• Question: have you ever experimented on humans.

    Asked by 227nepk28 to Ed, Kerrianne, Nina, Oli, yoyehudi on 13 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Yo Yehudi

      Yo Yehudi answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      Hmmm, kind of, but not in the sense you’re probably thinking! I make websites for biologists to use to look up information about genes and proteins related to their experiments – and one of my goals is to make them as easy to use as possible, so sometimes we’ll run user testing experiments. When we’re doing that, we’re basically sitting behind people watching them use the website and encouraging them to “think aloud”. The idea is that if something is tricky or non-intuitive, they’ll help us find it so we can fix it and make it easier to use for the next time.

      No chemicals are involved, except perhaps the caffeine when we offer them a tea 🙂

    • Photo: Kerrianne Harrington

      Kerrianne Harrington answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I personally have not and will not, but the optical fibres I help to make for the Proteus project will be tested on humans. This will be by people (doctors and clinicians) far more qualified than me to do so!

    • Photo: Nina Jordan

      Nina Jordan answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I haven’t, and I have no desire to do that.

    • Photo: Oli Wilson

      Oli Wilson answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      Not as part of my research I haven’t, but I did a bit when I was a teacher!
      For example, you can notice the switch from aerobic to anaerobic respiration when you exercise by feeling the burn from the lactic acid – so I got my year 8 class to repeatedly open and shut their hands as quickly as they could, for as long as they could before the burn set in. It helped them learn it! (And it looked well funny.)
      Reactions are also good ones to test – blow in someone’s face when they’re not expecting it and they’re guaranteed to blink. Or put your hand firmly over one eye for 10 seconds or so, then quickly move it away – someone looking at your pupils will notice they start different sizes before the covered one quickly returns to normal. All worth having a go at!

    • Photo: Ed Bracey

      Ed Bracey answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      I’d actually rather work on humans than animals.
      Humans can decide if they want to be part of the experiment, animal can’t!

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