I learnt this about a year ago and realised how important this is - If you want to work on something, make sure you read the papers published by your professors and colleagues. I just realised that actually what ever I am doing right now cannot be completely based on my own idea. Well, perhaps I am a little naive. In the very beginning when my professor asked me to think of a topic, I thought I have to come up with something new and different. The fact is - it is ok to be new and different from other groups but it is not ok to be different from your own professor's work. New is not a problem here but everything should be built upon previous work. Come to think of it this actually makes more sense... a professor will not be interested to say my new ideas are different from my previous ones. It is ok if it is an extension of the older ideas.

So first tip - make sure you read your professors and colleagues work before you go save the world! ha..ha.. ciao