Is Everything Scientists do Important?

I have a lot of respect for the scientists that may not study the most important things in life.  They probably have their share of criticisms and questions thrown at them about why they are not trying to make a real difference, but to me they are very important.  Every little bit of knowledge that the world and mankind can grab hold of will help us in the long run.  You never know, the phosphorescent glow of that tiny (or big) ocean creature might contain a material that is able to cure cancer or AIDS.  The distance of how close a satellite can get to the sun before burning up may save one of our lives when our space snowboard loses control in 2057 and we are sent hurtling toward the sun at 8000+ mph.  It's useless to just concentrate on the things that we need at this very moment because as soon as we solve those, there will be new problems.  If there are people working on diverse topics, maybe some of those problems will have already been solved.

I also think that scientists should investigate what they are interested in, even if it is just something "cool".  They may have the choice to work on something more important, but they won't be fully committed if they are not truly interested.  If they don't have a deep care for their studies, they may not end up being a big help anyway.  Whatever the scientist is learning, it will benefit mankind, whether it's in a big way or not.  Also, like a said up above, the pursue of answers to random questions may have a very big impact.  It is definitely worth investing in things like that.  All discoveries are important; big or small!

I have posted on Phil, Megan, and Kate's blogs.