• Question: hats the most complex experiment that you ever preformed

    Asked by Scott to Alan, Ciorsdaidh, Lauren, Leonie, Martin, Neil, Shuo on 11 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Alan McCue

      Alan McCue answered on 11 Mar 2018:

      Hmm tough question. The complexity of experiments tends to come from understanding what the results mean. So the actual experiment can be quite simple but the amount of head scratching afterwards can be signficicant. for example, I did an experiment with a material called palladium sulfide in 2013. I am only just now understanding what the results mean now in 2018!

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 12 Mar 2018:

      Alan is right… it’s not so much the complexity of experiments that is the problem but the time it takes us to understand the results. I much prefer when the experiments are simple and easy to explain as they can often provide the most profound understanding. Take the example of a simple question like at what temperature do water molecules start to move around on a silica surface. One of my research students asked this and it took 3 months of experiments here in Edinburgh and another couple of months for some colleagues in Brighton to show that this happens at surprisingly low temperatures. The experiment we had to perform at conceptually the same as one that is done in our undergraduate laboratory to teach analysis of experimental data.

    • Photo: Neil Keddie

      Neil Keddie answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      I have done some experiments that involve setting up quite a lot of bits of glassware that have to be careful joined together and controlled to make sure it didn’t explode! That was probably one of the only days when my lab looked like the sort of ‘mad scientist’ labs that you see on TV with loads of bubbling flasks and weird liquids.

    • Photo: Lauren Webster

      Lauren Webster answered on 15 Mar 2018:

      Mmmm the most complex experiment was where I was using parasites and finding out where drug molecules stick to them. I had to lyse (spilt open) the parasite and I had to attach my drugs uniquely to special beads. Through a 4 day experiment and then countless weeks later on a machine that measures by mass, we found out where abouts in the parasite the drug molecules like to stick to. Some where known targets and some were unknown!!! I guess you can say it was complex because of all the steps but also the length of time it took. I spent about 6 months prior making the drug molecules too!!!

    • Photo: Ciorsdaidh Watts

      Ciorsdaidh Watts answered on 16 Mar 2018:

      I once did an experiment that involved recording (using a super high power microscope) cancer cells dividing in real time. This was incredible to capture and watch but also extremely technical and tricky to get right. The images and videos were so informative when we got them right though!

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