Generating topics of research

Read a good ScienceBlogs entry on generating topics of future research . I've been involved in research for a while, but for the most part I do what's asked of me. One thing I'm excited about starting graduate school next week is I get to do my own thing. That's not totally true. I was given a list of potential projects by my advisor and I picked the one that most interested me. But now its up to me where it goes.

But Zuska's blog post brings up some interesting points. A spark of an idea can come from any number of places. A friend of mine just had a paper published based on an idea he had of reading a paper in journal club two years ago. I was happy for him because it was his idea from start to beginning. I'm hoping I can get a few ideas of my own for research as I progress in my PhD.