The request for legitimate bead "research" questions has been out there for years, but as yet, aside from the occasional bead ID question, most of which are easily answered, few questions have emerged.  Why?

The reason few questions have emerged is because there are few questions.  Look around!  What you see being passed off as bead "research" is usually the province of some established science.  The only "research" that can be deemed bead "research" must be unique to beads, not some superficial amateur restatement from some other discipline that substitutes the word "bead" here and there.  A lot of questions concern materials beads are made of.  Is this bead "research"?  No, it isn't.  Beads are made of materials and these materials don't vary just because they're used for beads.  Amber is amber.  Plastic is plastic.  We wouldn't go to a bead "researcher" to identify amber anymore than a gemologist to identify beads.

The "research" questions that define bead "science" must be bead specific and must separate bead "science" from all the other sciences.  Thus, we're left with bead ID questions, which may be divided into two main groups.

Group A involves questions related to old beads whose origins are unknown.   Most of these outstanding bead ID questions are found in Ancient/Medieval specimens for which only a general regional idea can be stated with certainty and age can only be stated with an accuracy of a few centuries.  Middle Eastern stuff, in particular,  comes to mind.

Group B is even more fun.  In this case, beads are mentioned by "name" in the literature or folktales, but nothing very useful is provided for positive ID.  There are lots of beads mentioned in historical literature, from the "carbuncles of the Garamantes" mentioned by Herododus to the "guinea-guinea" mentioned by Mungo Park.  What was this stuff?  Can you show us some?

These are legitimate avenues of bead "research".   These are bead questions, not pseudo-bead questions answered with cursory knowledge of other sciences.   So what's new?  We are yet to see any genuine bead "research" questions beyond bead ID.  If you disagree, be sure to supply us with some questions.