• Question: has anything dangerous ever happen to you

    Asked by Daniel Darwin to Gavin, Karen, Mark, Michel, Roisin on 15 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      While working in science? Thankfully not. All of my “experiments” (stars, supernova, white dwarfs) are all too far from Earth to harm me.

      However, one of the telescopes I work on (the Large Binocular Telescope) is built on top of a mountain in Arizona. I normally observe there in April, which is when the bears come out of hibernation and the mountain lions are looking for food. So avoiding them is a top priority when I’m working up there.

    • Photo: Roisin Jones

      Roisin Jones answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      The most dangerous thing that happened to me while working is that I managed to shatter a glass pipette while trying to put on a pipette filler and got about an inch of it stuck in the palm of my hand, which then had to be surgically removed! I had a small bit of nerve damage for a while, but fortunately nothing that’s lasted a really long time!

    • Photo: Michel Destrade

      Michel Destrade answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      Once in the Pacific, my fingers were bitten by a shark or a moray eel. Can’t tell for sure because when I looked there was no fish in sight, but the water was getting very red very quickly! I never swam so fast in my life as when trying to get back to the boat before it came back, whatever it was! Lots of stitches, but no permanent damage.

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