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Table 1 Examples of idea importing and exporting across scientific fields

From: Renaissance minds in 21st century science

Importing an idea from another field

Exporting an idea to another field

Cancer: bringing in evolutionary thinking to explain the process [20] (see text).

Network thinking: applying network analysis methods to Internet robustness [21] (see text).

Gene regulation: bringing in concepts from electrical engineering to analyze gene regulatory networks [22, 23].

Quantum computer: bringing quantum physics to computer science [24].

DNA sequence analysis: using dynamic programming to align sequences [25].

CRISPR/Cas: bringing evolution and immunology to genome editing [26, 27].

P granules: modeling P granules as having liquid-like properties [28].

Ancient DNA: applying genomics to unravel ancient human history [24, 29].

Interactions among yeast cells: using game theory from economics (prisoner’s dilemma) to explain cellular interactions [30, 31].

Memes: applying evolution to model cultural changes [32].