Another Thursday, another early lab section. Which means it’s time for another audience participation entry…
I think something like this went around ScienceBlogs once before, but if so, it was a while ago, and it’s a fun question:
What’s the worst job in science?
What’s the nastiest, most unpleasant task facing anyone in science? Cleaning machine parts? Washing out animal cages? Justifying climate research to James Inhofe?
If you are a scientist, leave a comment describing the worst task you’ve had to do as part of your training. If you’re not a scientist, leave a comment describing the worst task you’ve heard of a scientist having to do.
Probably the most unpleasant thing I’ve had to do was cleaning up after the exploding MOSFET’s. The fire left a greasy, sticky residue that needed to be scrubbed off with a Brillo pad, and the smell took forever to go away. The worst routine task is probably changing vacuum pump oil– no matter what you do, the stuff gets everywhere, and doesn’t wash off easily.
But those are relatively lame, because I work in an indoor physics lab. I’m sure that people from the bio and chem side have much nastier stories to tell, so here’s your chance. What’s the nastiest job in science?