Risk and reward: The findings challenge the idea that scientists become less innovative as they age (courtesy: istock/gajus)

Senior scientists produce disruptive research less often than their junior colleagues, but their disruptions are more likely to persist and be consolidated by later research. That is according to an analysis of the publication records of more than 200,000 scientists, which finds that experience helps scientists produce disruptive work that takes longer to be superseded ( Proc. Natl. Aca. Sci. 123 e2626763123 ).

Scientific advances usually build incrementally upon prior research, but progress can often be driven by disruptive research that overturns prior knowledge and leads to new lines of enquiry.…