Question: what was your longest hardest experiment you've ever done and does it help people with its results ecoulter22@synergymat.uk

James Lazenby answered on 7 Apr 2026: last edited 7 Apr 2026 11:50

Most of the work we do helps people, it’s just not always so clear what that may be when you are doing it. Science that we do with a clear goal that will directly benefit people is often called “Applied Research” and science that we do because we are trying to understand the world around us better but there is no direct application as yet is often called “Basic Research”. Some of the things you take for granted today like Wi-Fi, X-rays and GPS started out as basic research that then found an application much later.

My longest single experiment was actually something I did as an undergraduate student. It took 6 months to grow the bacteria because it could only grow at 4 C. There was no immediate result that would help people from this but it did help us understand how living organisms can adapt to cold temperatures, and in the future maybe people can use that to help cryo-preserve (freeze) organs, or even people.