Open problems in GA/ES/EP/GP

Hello,
I am a student who would like to write a thesis on a subject in the field of
Evolutionary Programming, in the coming two years. However I am unsure what
problems or studies are still somewhat 'open'. I would have liked for
instance to research the image compression technique using fractals,
implemented with GA's as optimization modifications; however I 'fear' image
compression has already been thoroughly investigated. I would also be
interested in the application of GP for encryption - and decryption
possibilities, or more practically oriented, the designing of hardware
specifically designed for creating programs derived from GP and sets of
parameters. Especially the latter seems very interesting for me since it is
not entirely my field, yet again I think I am too late to be able to say
anything new about it.
Does anybody have any idea where I could go to to come up with an insured
*original* subject to research?

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Quaternion