[mycorrhizal]

You might be interested in the Ronin Institute, basically a bunch of former academics who left traditional institutions, but are still pursuing scientific research. http://ronininstitute.org/

I'm still a grad student, but am definitely considering pursing my own goals once I finish. Fortunately the finical barriers are not insurmountable for some really interesting fields.

[btrettel]

Thanks for the link. Seems valuable for independent researchers who want to collaborate with others like themselves.