Fuel/energy or medicine.

[Gemuadrken]

What do you all think is more important?

I'm going to be chasing a PHD in organic chemistry, i'm genuinely trying to decide what profession could make a more positive impact on the world. Exploring new energy sources or exploring new medicine.

Thoughts?

[BGoodman88]

During my previous job I worked on a project with a PhD student who worked on the bio engineering of yeast for the production of second generation bio ethanol. Conventional yeast proved to be too weak to process second generation material (high in c6 sugars).I was only involved in the business development side of it, not a scientist myself, but I found it one of the most interesting projects I work on. So my choice would be energy.

I also think energy is much more fundamental then medicine. True, medicine has made a serious impact, but not as serious as the impact of the use of fire, steam energy, nuclear power,... Medicine, on the contrary, gives you much more possibilities of making a (smaller) impact.

Anyway, my choice would be energy. Thanks for making me regret I didn't chose a more science-directed education :-) Good luck either way!

[desslok]

Depends on which group of lobbyists spend more money over the next 10-20 years.