• Question: do you ever get stuck on one small thing even though it wasn’t even that hard?

    Asked by anon-197603 to Sonal, Rosanna, Matthew, Marleen, Dan, Atreya on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Atreya Acharyya

      Atreya Acharyya answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      yes. quite a few times. glad I do though, the journey of being stuck is often rewarding and often leads to discovering new fun things.

    • Photo: Sonal Bhadane

      Sonal Bhadane answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Yes absolutely. I call it human nature. I have been stuck on small tasks many times ( not proud to admit) not because it was hard or complicated but sometimes just because my head wasn’t in the game. I find that when you are distracted due to other reasons even the small task seems like you are climbing a mountain. I feel it’s ok. Our brains are made to do only so much:), so when you feel like you are stuck on small things its because you need a break. That’s how I interpret it.

    • Photo: Matthew Selwood

      Matthew Selwood answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Oh my word, all the damned time!! I am only human, and still make lots of mistakes. That is the only way to learn! Sometimes it is maths, where I forget that 10/2=5, and thus my answer is completely wrong. Sometimes it is logic in code, and others I just completely forget a fundamental part of physics that makes the problem easier. Please don’t think that these amazing scientists get things right all the time – we just keep it to ourselves when thigh go wrong!

      Fellow scientists: what is the silliest mistake you have ever made / the easiest thing you have ever got stuck on?

      I once tried to align a laser for 2 hours that wasn’t even turned on… Not my finest hour!

    • Photo: Rosanna Tilbrook

      Rosanna Tilbrook answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      All the time- mostly because I’ve accidentally put something stupid in my code and it’s messing up everything else!

    • Photo: Dan Porter

      Dan Porter answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      All the time! Sometimes you just have to keep going at the problem until you batter it down, but sometimes it’s best to take your mind off it for a while, try answering other questions and come back to it later – you’ll usually find it looks less daunting the second time.

    • Photo: Marleen Wilde

      Marleen Wilde answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      That’s part of being human and a researcher 🙂 In hindsight you always think, why didn’t I get it quicker or why did I waste so much time on it, it wasn’t that difficult. But in the end it’s all part of the learning curve 🙂

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