Every new scientific paper is an example of scientists thinking outside the box. If a paper isn't novel, it's not going to be published prominently. There are thousands and thousands of novel papers published every day (would be interesting to get an accurate figure on this).

The problem is a misunderstanding of science. People are taught science in highschool as a bucket of things to memorize. Memorize the right things and you pass the tests. But real science is a process of finding new and useful ideas. HS science classes are like the dog eating the scraps when the chef is busy in the kitchen coming up with a new gourmet dish. The dog has no concept of the chef's work. That's a problem we (as a society) need to rectify. Bring the dogs to the dinner table so they can taste the dish and savour it rather than eating the scraps.