Drug-resistant malaria is beating our best antimalarial drug, and this isn’t the first time. Just last week a report in the New England Journal of Medicine detailed the extent to which resistance to the current first-line antimalarial drug artemisinin has spread from its epicenter, the Thai-Cambodia border. This study conducted by researchers from different institutions, collectively known as the Tracking Resistance to Artemisinin Collaboration (TRAC), monitored artemisinin resistance from 2011 to 2013 across 10 countries — primarily in Southeast Asia, but also in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Read MoreA village worker takes a blood sample from a patient. Source: Gates Foundation
The history of science is full of examples of discovery, both intentional and accidental. But how do scientists study subject matter incapable of being explained by simple models? And additionally, if science can produce favorable results (say, in the clinic), to what extent does it matter whether or not the results can be fully explained? Here, Siddhant Iyer outlines the ways in which scientists may study as-of-yet unexplained phenomena and argues for a framework involving the use of complex models while also acknowledging limitations.