• Question: has an experiment ever left you with a disability? eg gone deaf in one ear, lost sight in one eye etc x

    Asked by caitlin x to Connor, Jillian, Lidunka, Sarah, Steven on 17 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Steven Thomson

      Steven Thomson answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      I don’t know anyone who’s been seriously injured like that! Scientists take safety very seriously. Before we do experiments, we have to assess the risks and make sure there’s no chance of anything like that happening. If an experiment is that dangerous, we wouldn’t do it!

    • Photo: Sarah Beasley

      Sarah Beasley answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      Not me, thankfully! We do a lot of work before we do testing to make sure that doesn’t happen. But sometimes people do silly things and break the rules, like looking down into a laser and being blinded in one eye.

    • Photo: Jillian Scudder

      Jillian Scudder answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      These are very rare! Most of the time scientists have to take great precautions against injury if it’s possible.

      For me, the most injury I’ve had is just tendonitis from typing too much in a bad position.

    • Photo: Lidunka Vocadlo

      Lidunka Vocadlo answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      @caitlin x As everyone else has said, there are a lot of procedures in place before you do an experiment to make sure nothing bad happens. That said, a friend of mine did accidentally knock over a jar of acid and for quite badly burnt…..

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