Lacking Funding, Some Scientists Turn to the Crowd

Facing fierce competition for research dollars (only 15 percent of NIH grant proposals are accepted, for instance), some scientists are taking a cue from indie culture and embracing crowdfunding. But can community-supported science ever be more than a stopgap measure? Experiment.com’s Cindy Wu explains what it takes to “kickstart” a science crowdfunding campaign, and evolutionary pharmacologist Ethan Perlstein shares his experience leaving academia to go indie.