I’ve been curious how many working researchers we’ve got in this community, and what you all do!
If you’re working in science (physical or social), engineering, etc in a research capacity, give a shout in the comments and let us know what you work on! Same goes for students and amateur scientists at any level. (And by amateur I mean those of you who are working on your own experiments but just not being paid for it / not working on a degree; I’m upset that “amateur” has a negative connotation, it shouldn’t.)
I’m currently a PhD candidate, working on transmission electron microscopy and electronic materials (mainly ferroelectrics). In the past I’ve been involved in research / product development in a few different industries, including medical devices, aerogels, and materials for RF devices.
I’ve not! My work has been exclusively solid-state materials so far – they’re just much easier to observe in the TEM. It’s not impossible to do TEM on liquids / colloids, but it’s a pretty specialized technique that I’m only passingly aware of as a thing that’s possible. Seems like a pretty cool area though, I wonder why it fizzled out.