A Better Approach to Methods Section

Today I visited the "Inventing a Better Mousetrap: Patent Models from the Rothschild Collection" exhibit at the American Art Museum. This american art was an artifact of the patent office. In the early days of the patent office, inventors were requited to submit scale models of proposed patents. The models helped patent examiners better understand the new idea. Physical models are easier to understand than words and drawings.

A similar direction would help modern journal-based science. A slideshow or video in the methods section of an experimental paper would help readers better understand the nature of the experiments. Given journals are electronic, a quick embedded video would be worth 10,000 words.