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Steven Vanderwerff/Wikimedia (PD)

Scientists share their most embarrassing fieldwork stories

Sometimes scientists screw up on the job, too.

 

Cynthia McKelvey

Internet Culture

Posted on Jul 31, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 6:10 am CDT

Remember that time scientists tweeted beautiful, breathtaking, amazing photos of the totally badass stuff they do out in the field? The new Twitter hashtag #fieldworkfails tells the rest of the story.

Science isn’t always clean and pretty. Fieldwork, in particular, is usually pretty messy. The new hashtag catalogs all the goofs, forgotten and lost equipment, and broken cars and bones. If your only knowledge of scientists comes from their triumphant press conferences, these tweets will teach you a thing or two.

https://twitter.com/AlongsideWild/status/627125783471886336

https://twitter.com/phil_torres/status/626938840821821440

https://twitter.com/CMBuddle/status/626841699235561472

I couldn’t help but add my own story from the summer I spent studying clam parasites.

Science is not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.

Photo via Steven Vanderwerff/Wikimedia (PD)

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*First Published: Jul 31, 2015, 4:08 pm CDT