Why be a Scientist?

I'm a scientist! I absolutely love it, and I can't imagine doing anything else. Today, there's Marches all around the globe for Science, so I thought I'd share a handful of my reasons to be a scientist! It's Earth Day too, happy Earth Day!

A New Beginning, an Old Face, and a lot of Lilt

You know when you don't sleep, so you can't quite function properly that day? And then if that has a knock-on effect on the next night's sleep, the next day is affected too, and so on, in a string of days where you're not quite 100% and can't sleep either? And then after a few days of this you get a decent sleep, you're refreshed and ready, and you feel SO much better despite not having felt that bad over the sleepless days, you are at your best, and it feels amazing?

Microbes versus Orange; part two

Earlier this year ago I set up a timelapse looking at an orange in a jar, and just let it mould up. Then I made a vloggy video of it and put it on YouTube!

Now, way later than originally intended, I've finished to followup video so you can actually see what happens. Hooray!

#MeetThePhD 6: Louise Hatherall; Genetic Inventions + IP Law

#MeetThePhD 6

The idea behind this is to showcase PhD students, give a bit of an idea of what’s going on out there in PhDland, and show to the world what PhD life is like! Perhaps they are thinking of doing a PhD themselves, or just generally want to know more about it. Or they’re already doing a PhD and want to see that they’re not alone in their struggles or successes!

While Friendly Bacteria is a vaguely microbiology-themed blog, for this series of mini-interviews I’m wanting any PhD student no matter the field! I think it will be a fun way to connect with other PhD students we wouldn’t normally be able to get to know, too.

If you’re a PhD student and want to get involved with this, leave a comment here, send me a DM on Twitter ( @friendlybugblog ) or shine the Bacteria-signal into the skies above Aberystwyth and I’ll send you the questions!

Previous ones are here: http://friendlybacteriablog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/meetthephd

Today we have Louise Hatherall, investigating Intellectual Property law for genetic inventions! Tweets to @TwitTooLou (or @friendlybugblog if you want me)!

366 Days of Friendly Bacteria; My First Year in Review

My blog is a year old! HOORAY! One year ago I posted the very first post; http://friendlybacteriablog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ready-steady-blog.html

(Although the first post was posted on the 27th not the 28th, so I've made a mistake somewhere... or the leap year thing messes with my timetable or blogspot. Oh well!)

It's been a pretty huge year for me, not just because I occasionally ramble about bacteria on here, but in life generally. So here's my year in review; Year 1 of Friendly Bacteria!

#MeetThePhD 5: Daniel Morse, Disruptor of Biofilms

#MeetThePhD

The idea behind this is to showcase PhD students, give a bit of an idea of what’s going on out there in PhDland, and show to the world what PhD life is like! Perhaps they are thinking of doing a PhD themselves, or just generally want to know more about it. Or they’re already doing a PhD and want to see that they’re not alone in their struggles or successes!

While Friendly Bacteria is a vaguely microbiology-themed blog, for this series of mini-interviews I’m wanting any PhD student no matter the field! I think it will be a fun way to connect with other PhD students we wouldn’t normally be able to get to know, too.

If you’re a PhD student and want to get involved with this, leave a comment here, send me a DM on Twitter ( @friendlybugblog ) or shine the Bacteria-signal into the skies above Aberystwyth and I’ll send you the questions!

Previous ones are here: http://friendlybacteriablog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/meetthephd

Today we have Daniel Morse, investigating oral biofilms! Tweets to @danieljmorse (or @friendlybugblog if you want me), and check out http://danielmorse.me.uk too!

#MeetThePhD 4: Sam Rowe; Shining Light on Bacterial Chemical Production

#MeetThePhD

The idea behind this is to showcase PhD students, give a bit of an idea of what’s going on out there in PhDland, and show to the world what PhD life is like! Perhaps they are thinking of doing a PhD themselves, or just generally want to know more about it. Or they’re already doing a PhD and want to see that they’re not alone in their struggles or successes!

While Friendly Bacteria is a vaguely microbiology-themed blog, for this series of mini-interviews I’m wanting any PhD student no matter the field! I think it will be a fun way to connect with other PhD students we wouldn’t normally be able to get to know, too.

