• Question: What equiptment do you use

    Asked by scientisteco to Suzi, Rachael on 15 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by matt101.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi @scientisteco
      Rather boringly, I use a 5 year old PC. And that’s pretty much it. Sometimes I will write notes with a pen and paper 🙂

      However, some of the data I use has been extracted from DNA – so to get that out some really fancy equipment is used to extract tiny pieces of genetic material from cells and decode them! I don’t get to do this alas, although I have been to see it done, and it’s really cool!

    • Photo: Rachael Ward

      Rachael Ward answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi scientisteco and matt101

      Wow, where do I start? A LOT!

      I use about 5 different microscopes to look at my worms. Equipment I’d use everyday includes fridges and freezers to store things in. We have weighing scales, water baths to heat things. Also centrifuges and pipettes to prepare experiments and measure things. And computers of course.

      Then it depends what experiment I’m doing as to what other equipment I might need. One of the things about science is that you often have to use 20-30 different bits of equipment at least so it can be difficult to remember how they all work and when one breaks down, it can be a bit of a nightmare! I find it fun though to learn how to use new things and new technology.

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