I'm a nature writer, damn it!

  A good friend of mine said, "You look at the strangest things." When I tell people that my genre is speculative sci-fi they immediately inquire what the aliens look like, or say something like 'Oh, that space stuff with monsters or robots" Some day in a future work, I may use robots, but any aliens will be of the type that could evolve in the conditions provided by it's own planet. Chances are it will not resemble humans in any way. Writers must think outside the box. My box is limited due to pressures I put on myself. Although some might think the subject matter here may be strange, I assure you it is real. Science not only studies the farthest reaches of outer space, but also the realm of the infinitely small.
  This is all nature. To tell a story about how Mankind is effected by nature, I need to get as many facts right as possible. Even though I write fiction, the amount of research time needed far outweighs the actual time spent writing. I find it interesting, and have since I was seven years old. Now if you want to talk about how much time it takes to get published, that's a whole other thing.
 Answer this question: Don't you find yourself watching the "Discovery Channel" or the "History Channel" more now than you did when you were ten years younger? Now answer this one: What will those shows be about in one hundred years...two hundred?
That is exactly the question I am trying to answer.
Thanks.