Depending on what you are into, it is great fun to develop molecules, either from scratch with plain chemistry or adapting cool mechanisms from nature and using a cell to make it for you.

Biomolecular Engineering is actually a thing, and the possibilities are endless, it's wide open, and the tools are getting better. It's kind of like what software was in 1990 or so.

It's also not going to go out of style; you'll work at a higher level (using alphafold and other tools like that).

It's also not going out of style; you'll work at a higher level (using alphafold and other tools like that). cular machines that are awesome. That includes drugs but also better things that people use every day. There are many examples of cool machines in biology those can be adapted elsewhere.

Here's a ted talk that shows you what thoughts you may have if you pursue this field. Also, the world works differently here; for example, friction does not exist in a traditional sense because the machines are atomically precise. There are plenty of atoms and energy, so unsolvable problems become solvable.

For inspiration, maybe read Diamond Age, Rainbow's end, Engines of Creation, Unbounding the Future, or Radical Abundance. It was kind of far out for a while, but it is all feasible now.

You'll also need to know how to code a little, but software alone is not going to be as awesome in the next 20 years as it was in the last 20 year.

All the best to you!

Take off fixed costs first to calculate your "hourly income". You still need to pay taxes and stuff anyways.

(Income - Taxes - Housing - Interest - Insurance)/(hours worked)

It may be less than you think.

I think we do need a physical frontier to push, though. We always had one and we could send the crazies there to mellow out.

The man who knew the way to the moon covered this.

Summary: Von Braun and the senior gang wanted an orbital staging platform and essentially milk the moon project for funding to do that because then you can go further with the same investment. However, the rockets needed were not available, and new rocket systems are rocket science, so you could not get to the moon by the time JFK wanted it. The lunar orbiter was the only thing that would likely work in the timeframe.

So they did the minimalistic moon project, funding dried up, and nobody built a good staging platform after because of lack of money.

John C Houbolt (NASA, Wiki) may be good starting points too.

Another for your Daughter's reading list: An astronaut's guide to life. And maybe in a few years, Project Paperclip, to keep hero worship in check.
Maybe also Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman, for general interest.

Glowing plants were a bit of a dud so far, but new work is in progress.

One of the many issues is that even if it works, should it be released into the wild, ever? If not, once it exists, can we avoid it? (because it's "soo cool", it just takes a few seeds)
What is the impact of lights on nocturnal life? (Althought that ship has kind of sailed with the light bulb).

The nice thing is that it takes extra energy to glow at night, whichever way it is done. So the glowing plant may be unlikely to become invasive.

The pictures needed long-term exposure to get enough light.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glowing_Plant_project
https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-glowing-plant-startup-that-just-gave-up-its-quest/

MIT uses another approach:
https://news.mit.edu/2021/glowing-plants-nanoparticles-0917

Maybe the artist thing is not as hopeless as you think it is. Just consider that your work has moved to a higher level of abstraction - you can do more story telling, and you have unlimited assistants that are kinda clever in their own weird ways.

You are now a director instead of a worker. And you can make amazing things!