Nobel Prizes and COVID-19: Slow, basic science may pay off

While the world wants flashy quick fixes for everything, especially massive threats like the coronavirus and global warming, next week's Nobel Prizes remind us that in science, slow and steady pays off. Science builds upon previous work, with thinkers “standing on the shoulders of giants," as Isaac Newton put it, and it starts with basic research aimed at understanding a problem before fixing it. It’s that type of basic science that the Nobels usually reward, often years or decades after a discovery, because it can take that long to realize the implications.