Leverage Monthly - March 2025
Leverage’s monthly newsletter
Leverage is a non-profit institute that aims to support the scientific enterprise by advancing neglected or bottlenecked fields, including the history of science, the social sciences, and quantum biology. This update covers happenings at the institute in the month of March.
Quantum Biology Institute Hiring — Having overseen the initial round of interviews, Oliver developed a one-day remote work test for remaining candidates. Those that succeeded at the work test were then invited to visit the lab and spend a day with the QBI team. Four candidates were invited and ended up visiting the lab; during the week of those visits, Geoff and Oliver went in person to QBI in LA. The four days were mostly science discussion, focusing on biology, physics, and the research plan.
Additional Support for QBI — Beyond hiring, Leverage designed a purchasing process for QBI to help ensure that scientists and operations could communicate clearly about purchasing needs for scientific instruments to make sure scientific value is maximized while keeping costs low. Oliver spent time researching the scientific instrument market, while Melinda continued providing support for Jen as she grows into her role as Head of Operations. Starting next month, Leverage will start providing weekly presentations to QBI leadership and staff on topics necessary for running an independent research non-profit.
Investigating Scientific Dysfunction — In part as a result of research into the scientific instrument market, the Leverage team has become concerned about the degree of dysfunction within the scientific enterprise. Conversations with scientists, instrument makers, and government advisors has led to a picture on which many scientists actually do not understand how their instruments work, yielding an opportunity for predatory businesses to sell overpriced instruments despite administrators’ genuine desire to prevent this. The result is higher costs for scientists everywhere and, thus, less science.
New Introspection Video — Leverage’s YouTube channel now has a new video, entitled “Leverage’s Approach to Studying the Mind.” This includes a talk by Geoff, as well as slides, with video editing by Melinda. Geoff talks about the conditions necessary for a science to exist in general, the need to establish a reliable data stream from the mind, the search for visible regularities, and more. The video also includes a brief demo of “charting,” a method for turning statements into a representation of a person’s beliefs and goals.
Leverage Weeklies #56-59 — Leverage Weekly continued this month with coverage of several different topics in organizational design. One theme was organizational structure and how to use it properly, whether to facilitate communication (Weekly #56) or just in general (Weekly #58). Another was helping team members acclimate to the culture of an organization (Weekly #57; see also Weekly #58), which is something that arises as a group with a mission creates its structure and takes action. A last essay began to cover the complex challenge of hiring (Weekly #59); many of these topics are of ongoing relevance and will be revisited in the future.
New Social Media Approach — Generally demotivated around social media, the Leverage team worked out an approach that should tide us over for the next several months. The plan is to simply post periodically on Twitter/X, Facebook, and LinkedIn about new Leverage Weeklies and Leverage Monthlies, along with selected quotes. This will show that the institute hasn’t disappeared, while also not spending extra effort until we manage to find an actually engaged audience.
Setting up Future Partnerships — March is the last month in Q1, so it made sense to check in with a number of people running science projects Leverage might support in the future. We spoke with several individuals and teams, each working on interesting and exciting projects. It’s great to be thinking in advance about what the next “quantum biology” will be for the institute.
Unfortunately, there were a bunch of things the team did not get to this month, including finishing the case study on Stephen Gray and electrical repulsion, the new piece on Introspection, and the 2024 Annual Report. Social media is, for now, mostly simmering in the background, with the team posting periodic links to Leverage Weeklies and Monthlies along with selected quotes.
Until next time,
The Leverage team