70 Science Questions

[extrapenguin]

Let's do a science-related Q&A session!

1. What’s your major/field?
2. What made you choose your major/field?
3. What’s your favorite thing to do in the lab?
4. What’s the most interesting lab story?
5. What’s your favorite class?
6. Which professors do you ship together?
7. Annoying things your labmates do?
8. What are your thoughts on animal testing?
9. Any chemical burns or lab related accidents?
10. On a scale from 1 to 10 how sensitive are your lab scales?
11. Who’s your favorite scientist?
12. Who’s your least favorite scientist?
13. Favorite female scientists?
14. Do you do field work? What kind?
15. Ever tasted an experiment?
16. What are your typical daydreams about?
17. How often do you say “for science”?
18. Do you think about murdering someone with science?
19. Ever used your scientific knowledge for “bad” stuff?
20. Whats the most “evil scientist” thing you can think of?
21. If you had infinite funding, what would your research be about?
22. What is your favorite scientific theory?
23. Is a scientific mind attractive to you?
24. What is your title?
25. What is the role of technology in your field?
26. What do you enjoy most about doing science?
27. What do you enjoy least about doing science?
28. What is your tolerance on stupidity?
29. What are your strengths in your field of study?
30. Your weaknesses?
31. Do you have a bit of a god complex?
32. Why are biology majors so….you know..
33. What motivates you?
34. Do you like being supervised?
35. Describe your analytic abilities.
36. How would your friends describe you?
37. How would your professors describe you?
38. Is math a little bit too mathy for you?
39. Do you code? if yes, how many languages?
40. Thoughts on AI and robots?
41. What’s your favorite science blog?
42. Philosophical views on humanity and nature?
43. What are your short term and long term career goals?
44. Do you understand general relativity?
45. Favorite Dinosaur? Fossil? whatever…
46. How many bones can you name in medical terms?
47. How many muscles can you name in medical terms?
48. What’s your favorite molecule?
49. Do you like proofs or cold hard Mathematics?
50. What’s your favorite element?
51. Favorite show?
52. Favorite scientific fictional character?
53. What’s your favorite micro organism?
54. Have you ever held an organ in your hands?
55. Lab coats?
56. What about … lab goats?
57. White latex gloves or blue ones?
58. What’s the most dangerous experiment you’ve done in the lab?
59. What was the first time you got caught doing science?
60. What was you’r parent’s reaction when you told them you’re a scientist?
61. Except for lab coats in the bedroom what other kinks do you have?
62. What would you do a TED talk on?
63. Are you creative, artistic?
64. Do you have an attractive professor you can’t pay attention to?
65. What’s your favorite mineral?
66. What scientific books would you recommend?
67. Thoughts on spectral analysis?
68. Any interesting stories from the lab?
69. Ever did or thought about doing it or someone in the lab?
70. How much science is too much science?

Ask in the comments, and I'll answer!

Comments

[schneefink]

Oooh. 17, 20, 21, 53, 67? (pick as many as you like)

[extrapenguin]

I choose ALL OF THEM! :D

17: How often do you say “for science”?
Not enough. The translation into Finnish is not all that snappy, and I don't speak English at work.

20: What's the most “evil scientist” thing you can think of?
Actually evil: Introducing organomercury compounds into the water supply, falsifying data (see: Andrew Wakefield), working for the oil industry.
Cartoon ebul: Tesla coils.

21: If you had infinite funding, what would your research be about?
I would pick some nice, non-radioactive exotic metal, and then study how its surface electron structure (oxidization states etc) changes under a variety of conditions.
I would also give everyone else a share of the infinite pie, since a) it would be the nice thing to do, and b) it's infinite.

53: What’s your favorite micro organism?
I am not in a micro-organism field, so I'll be boring and say white blood cells, because they fight infection.

67: Thoughts on spectral analysis?
I analyze electron spectra (kinetic energy of electrons vs number of electrons with that kinetic energy) and it's one of the more satisfying things, after all the physical, doing-things-with-hands stuff.

[cloudsinvenice]

I'm picking 4, because a friend's a biomedical scientist and has told me some hair-raising tales! I'm also curious about 42, 43 and 66!

[extrapenguin]

4: What’s the most interesting lab story?
I am thankfully bereft of any interesting stories. I think the most interesting nonroutine lab thing that has happened to me was the time when I burned my fingers. I grasped the rod used to place samples in the tube furnace from sliiightly the wrong spot to place the thing back in the furnace, realized my mistake and dropped it, and then went to the sink and applied running cold water. The skin on my fingers was very shiny (read: I burned off my fingerprints) but no great harm – unlike the power cord of the tube furnace, which has a dent in its plastic coating from where the sample-holding vessel hit it and it melted. (No samples were harmed.)

42: Philosophical views on humanity and nature?
Oh dear. I guess that we all exist, and we should not screw up the planet too much, so let's try to avoid climate change k? Nature is pretty and nature is what sustains us. Cities are a necessary evil for some things. Rustic countryside life is nice.

43: What are your short term and long term career goals?
Short term: finish BSc, finish current research so that an article can be written.
Long term: acquire PhD, live forever by discovering something new. I want to become a household name, whispered reverently through the ages.

66: What scientific books would you recommend?
Of English-language nonfiction books... Er. Well, Theodore Grey's done some nice popsci books on elements and molecules.
Lots of Harrrrd SF has decent explanations of a scientific principle; most recently Stephen Baxter's Time was pretty good on the Standard Model front.

[cloudsinvenice]

I'm afraid that's what I do with the saucepan on a regular basis - luckily I've still got my fingerprints, but it's not for lack of incidents!

I'm all for becoming the subject of reverent whispers through the ages - that's more or less my plan with the fiction. That, or just live forever through becoming a vampire.

Thanks for the recommendations!