This week's "ask a science blogger question" from the SEED gang is: "Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?"
First, to be fair, I don't really have an area of expertise, at least, not like most of the folks at scienceblogs do. No PhD, not even a masters in any scientific discipline. But I do have a BSc in marine biology,so I guess I can't choose to spend more time whale watching.
My choice:
Given the enormous challenge facing society at the moment as we come up on peak oil, and find ourselves without any cheap and reliable replacement for fossil fuels, I'd have to say that I would take on chemical engineering.
There simply can't be enough researchers out there looking for a better way to store electricity in batteries, maximize conversion efficiencies and extract energy from various and sundry biofuels.
It's really too bad about the cold fusion fiasco, because that's what we really need: table-top generators that squeeze something from practically nothing. Fortunately, we aren't starting from scratch. We already have a good idea of the best candidates on which to focus our efforts. There's also some intriguing possibilities in bacterio-genesis of hydrogen for fuel cells, and some pretty neat avenues to explore when it comes to improve photovoltaics. And really the exciting thing is, those who make some critical breakthroughs are very likely to snatch a Nobel or two for their work.
It's either that or sit back and watch the Chinese repeat our mistakes and burn through their vast coal reserves.
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I have always loved the photovoltaics idea - I think this is really feasible, makes tons of sense - why aren't we looking at this more? Funding...incentive? I live in the southeast - down the road from you - and I'm sure there's enough sunlight for everyone to share. (Unfortunately, I think China's beyond help now - but that's being very cynical).