It’s not all white coats and Erlenmeyer flasks. Scientists risk their shoes, their pants, and often their lives in the field in order to get the data they need. This week they’re sharing some of their worst “Oh god, I’m going to die tonight,” fieldwork moments on Twitter.
Wildlife biologist and cartoonist Arjun Srivathsa wasn’t the only one heeding the call of the wild:
Taking a dump in the ravines & a striped hyena creeps up on you. Shitting bricks got a whole new meaning. #FieldWorkScares
— Arjun Srivathsa (@arjun_srivathsa) September 29, 2016
Dani Rabaiotti studies climate change and has witnessed some strange weather …
#FieldWorkScares thinking it has started raining, turning to look to find A HOARD OF ARMY ANTS RAINING FROM THE TREES
— Dani Rabaiotti (@DaniRabaiotti) September 28, 2016
… and rude awakenings
#FieldWorkScares being woken up in the African bush by a dikdik sitting on my head
— Dani Rabaiotti (@DaniRabaiotti) September 28, 2016
What scares scientists the most? A few themes have begun to emerge.
There are snakes:
#FieldWorkScares: chasing a snake for a photo, to find out it’s the only poisonous spp in Southern Angola (did I mention I’m a marine bio?)
— Romina Henriques (@HenriquesRo) September 29, 2016
When the blue monkeys stare down at your feet and start their snake alarm call and you see nothing #FieldWorkScares
— Kris Sabbi (@KrisSabbi) September 29, 2016
Volunteer’s dog is bitten twice by a rattlesnake. I’m the only one who can drive him out. Three hours to the closest vet. #FieldWorkScares
— Brian Switek (@Laelaps) September 29, 2016
The field itself:
Getting lost in the desert in southern Angola with the car full of students and no cell reception… #FieldWorkScares
— Romina Henriques (@HenriquesRo) September 29, 2016
#FieldWorkScares bushwhacking thru Rhododendron thickets in remote Scotland, fell thru mulch and branch covered pit 4′ deep. 2hrs to get out
— Jack McLachlan (@JMcL14) September 29, 2016
#FieldWorkScares: ran out of water on a desert island during hot summer + rough seas = water eventually delivery by the Mexican navy
— Manuela Gonzalez (@MGS_tweets) September 29, 2016
But a consensus is building: fieldwork hell is other people.
You read #FieldWorkScares looking for tales of adventure- like escaping bears.
But the reality is it’s escaping horrible people.
— Kiron Mukherjee (@kironcmukherjee) September 29, 2016
#UrbanEcology #FieldWorkScares 3am. Two dudes in car stop. Ask what we’re doing. Then offer us cocaine. Response? Politest #nothankyou EVER
— Cylita Guy (@CylitaGuy) September 29, 2016
When border patrol agents ask if you’ve seen two men near remote field site… then tell you not to worry as they jog away #fieldworkscares
— Sarah Supp (@srsupp) September 29, 2016
#FieldWorkScares Casually running into a drug handover between dealers when searching for birds at night time. They had machetes #fieldwork
— Aurelie MT L. (@amtlabbe) September 29, 2016
Head of gun club: “I don’t think you’d ever be safe around me, Hun”, after I asked about hunting safety on sampling site. #FieldWorkScares
— Beth Ansaldi (@AWomaninSTEM) September 29, 2016
Here’s to the brave researchers putting themselves out there for science’s sake. Stay safe out there, y’all.
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September 29, 2016 – 5:30pm