• Question: Whats the maddest thing you have ever done?

    Asked by wilsa216 to Allan, Angela, Diva, Harriet, Nathan on 28 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by kenneth98.
    • Photo: Nathan Langford

      Nathan Langford answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I think one of the truly craziest things I’ve ever done was try to write a fellowship application (a particular type of job application) that was due about 3 days before my wedding. I flew from the UK to Australia, arriving in early Monday morning. I then worked about 18 hours a day in my wife’s parent’s house to submit my application by the deadline late on Wednesday night. And my wedding was on Saturday morning! Boy, was I tired by the end of that week!

    • Photo: Allan Pang

      Allan Pang answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      Not related to my PhD, but when we were in secondary school, there is a science fair and everyone of us have to make a science project.

      And basically, I was in a group and we made a cannon, and basically we were trying out whether if it will work or not. And at that time, the classes are on, so everyone were in their respective classroom while we are in the open ground floor.

      We so happen set off the cannon. And therefore, it exploded (no worries, coz there’s nothing inside) and basically the sound wave hits the building and because the sound was very loud, it bounces off to building across. Of course, everyone gets out of their classes and saw us… we were caught as the culprits for the mischief!

    • Photo: Diva Amon

      Diva Amon answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      Hi wilsa216 and kenneth98,

      The craziest thing I have ever done is cut up a giant dead whale in Kent. We wanted to find out how it died and take some bones from it. We were also helping the team from the show ‘Inside Nature’s Giants’ on Channel 4 who were filming the dissection. This whale was so big that you had to pretty much get into it to get to the bones. This meant that I was covered in whale blood and guts from head to toe, I even had it on my face!

      Later that day, the sun was starting to go down as it was in winter time so we had to worm more quickly as there were no lights on the beach. My friend who is also doing a PhD and was helping cut up the whale by accident slid his hand down the blade of the knife. He ended up cutting through the nerves, blood vessels and ligaments on two of his fingers. The cuts went all the way to the bone! He then had to be rushed to the hospital to have emergency surgery to reconnect everything.

      We eventually got back to London after working on the whale for about 12 hours. I didnt have any spare clothes at the Natural History Museum and so it meant I had to get on the underground in that condition. I don’t think anyone wanted to sit next to me! But hye, how many people in life can say that they have been inside a whale!

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