Question: How long did it take you to pick up the object using light? And did you ever think about giving up?

Susan Skelton answered on 20 Nov 2013:

Good question, Yvonne!
It depends what I am trying to pick up – some things are much more difficult than others. Smaller things are particularly difficult to get hold of!

Some things in science take a really long time…. That’s because often, when we do research, we are doing things for the first time! No-one else has done that particular thing before, so sometimes we don’t really know how to do it until we try and see what works and what doesn’t work. And no-one else knows either!

For some of my experiments, it has taken me up to a year of trying different things to eventually find something that works! During that time I definitely did think about giving up – but it’s all worth it in the end, when suddenly your experiment just starts working and you see something that no-one else has ever seen before!