Oh please. I used to work in microwave semiconductors and hybrid microelectronic circuits. This work is a far cry from research in transitional elements.
What you want is research money with no accountability. That kills wealth necessary to fund other more productive research.
Yes, I agree, it is. But we had to get to the point where those elements were of interest in the first place. They used to be oddities, not useful in metallurgy or most chemistry. I'm not saying super heavy elements will see useful applications, but even just doing this unapplicable research will lead to the development of new methods and instrumentation and train young scientists to *think* and solve problems.
I say that applied science fields can be traced back to and are based on formerly "useless" basic research. There need not be a 100% correlation in each and every case.
What you want is research money with no accountability. That kills wealth necessary to fund other more productive research.
I've long not wanted research money. I moved on shortly after getting my degree and went into a professional field as my own boss. When trillions are spent (wasted?) on "social projects," what do a few billion here and there matter for more esoteric research that might only broaden our general knowledge of things and creates problem-solving people that can move on to the "real world" later?