There's nothing like that thrill you get when you're finally (often after years of work) certain that you've got something new that's worthwhile knowing and will make a real difference in some practical application that will benefit the world. Adrenaline doesn't come close. Writing it up for publication (a dreaded job) seem no real bother. Shows you how crazy it can make you.

Molecular spectroscopy now sooner got out of it's infancy than funding for research mostly dried up. The division I worked in was completely disbanded about 2 years ago. Researchers were sent off to new jobs (which they didn't know much about), or retired.