'I always held that a scientist is defined by her equipment. The power of the mind alone was maybe enough in the Stone Age, but even then, ignoring preparation made you the most useless type of scientist - a dead one. I... must admit, I tinkered with various equipment myself, and even came up with... some designs of my own, that I'd rather not expand upon... It's a bit embarrassing.'
You could possibly increase your scientific potential by adopting Dr. X's methods, but this will be a difficult process, and you can expect unrest amongst your Brainers - they don't like to be told how to work.