The phrase "attempts to discover" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when discussing efforts to find out information or uncover knowledge about a subject.
Example: "The research team attempts to discover new methods for renewable energy production."
Alternatives: "tries to find" or "seeks to uncover".
Repeated attempts to discover it have been unsuccessful.
Mr Kim stonewalled attempts to discover the real financial health of his empire and fended off demands to restructure.
The glass room becomes a scientific centre for racial studies where a Nazi scientist, Werner Stahl, attempts to discover "the systematic measurement of what defines human and subhuman".
Attempts to discover if he did were thwarted by No 10's press office, which never comments on the PM's diary.
By this technique of proposing one definition after another and subjecting each to possible counterexamples, Socrates attempts to discover a definition that cannot be refuted.
In the text, which departs radically from a linear or chronological telling of her life, she talks the reader through her attempts to discover who she is.
Attempts to discover what genes are involved are ongoing and, it is hoped, will lead to new therapeutic approaches that halt tumour spread.
Mr. Johnson chronicled the detention of a Falun Gong follower who died while in police custody and her daughter's attempts to discover what happened to her.
Finally entering the present, Honigsbaum reports on recent efforts to eradicate or control malaria and attempts to discover better drugs, or a vaccine.
Police previously described to Leveson how attempts to discover who else was involved, besides the one alleged "rogue reporter", were frustrated by the law firm.
As a part-time judge and barrister, Ms Briscoe's evidence was "unimpeachable" and prosecution authorities had previously blocked attempts to discover her full involvement in the case, Huhne's legal team had claimed.