If you’re a PhD student and want to get involved with this, leave a comment here, send me a DM on Twitter ( @friendlybugblog ) or shine the Bacteria-signal into the skies above Aberystwyth and I’ll send you the questions!

Previous ones are here: http://friendlybacteriablog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/meetthephd

Today we have Sam Rowe, using bacteria to tackle the fuel crisis in his PhD! Tweets to @samfrowe (or @friendlybugblog if you want me)

Like a Blog, But With Sound and My Face and Stuff

I take loads of pictures and videos, I love it. It also helps me remember the good times! Especially now when my memory isn't back to how it used to be. I also do some pretty awesome stuff; I'm very lucky to live in a beautiful place with lots of special things nearby. In the last six months I've played with Marmosets, traveled to Brazil to learn Science and see Coatis, and generally gone out and about having fun. The problem is that I've always taken more pictures and videos than I have time to edit into usable, viewable formats (hence over thirty gigabytes of pics and vids from Brazil being shown to the world as... like five instagram photos). So as I don't plan on stopping my fun adventures, and in fact have many more planned for the future, I'm going to force myself to spend more time organising them all. This is going to take the form of short vlogs every week! I've already started, because I don't tend to do things in a logical order, so here's what you've missed so far:

I'll try and be interesting and informative, and maybe even entertaining too! So if you like that sort of thing, and wish to see more of my lovely face, head on over to YouTube and have a look! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYZCc63Lqh01tC2hXITMx7A 

Step Into The Science Kitchen

I like analogies. They're great. I use the excuse that they make things easier to relate to and understand, but really it's because I find coming up with them really fun!

I love Community so much

My go-to analogy for the laboratory is that it's like a kitchen where you can't eat anything without getting horribly ill (like my parents' kitchen when mum's making cakes for people, #coeliaclife). I wanted to explore that today, with pictures from a real lab (my one) to help! Also because I don't have much time for the blog today and pictures each contribute 1000 words to the overall word count, or something like that.

#MeetThePhD 3: Robert Millar: Using Bacteria to turn Bark into Bite

The idea behind meet the PhD is to showcase PhD students, give a bit of an idea of what’s going on out there in PhDland, and show to the world what PhD life is like! Perhaps they are thinking of doing a PhD themselves, or just generally want to know more about it. Or they’re already doing a PhD and want to see that they’re not alone in their struggles or successes!

While Friendly Bacteria is a vaguely microbiology-themed blog, for this series of mini-interviews I’m wanting any PhD student no matter the field! I think it will be a fun way to connect with other PhD students we wouldn’t normally be able to get to know, too.

If you’re a PhD student and want to get involved with this, leave a comment here, send me a DM on Twitter ( @friendlybugblog ) or shine the Bacteria-signal into the skies above Aberystwyth and I’ll send you the questions!

Previous ones are here: http://friendlybacteriablog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/meetthephd

This time, we've got Robert Millar, a fellow bacteria-jockey, but from Warwick!

#MeetThePhD 2: Olly the Criminologist!

The idea behind meet the PhD is to showcase PhD students, give a bit of an idea of what’s going on out there in PhDland, and show to the world what PhD life is like! Perhaps they are thinking of doing a PhD themselves, or just generally want to know more about it. Or they’re already doing a PhD and want to see that they’re not alone in their struggles or successes!

While Friendly Bacteria is a vaguely microbiology-themed blog, for this series of mini-interviews I’m wanting any PhD student no matter the field! I think it will be a fun way to connect with other PhD students we wouldn’t normally be able to get to know, too.

If you’re a PhD student and want to get involved with this, leave a comment here, send me a DM on Twitter ( @friendlybugblog ) or shine the Bacteria-signal into the skies above Aberystwyth and I’ll send you the questions!

Previous ones are here: http://friendlybacteriablog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/meetthephd

This time, we've got a good friend of mine I've known most of my life! Here's Olly's PhD experience:

(My favourite part is when he says he's in awe of people like me)

Working Things Through; Imposter Syndrome and Fear of Messing Up

I am not confident in myself. Not just when I speak to people, or do anything traditionally nerve-wracking, but in everything I do, and everything I am; or at least, that I'm pretending to be. It feels like the classic 'imposter syndrome' deal, but it is seeping through my whole life. A lot of the time I feel like I just go through the motions, or that I am permanently 'faking it till I make it', even when I'm just being me.

