter enormously, but they usually come much later. The beginning is more human. It's someone wondering why something behaves the way it does, or whether a seemingly impossible problem might have an answer.
Some of the most transformative breakthroughs arose from questions that once appeared disconnected from practical use. MRI technology grew from research on atomic nuclei. The foundations of immunotherapy came from scientists trying to understand how the immune system works. GPS depends on what was once viewed as purely theoretical physics.
Curiosity fuels scientific discovery by pushing people to keep pursuing deep questions because they simply need to know: How does the brain work? How does cancer start? What is the universe made of?
That's why the second half of the phrase matters: "on a mission." University researchers are not indulging in idle speculation. They are pursuing knowledge to expand our understanding - and that new knowledge can be the key to startling new solutions.
Universities are uniquely important environments for this work. They bring together people from different disciplines and backgrounds who challenge assumptions and generate new questions. That concentration of talent and openness is extraordinarily productive.
After World War II, the American research university system became one of the most successful engines of discovery in human history. Public investment in university research has helped produce new medicines, computing technologies, communications networks, energy systems, and entire industries that shape modern life.
This effort aims to reconnect all of us with that story.
Q: What's at stake if the U.S. fails to sustain support for basic research?
A: What's at stake is not just scientific leadership, but the future pace of American innovation and opportunity.
The innovation pipeline operates across long time horizons. The discoveries powering today's companies and medical treatments often crystallized 10, 20, or 30 years ago. The breakthroughs that will define the 2040s and 2050s are being explored in laboratories right now.
Basic research is the foundation of that pipeline, and private-sector innovation depends on it. Private investment plays a critical role, but it naturally gravitates toward projects with clearer commercial returns. Public funding supports the earliest, highest-risk stages of inquiry, where outcomes are uncertain but the potential benefit to society is enormous.
If that pipeline dries up, the consequences are stark. Fewer discoveries lead to fewer technologies, startups, and industries. We also risk losing scientific talent to countries that are watching our shifting national priorities - and making larger and more sustained investments in advancing science.
At the same time, there is enormous reason for optimism. The American scientific enterprise remains one of the great achievements of the modern era. It has delivered extraordinary gains in health, prosperity, and quality of life. Millions of people are alive today because of advances rooted in publicly supported research.
This system was built through sustained national commitment across generations. The question now is whether the country will continue investing in curiosity, discovery, and the people pursuing the new knowledge that will allow us to solve the intractable problems of tomorrow.
When curiosity is given room to run, the results can be life-changing for us all.
