Interesting results take far greater work. Each link in the chain needs to be supported. Most in the scientific community, and many in the press, understand the need for both exciting results and obscure but essential work. We can never know beforehand what we need to know. Concern arises when government officials, from senators to program managers, talk about the need for exciting results.
Arctic research needs to follow the logic of scientific discovery.
The continuing trend is toward inter-disciplinary research within the Arctic, research that can at least draw immediate connections to larger systems and, possibly, human affairs. We can show the extraordinary in the normal.