have you ever tried to make something and instead it into something totaly different?

Question: have you ever tried to make something and instead it into something totaly different?

Asked by daiiseyy to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: Your Research.
- Laura Maliszewski answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  All the time!
  
  A lot of the neatest things that have been found in science were accidents or by-products or otherwise not exactly what was predicted to happen.
- Sarah Bardsley answered on 19 Jun 2010:
  
  Frequently while cooking.
- Mark Roberts answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  Yes all the time!
  
  Sometimes the enzymes I use to manipulate DNA make mistakes and so I end up making not what I wanted – so that goes in the bin and I have to start again!
- Paul Roche answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  I once tried to make my daughter a Pot Noodle, and instead made a “huge mess” (according to my wife) or possibly “an alien life form” (according to me unimpressed daughter….).
  
  As an astronomer, I observe things, rather than make things. In the past, I have discovered a new star and an asteroid when looking at one that I was interested in, so we do make accidental discoveries (we call them “serendipitous” discoveries, as that sounds better than “I found this thing by mistake/accident”!).
  
  Many discoveries in the past (such as X-rays, radioactivity and penicillin) were made by accident, so it is a very useful thing to happen.
- Lily Asquith answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  Yes, all the time. I think accidents are a fundamental part of my work!
  
  Seriously though, I do think that *serendipity* has played a major part in lots of scientific discoveries.

Question: have you ever tried to make something and instead it into something totaly different?

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