• Question: Do you watch the big bang theory? Do you do much practical work or is it all sort of office-ish :P What sort of experiments do you do (enjoy doing)

    Asked by millie27 to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 27 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 27 Jun 2012:


      Hey millie27,

      Yes i love the big bang theory! It probably one of my favorite TV shows at the moment mainly because i know lots of people like the characters so it really makes me laugh. Sheldon has to be hands down the best character. In fact my old house mate was eerily similar!

      The project that i am currently working on doesn’t really need practicals. The experiments that i run are on a super computer so it can all be done at my desk. I do get the chance to go and do some really oceanography now and then and its so much fun. Usually we go out on a research ship into the ocean and take lots of water sample, samples of the sediment on the sea floor and catch some animals then head back to the lab to analysis them!

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 27 Jun 2012:


      Hi millie,
      I love the big bang theory. I have a friend who’s just like Howard! Although it’s not really a realistic portrayal of most scientists, who are usually far more normal than those guys.

      I don’t do any experiments in my job, but I do get to do a lot of fieldwork. That means I go out to volcanoes, or to oil reservoirs, or other interesting bits of the planet, and we put out seismometers, which are instruments that detect earthquakes. The seismometers will sit there for a few weeks or months recording data, and then we’ll come back at the end and collect and analyse the data.

      Fieldwork is definitely my favourite part of the job, because you get to go to some pretty cool places all around the world.

    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 27 Jun 2012:


      Hi millie27,

      Yep, I also love the Big Bang Theory, like Nuala and James V because the characters do have characteristics which remind us of people we know (my house mate is scarily like Sheldon at times!). I’m a fan of Leonard though! I guess the key difference between my friends in science and the Big Bang characters is that we are all more sporty and active than those guys and we all cook for ourselves more!

      My experiments are all run on the computer model I work with, but I enjoy doing them as it’s interesting to see if my changes to the model have worked and if they are doing what I want. The model usually has something in its results, which takes a while to work out, but once you do is really satisfying!

      When I was doing my undergraduate work, I also got to do fieldwork, which was great fun, I really enjoyed one fieldtrip to Oban in Scotland, were we worked on Loch Etive and investigated environmental conditions on the Loch (such as pollution) and where they were coming from. What I enjoyed most about fieldwork was being part of a team, normally with 10 friends, working together and it was great fun!

    • Photo: Davie Galloway

      Davie Galloway answered on 27 Jun 2012:


      hi millie,

      i sure do watch big bang theory … like the other scientists in the earth zone (and probably others) i too know a few people who are like the characters … not a sheldon though as i probably would have strangled him by now … he’s so so funny but would be so so annoying in real life 🙂

      most of the work i do now is based in the office … my choice … however, over the years i’ve worked in montserrat in the caribbean, in vietnam, in cameroon, in greece and in turkey … in all these places i was involved in setting up seismic networks … it was hard work but lucky for me the weather was fantastic … nowadays i sit in the office and whenever i look out the window it seems to be raining 🙁

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