What is DeSci? The new vision for decentralized science interests Vitalik
Science plays an important role in the development of society, but the traditional scientific system is facing many challenges. DeSci emerged as a potential solution. So what is DeSci? Why was DeSci developed?
What is DeSci?
DeSci is an acronym for Decentralized Science, or Decentralized Science. This is a new field that uses blockchain technology to create a transparent, efficient and accessible scientific research system.
DeSci changes the way scientific research is shaped within the Web3 framework, based on four fundamental principles: incentive, transparency, decentralization and collaboration. These 4 principles are demonstrated in DeSci's applicability.
Why was DeSci developed?
Traditional science faces challenges on a number of key issues including how scientists get funded, lack of support for the younger generation of scientists and limited access to data for all. both users.
A large amount of scientific knowledge is published as paid content in journals or stored in a number of private databases. This limits access and does not ensure transparency in research results.
The Open Science movement facilitates data access to multiple sources of information
The Open Science movement was developed in an effort to improve access to all data, but it also has many other consequences. Some magazines have adopted a paid business model for publishing publications. Nature magazine charges more than $11,000 per publication. As a result, they lead to a greater concentration of power on the part of publishers.
With the nature of blockchain technology, they meet the requirements of immutability, transparency and decentralization to solve the above problems for the scientific research industry. In other words, DeSci is a solution to the limitations of the traditional scientific paradigm (TradSci).
In an interview on the topic "Decentralized Science, Aging, AI and Scientific Progress", Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his interest in scientific development: "What are some ways in which emerging open decentralized technologies can make science better?" Vitalik Buterin talks about Decentralized Science, Aging, AI and Scientific Progress
Primarily, interest in science-related solutions comes from major research organizations and some well-known individuals in the crypto industry, including Brian Armstrong - CEO of Coinbase, a16z fund, Binance Labs , Gitcoin…
Web3, or Decentralized Web, is a vision for the future of the internet, where users have control and freedom to use data. Applying blockchain technology in science will have the potential to attract new investment capital, new research methods and become an important factor of Web3.
DeSci's application
Publishing
Scientific publications are often produced by freelance workers, but publishing these publications requires very expensive fees. Although there are many alternatives, they come with quality and control risks.
DeSci can be used to publish scientific research openly and freely, while still maintaining the integrity of the document. This can help spread scientific knowledge to more people.
· ArXiv: Open access repository for pre-publication scientific articles, using blockchain to verify the authenticity and integrity of research data.
· SciHive: Decentralized scientific publishing platform that allows scientists to publish their articles and make them freely accessible, helping to increase the reach and spread of knowledge.
Reproducibility and Replicability
In traditional science, to be able to verify correctness and adhere to rigorous data testing procedures, they require large teams of human resources to apply methods over and over again. They waste time and consume human resources.
Tools in Web3 can solve this problem. They help ensure the quality and reliability of information through raw data authentication, specialized calculation tools, and completely reliable calculation processes.
When a trusted network is created based on consensus, the network helps maintain the above components. Network participants can be responsible for replicating calculations and validating results.
Funding (Funding for research)
To receive funding for scientific research projects, individuals or organizations must apply for funding. These applications will be evaluated and filtered by the review board.
The problem with this process lies in the need to go through many processes, concentrated assessment opinions on a group of people, and long funding time. Some studies show that boards are even rated poorly at selecting high-quality proposals.
DeSci can be used to fund scientific research in a transparent and efficient manner. Several different incentive models are developed by DAOs in Web3:
· Retroactive public goods funding
· Quadratic funding
· KNIFE
· Tokenized incentive structure
IP ownership and development - IP-NFT
Intellectual property (IP) is a major issue in traditional science. However, they are best optimized with NFTs (non fungible tokens) in Web3, called IP-NFT.
IP-NFT can be used as a tribute to researchers and participants. At the same time, they are also used as keys to log into the decentralized data repository of experimental research located on the blockchain.
The introduction of non-transferable tokens (soulbound tokens) could also play an important role in DeSci. They allow individuals to demonstrate experience and credentials linked to their wallet address.
Besides, the founder of Ethereum is also interested in whether other applications such as NFTs or ownership rights can also become intransferable (soulbound). This will help DeSci develop more completely.
· Evernym: A self-sovereign identity management platform that enables scientists to control their data and identities on the blockchain, helping to protect privacy and information security.
· Molecule Protocol: Provides biotech researchers based on the IP-NFT legal framework, organizational templates, funding…
· Projects supported by Molecule
· Data storage, access and architecture
The Web3 model and distributed storage system allow users to easily access scientific data. However, not everyone, of any age, can access it, but must also rely on authenticated identities in Web3.
Decentralized identity and secure computing methods (compute-to-data) will ensure replication of research results is controlled and sensitive data is safe.
Several public data solutions in Web3 such as IPFS, Arweave and Filecoin support open science by providing global access to data without fees or permissions.
· OpenWorm: Open source project uses blockchain to store and share data about the C. elegans roundworm body, helping scientists around the world collaborate on research and develop new treatments for neurological diseases.
· Enigma: Decentralized platform that enables researchers to share sensitive data securely and compliantly, helping advance medical research without violating privacy.
DeSci ecosystem
DeSci ecosystems are classified based on their practical applications. In particular, Funding is the project group with the largest proportion, followed by Data, Research and Infra & Services groups.
· OriginTrail (TRAC): Created to aggregate, process, and store data for various applications such as supply chain verification and tracking, art, and qualifications.
· Hippocrat (HPO): Enables secure, patient-controlled sharing of medical data to advance healthcare and research.
· Trial (TRL): Bringing blockchain into clinical trials to achieve greater transparency and efficiency.
· Galeon (GALEON): Focused on secure, privacy-focused scientific data collaboration.
· ResearchCoin (RSC): Facilitates participation in exchanging, sharing and contributing to scientific research, rewarding contributions with RSC tokens.
· VitaDAO (VITA): Funds longevity research through a decentralized autonomous organization.
· Data Lake (DATA): Aims to create a unified, secure platform for interacting medical data.
· ClinTex CTi (CTI): Addressing inefficiencies in clinical trials, streamlining processes with blockchain technology.
· RejuveAI (RJV): Enhance health and longevity through health data aggregated by AI.
Blockchain technology has demonstrated its potential in many different industries. The combination of Science and how they develop on decentralized networks will help DeSci soon become a new trend for the market.
