Question about areas of study

[towelisgood]

This may be an impossible question, but you all seem to have a good handle on these things, so I figure I'll give it a try. I find myself drawn toward areas like paleobiology and evolutionary biology, but aside from the fewer opportunities for study and employment in these fields, I find that there is a lack of urgency and real-world applicability. Is there any area of biological study that might combine these interests with something more directly useful to society? (medicine for instance)

[AlexM451]

You might consider comparative physiology, which has a ton of applications to medicine. One subset of this is comparative microbial physiology, an especially useful field for developing new antibiotics (as 99% of all microbes on earth are uncultured and uncharacterized). This way you can study phylogenetic relationships while also being cognizant of their relevance to developing medicine.

[towelisgood]

Comparative physiology looks it might be what I was looking for. Thanks for the response.