As usual Jorge Cham has nailed the essence of the significance of the research done in most University Laboratories. In reality, if you actually do work that gets published, the paper will get read by a small group of people (no more than a 100 would be my guess). Most of them will go "Meh" and forget the work unless they are thinking of writing a review or a paper where you might review one of their manuscripts.
The university system is actually designed to train scientists not to really turn the scientific world upside down. We forget that when we continually ask professors "So when are you going to make Flubber anyway?". Still when you are hip deep in research and trying to convince yourself that the work is in someway relevant ... well it can all get a little delusional. It is good that we now have a test to get our heads back from the clouds.
The university system is actually designed to train scientists not to really turn the scientific world upside down. We forget that when we continually ask professors "So when are you going to make Flubber anyway?". Still when you are hip deep in research and trying to convince yourself that the work is in someway relevant ... well it can all get a little delusional. It is good that we now have a test to get our heads back from the clouds.
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