There's this Gareth lurking in my head who is really happy with who I am. I get excited at the prospect of being 'me', of doing things I do like going into the lab, writing out a blog post, doing all the fun little sciencey hobby stuff I've started doing now with all the Instagram and videos and blog things. Being a proper scientist like I've always wanted, with things like talking at conferences, doing the public engagement bits, my Friendly Bacteria internet things...

Is that the real me though? Because if you take the whole me, the Garethome if you will, that's not how it pans out. That stuff really scares me. Like, to the point where I freeze up entirely. Even really easy, small stuff like checking on how my bacteria are growing in the lab. My office is almost opposite the lab, I could be up from my desk, suited up with lab coat and gloves and spraying things down with ethanol within sixty seconds. And yet whole days have gone by where I've had things I can be doing in the lab but I can't bring myself to even leave my chair. Not because I don't know what I'm doing, or anything like that, but that I'm so afraid trying to become this version of myself that I do actually want to become that even the first small steps are really overwhelming. I have officey things to do while I'm there anyway, but quick trips to the lab are delayed minutes, hours, sometimes even a whole day.

With this Friendly Bacteria stuff, too, I hit the same wall. Every time I pipe up on Twitter as being willing to chat with people or interact or do whatever, I almost immediately completely lock up, unable to respond to whoever it may be when they reply to my comments/tweets/emails. When I do, it's typically been non-committal, avoiding actually signing up to do anything concrete... I do want to, but I'm scared that I can't, or that I'll mess it up. Bringing it back round to the imposter syndrome; I'm scared that I'm not a person who actually can do these things, and that putting myself in the position to do them will just reveal to myself and everyone else that that's the case... and knowing what imposter syndrome, and all that stuff means and is, doesn't help much when you're in that situation.

That's the deal, that's where I am right now. But, writing this down has helped sort things out. I've said a few times how I do actually want to be doing what I do, from my PhD to the scicomm-y Friendly Bacteria stuff. I do know what it's like for my head to not quite agree with itself, too, for various reasons that aren't for today, and I know how I can diminish it to manageable levels, even unnoticeable levels. Friendly Bacteria has been irregular lately, which is making it harder to keep up with; that's something I can easily change, and that will help things. And I need to remember, or remind myself when I need to, that the lab is my happy place. I put on my lab coat, and I change. It's like a mask, or an acting part, but I'm acting like myself. Like the me that gets excited rather than hiding away. Like the me that I want to be.

And wherever I am, I need to remember that that lab, that feeling, is just across the corridor.

She Sells Bacterial Cells on the Sea Shore; Marine Microbiology

Bacteria are everywhere! On Earth, at least. That includes land, air, and in the sea too! All seven of them. With animals, the ones living in the sea are pretty different to the ones on land; there aren't many tentacled land animals, for example! Most land animals wouldn't be too happy if you dropped them in the middle of the atlantic, and nearly all the fish would be similarly unhappy if you put them in the middle of a car park. Is it the same with bacteria? How have marine microbes evolved to survive and thrive in the deep?

This is the sea, in case you weren't sure! Taken from outside my house last week.

Fantastic Bacteria and Where to Find Them!

There are awesome animals in the world. There’s the big famous ones like elephants and eagles, and there’s the really weird ones nobody really hears about like the Mexican Mole Lizard or the Emerald Cockroach Wasp (and if you don’t know about them, look them up, they’re awesome!). But they are pretty hard to find; not just being elusive in their habitats, but in having limited habitats. Even animals like kangaroos that are quite prolific in their own habitat only cover a small percentage of the planet! There are loads of them, and they’re big enough to spot from a distance, but I won’t be seeing any in the wild unless I take a long journey. Bacteria, on the other hand, are everywhere! And you get some really awesome ones of them too, especially ones nobody ever hears about. They aren’t as big as kangaroos [citation needed] but if you know how to find them you can see some fantastic ones!

