• Question: What is the most exciting discovery you made?

    Asked by EmilyE on 11 May 2020.
    • Photo: Jennifer Cookman

      Jennifer Cookman answered on 11 May 2020:


      So far I’ve figured out that the crystals used in pharmaceutical drugs are formed differently from once thought. I use a technique where I can actually see crystals form from nothing.. so literally molecules coming together to form the crystals which hasn’t been done before. The scale is tiny, we call it nanometres which is roughly about 10 billion times smaller than a tennis ball.. it’s hard to imagine which is why I need the electron microscope to see these things happening.

    • Photo: Aisling Ryan

      Aisling Ryan answered on 11 May 2020:


      I work in a chemistry lab where I make medicine to try and treat different types of cancer. I will have a plan on how to make the medicine I want. Sometimes it is impossible to make the desired medicine, and sometimes I will make the medicine and then when I treat some cancer cells with the medicine I will find out that the medicine doesn’t work!
      One of my projects I am working on involves four different medicines and so far they are all working really well, which is very exciting! All four of the medicines are stopping cancer from spreading, and two of the medicines are also able to kill the cancer cells! This work had to be put on hold while everyone is working from home, so I am excited to see what other results are possible once we can go back to work 🙂

    • Photo: Ollie Otter

      Ollie Otter answered on 11 May 2020:


      I discovered the woman of my dreams does exist. She is now my fiancée, whoop whoop!

    • Photo: Aruna Chandrasekar

      Aruna Chandrasekar answered on 11 May 2020:


      The weird translucent objects that appear in front of your eye are actually dead cells that are floating in our eyes. I always thought I was weird for seeing them. When I found out that everyone sees them, I was amazed!

    • Photo: Katherine Benson

      Katherine Benson answered on 12 May 2020:


      Probably when I’ve been able to figure out why a person with a particularly difficult to diagnose condition was sick based on their genetics.

    • Photo: Fiona Malone

      Fiona Malone answered on 29 May 2020:


      My research has shown that having an irregular heartbeat can increase your risk of stroke casued by a blood clot by up to 25%

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