#fieldworkfail, an Endearing Chronicle of Scientists in Their Natural Environment

#fieldworkfail is in retrospect #fieldworkwin, depicting scientists in their natural environments

The Wire Staff

#fieldworkfail is in retrospect #fieldworkwin, depicting scientists in their natural environments

fieldworkfail an endearing chronicle of scientists in their natural environment

Science sometimes means juggling cheetah poop. Source: @AnneWHilborn

If you grew up watching Dexter's Lab or broadcasts of ISRO's mission control room on DD News, you would've picked up a lot of science as well as a misconception: that scientists are all about working in a closed-off space with an intimidating array of instruments, donning labcoats (originally white-coloured) and goggles, and as a matter of convention not finding anything funny. But as it happens, there are also many scientists out there getting their hands dirty with natural, not just lab-made, gunk.

Consider the tweets tagged #fieldworkfail on Twitter. From getting their legs stuck in tarpits to glueing themselves to crocodiles to dropping cheetah poop on themselves, #fieldworkfail is in retrospect #fieldworkwin, depicting scientists in their natural environments, showing them making mistakes like the rest of us, but most importantly showing in insightful light what science really is: about being curious, taking initiative and being honest about the results. And to the hashtag's additional credit, the ~~tweets~~ scientists are also hilarious.

Dropped off super-early at remote site, so we napped at the road until survey-time. Woke up absolutely covered in slugs. #fieldworkfail
— Liv (@field_daze) July 31, 2015

Boat stuck 4hr on sandbar in Brahmaputra's meandering flows. Wading distance from shore. Imagine surprise when fog lifted. #fieldworkfail
— Madhusudan Katti ? (@leafwarbler) July 31, 2015

Accidentally glued myself to a crocodile while attaching a radio transmitter. #fieldworkfail
— Agata Staniewicz (@AgataStaniewicz) July 30, 2015

Arrived at remote Alaska field site, camp manager had already set up toilet tent: about 2 m away from fresh grizzly tracks. #fieldworkfail
— Anthony J. Martin (@Ichnologist) July 30, 2015

See a salamander, while going to catch it see a different salamander, get distracted, catch zero salamanders #fieldworkfail
— Nick Caruso (@PlethodoNick) July 30, 2015

Was maintaining Pit 67 @labreatarpits. Stepped wrong, left leg sank to my knee & was stuck. Thought: Megafauna died this way. #FieldWorkFail
— Trevor S. Valle (@tattoosandbones) July 30, 2015

A lizard that had eluded capture for weeks jumped on my head and ran down the entire length of me. I still couldn't catch it. #fieldworkfail
— Ambika Kamath (@ambikamath) July 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/KaggleRock/status/626817892370223104

put backpack down to rest. pack full of rocks & can't pick it back up. insert self into pack like a turtle, roll over, stand. #fieldworkfail
— Kelsey Winsor (@kelseywinsor) July 31, 2015

When you are collecting cheetah poop and drop some on yourself.#fieldworkfail #distractinglysexy pic.twitter.com/RvgHfauQ6P
— Anne Hilborn (@AnneWHilborn) July 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/naomi_noodle/status/626940573950287872

https://twitter.com/TellDrtell/status/626897187600007168

Group leader read a map wrong. We ended up a mile into an active USAF target range. Left very quickly. #FieldWorkFail pic.twitter.com/G4q2OoT6iL
— Trevor S. Valle (@tattoosandbones) July 31, 2015

And like all humans...

That time we ran out of coffee. WE RAN OUT OF COFFEE with 1 month left to go. #fieldworkfail
— LooksLikeAProfKline (@MichelleAKline) July 31, 2015

This article went live on July thirty-first, two thousand fifteen, at thirty-six minutes past nine in the morning.

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