#OneMinuteMicrobiology

I’m apparently not satisfied with having a Blog, Twitter and YouTube, so got Instagram too, after this twitter conversation:

I was just throwing the idea of 1 minute videos out there, not even knowing that 1 minute is the Instagram video length limit, but it’s actually been really fun doing them! I’ve done a few so far (I’ll embed them at the bottom of this in case you have like four minutes to spare) and I’m having fun with it. It’s a big challenge, and I think once I run out of all the short basic things to cover it’ll get even harder (as things normally take days, not minutes!) but I love a challenge, and this one is pretty fun! And hopefully worthwhile if it gets more people thinking about microbiology stuff.

So far I haven’t really settled on a specific style, or level at which I’m pitching things, but I’m hoping to make it accessible to everyone no matter their background. Microbiology affects everyone, so everyone should know about it! It’s also really interesting and exciting but isn’t really thought of like that.

Also of course there’s my long-term selfish goal of gaining confidence by doing these videos and things. I’m already feeling some benefits but I’ve got a hugely long way to go!

Anyway, here are the videos I've made so far (with bonus new one I made today!):

And the new one...

I hope you like it! Subscribe to the YouTube for more, or follow my Instagram.

Fiftieth Post! 10 things I've learnt over that time

This is my fiftieth blog post! What?! It's gone so fast! It's also pretty dead-on six months (give or take a day or three) since I started. It's flown by! I thought I'd mark it by doing a post of ten things I've learnt over the last fifty posts/six months. (I've only actually thought of nine right now but I'm hoping one will come to me as I write the rest!)
So here we go:

What makes me a Scientist?

Science is all about asking questions. But every answer brings further questions; this is why Science never stops! Especially if the original answer is 'I don't know, go and find out!'
This is what drives us forwards; curiosity. Scientists are just people who can't stop asking questions about absolutely everything. As XKCD aptly put it;

Image from XKCD https://xkcd.com/242/

I think that's a big part of how you become a scientist; you just need to ask questions!

#MeetThePhD

Time for something new! Time for a monthly blog post series, with little mini-interviews of PhD students around the world! Time for…

#MeetThePhD

The idea behind this is to showcase PhD students, give a bit of an idea of what’s going on out there in PhDland, and show to the world what PhD life is like! Perhaps they are thinking of doing a PhD themselves, or just generally want to know more about it. Or they’re already doing a PhD and want to see that they’re not alone in their struggles or successes!

While Friendly Bacteria is a vaguely microbiology-themed blog, for this series of mini-interviews I’m wanting any PhD student no matter the field! I think it will be a fun way to connect with other PhD students we wouldn’t normally be able to get to know, too.

If you’re a PhD student and want to get involved with this, leave a comment here, send me a DM on Twitter ( @friendlybugblog ) or shine the Bacteria-signal into the skies above Aberystwyth and I’ll send you the questions!

 I'll go first:

Science is so ridiculously exciting!

I love it. I really do.

I just had a massive meeting with my whole supervisory team (which is quite a lot of people!) which I was terrified about beforehand. I was shaking like a leaf! But it wasn't a meeting with scary supervisors; it was a meeting with fellow scientists, who are all as excited about my project as I am! They just happen to be my supervisors/lab manager. (I do this every time! I get really scared until they remind me that we're all really happy enthusiastic scientists, and they're all lovely people!)

Video: Trip to the zoo! Mini documentary, sort of

I love animals. All of them. Every single one. And because of this, I've always absolutely adored going to the zoo! I know some zoos get a bad rep but I find the best ones are those that are more animal focused than visitor focused; looking after the animals is the only goal, both at a 'personal' level within the zoo and in the wider global population via breeding programs and stuff like that. There's a small zoo near Aberystwyth that takes in rescued animals, and it's one of my favourite places to go!

They have a huge range of animals from marmosets to lions, all sorts of fun talks and feeds, and it's just a lovely little zoo. (Link to their website!) A few weeks ago I took a trip there with some friends, and took my camera. Here's the resulting video:

I tried to say interesting animal facts so it's not just pictures of cute animals, but there are plenty of those if that's what you're after! A baby marmoset, emu chicks, coati pups and a joey still in the pouch all feature! Lots of awesome fully grown animals too though.

The music on the bits where either the audio was weird or I wasn't really saying anything seems to be slightly out of sync with what I wanted it to be doing, but it's not bad!

I hope you enjoy it! I've got a few more fun day-trip videos that need editing, and I'm nearly ready to start doing science videos, so if you like what I'm doing feel free to subscribe!