I originally wanted to ask specifically about physics research because I'm a little confused on how physics research goes. But, I'm also interested in other fields, so I thought why not everyone share.

In economics, more than a decade ago, behavioral economics and cultural economics/policy started to gain ground. Behavioral economics basically rejects the conventional economics notion of "all decisions are rational" and adds neurology into the equation, ie emotion. Cultural policy is trying to quantify the un-quantify-able (since you can't really quantify culture), but the baby steps are to question "how does this cultural presence affect the economy/decisions" ie "how does hosting a worldly mega-event like World Cup or Olympics help or worsen the host country's economy?"

In the field of behavioral economics, the latest fad is warm-glow altruism, at least in University of Chicago.

Of course, I'm sure there are other research trends I'm unaware in the field of economics, so feel free to chime in further for economics!

My specific question about physics is how do you approach your research? Though I understand we largely do not understand the universe, my chain of thought is that it's difficult to research in the field of physics due to limitations of technology and with the technology we have, we discovered so many things therefore hard to make further discoveries. However, because the technology is improving so fast, physics, materials science, and chemistry are still evolving and discoveries are being made constantly. So about how much of the discoveries are accidental and how much of the discoveries are directed and intentional?