The nature of the biological material and the irreproducibility problem in biomedical research

Biomedical research has a reproducibility problem since various crucial landmark papers could not be independently reproduced. While there are many causes related to statistical analysis, methodology or insufficient reporting of experimental details, this commentary argues that the complexity of biological material itself is, until now, a largely ignored source of irreproducibility. By discussing examples from evolutionary biology, intrinsically disordered proteins and current biomedical research, it contends that some results are irreproducible because we do not have the knowledge, the tools or the analytical ability to understand biological complexity and how it can give rise to different results. Instead of casting irreproducible research out as bad or sloppy science, they should serve as an inspiration for pioneering research not just to develop such tools but also to attempt to explore what lies beneath our current inability to deal with complexity.