Here’s a NOVA scienceNOW video podcast from last summer.

So we’ve already asked Mark Siddall 10 questions (and you can watch the video). The 11th question is for you!

Now it’s your turn.

This is how it works: You send in questions for Mark via the comments for this blog post. We collect the best questions, send them to Mark, and he posts his answers in this very space. Ask him about his science. Ask him about his secret life. And, of course, be civil and follow the guidelines for posting comments.

Send in your questions, people of SLoS. “The Leechman” awaits….

UPDATE: We are no longer accepting new questions for Mark. Many thanks to everyone who did send in questions. And for those who didn’t get to ask a question, check out the comments section for this post—Mark may have given an answer to something you wanted to ask.

OK, so by now, you’ve probably watched our videos with Mark Siddall. And you know that he’s cooked and eaten some pretty weird stuff (that’s Mark with a glass of snake venom in the photo—he drinks it “shaken, not stirred” just like James Bond!). Bottoms Up (Courtesy Mark Siddall) But Mark also, at least occasionally, cooks and eats foods that aren’t dangerous at all. He told us that he and his young daughter recently improvised a dish made of shrimp, sweet potatoes, onions, ginger, and garlic sauce rolled up in wonton wraps. And that sounds deliciously non-fatal to us. On our set, Mark described his cooking as “ephemeral” and said that each dish he makes “will never be done exactly the same way again” (that, of course, could have something to do with the whole drinking snake venom thing). Regardless, Mark is clearly just as passionate and creative with his cooking “secret life” as he is with his science. And we’d love to have him and his sous-chef/daughter cook us dinner sometime.

The first of 16 scientists we interviewed for this season of “The Secret Life of Scientists” was Mark Siddall. And we all knew he was bringing them, but when Mark walked onto our set with two jars filled with leeches, most of us were still pretty grossed out. Our associate producer Laura may have, in fact, had an aneurysm (we’ll know for sure when the test results come back–best of luck, Laura!). So why do leeches give so many people the willies? After all, vampires suck your blood too, but people love them (see “Twilight,” “True Blood,” etc.).

This one’s pretty, isn’t it? (Courtesy Mark Siddall) Well, it turns out that the cure for bdellophobia (fear of leeches) is to spend some quality time with “The Leechman.” Mark Siddall loves leeches so much that he actually kind of makes you love them too. On our set, Mark took his leeches out of their jars and let them slither about all over his arms and hands. When our gasps subsided, we had to admit to being impressed by the way Mark embraces leeches (in this case, literally) and all of nature. As he said to us…