A
volcanologist, a marine
biologist, and an
ornithologist walk into your
corner café. From where
you sit—the comfy couch, of
course—you can almost hear their drink
orders. You wonder if they’re tea people or
cof ee hounds. When they meet up with
some friends and take the table behind
you, you can easily hear them discussing
their i eldwork: on site at Mount St.
Helens, at the shrinking Great Salt Lake,
or in Lower Athabasca, Alberta. h en
one of them mentions sometimes being
a bit bored. h e others chime in. You’re
curious: what do scientists do during their
downtime in the i eld?Snail Numbering
Kay Behrensmeyer, curator of vertebrate
paleontology at the Smithsonian,
mentions one trip to Pakistan where it
rained nearly an entire week. Now that
could be dull! However, she and her
colleague used the time to write an entire
scientii c paper—on an early laptop, using
electricity from a generator—describing
their new method for documenting fossils.
Anna Armitage takes a dif erent
view regarding downtime. “h ink! Eat!
Explore!” she exclaims. Armitage, a
marine ecologist, studies the ef ects
humans have on coastal habitats, places
like tidal mudl ats, seagrass beds, and
salt marshes. As for being bored, she says,
“Sometimes, that [word] means you feel
like there is nothing to do. Fieldwork
is rarely like that—it is usually very
busy! But, it can be tedious. Repeating
measurements over and over can feel
boring.”
You angle yourself toward the
scientists’ table, curious to know
more about what a marine ecologistHOW DO SCIENTISTS
PASS THE TIME AT
FAR-FLUNG
RESEARCH SITES?
by^ M
ary^ A
lexandr
aAgner