That's funny I'm also setting up a home lab and buying a vintage microscope (state of the art 1999 from auction) to look at the creatures living in my pond. There are always new avenues.
I've accepted that we kind of lost the net to the money people and bureaucrats. Mid-late 90's it really was a frontier full of adventurous nerds. I would spend entire weekends on Efnet learning and experimenting with a tight group of people. Since a parallel non-commercial web has never taken off (and VR fizzled) I've ended up adventuring outdoors, the old school way. It's less intellectual but triggers similar feelings of discovery. There's a lot of experimentation and improvisation once you get into things like ski mountaineering because something always goes wrong. The camaraderie is also strong.
Another alternative is simply Science, if you can handle the barrier to entry.
Creating a directory of all WhatsApp-using businesses in the world. In dog-fooding I must say it's pretty nice booking a dentist without calling and waiting on hold.
Business listings are fairly sparse in some countries. Many owners do not bother creating even a google maps profile and just rely on word-of-mouth for new clients. Acquiring the bottom of the data-iceberg will require some creativity going forward.