Have you ever wondered what scientists really get up to all day in those hidden away labs? Well, I'll tell you: not a whole lot! Before I got a vacation job at a lab (which shall remain nameless to protect the identities of the fine and friendly people who work there) I never realised how much time scientists spend just sitting around... waiting... and waiting.. for their experiments to run!

So, among the scientific fraternity, there is a great fondness for "coffee breaks" (or in my case "hot chocolate breaks...") and a propensity to have a good chat now and then (this explains why they spend so much damn time at "confrences" and "team meetings"). Now, there are of course those good and industrious souls who either plan their experiments to overlap, or who are loaded with someone elses to do. These people seem much busier than some others.... but they still manage to find an inordinate amount of time (which is spent by some youngish male members of the lab playing Quake and the like on the spiffy Apple Mac's we have).