What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever done in your career?

Question: What's the biggest mistake you've ever done in your career?

Asked by monica to Darren, Deuan, Duncan, Lori-An, Michelle on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: Scientist.
- Lori-An Etherington answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  I haven’t done anything really big. I broke an expensive bit of equipment once by dropping it on the floor by accident and my boss wasn’t too happy
- Darren Nesbeth answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  The first time I made something called an ‘acrylamide gel’ I used old, feint instructions that were difficult to follow. I made a litre of the damned stuff and added a catalyst called APS, which meant it could have exploded at any time and ended my scientific career before it began. Luckily it just solidified overnight into 1 litre of crystalised polyacrylamide. Phew! That was back in 1995.
- Michelle Hudson-Shore answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  Thankfully I haven’t really made any howlers. When I was doing my Masters degree I had to present my findings to all the lecturers and other students and I mixed up my two data sets so what I was saying didn’t match the graphs I was showing which caused some awkward questions and was a bit embarrasing.

Question: What's the biggest mistake you've ever done in your career?