literature_to_hypothesis

Literature to Hypothesis

Overview

literature_to_hypothesis distills the implicit and explicit hypotheses embedded in scientific literature into a structured, actionable format. Given multiple PubMed articles, abstracts, or full-text papers, it identifies testable if-then propositions, catalogs supporting and contradicting evidence across sources, and proposes concrete experimental validation strategies. The output is a Markdown report with hypothesis tables, evidence summaries, contradiction matrices, and validation roadmaps — enabling researchers to move from literature synthesis to hypothesis-driven experiment design in a single step, bridging the gap between "what we know" and "what we should test next."

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when any of the following conditions are present:

• Literature-driven hypothesis extraction: A researcher has collected 5–50 papers on a topic and wants to systematically extract the testable hypotheses that emerge from or are implied by the literature.
• Gap analysis and validation planning: Identify which hypotheses in the literature are well-supported vs. under-tested; generate a prioritized list of experiments to validate or refute them.
• Contradiction synthesis: Multiple papers report conflicting findings; the skill surfaces contradictions explicitly and formulates hypotheses that could resolve them (e.g., "If X differs by cell type, then …").
• Grant or proposal preparation: A grant application requires a clear hypothesis section; the skill produces candidate hypotheses with evidence grades and validation plans.
• Systematic review extension: Beyond summarizing findings, the skill converts review conclusions into explicit if-then hypotheses for future research.
• Mechanism hypothesis generation: Papers describe correlations or associations; the skill infers mechanistic hypotheses (e.g., "If A causes B via pathway X, then …") and suggests experiments to test causality.
• Cross-domain synthesis: Literature spans multiple fields (e.g., cancer biology + immunology + drug discovery); the skill identifies integrative hypotheses that connect domains.
• Teaching and training: Generate hypothesis extraction exercises from a paper set; produce structured reports for students learning to read literature critically.