Kirsty the Scientist

A few years ago, the idea of interactive virtual reality (VR) would have seemed futuristic and out of reach.  But now, all the virtual reality hopes and ideas that have been in all the films for years, are starting to seem much more possible and closer to reality.  Photo courtesy of: http://cyberschoolgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/vr.jpg But could virtual reality technology be used to revolutionise education, especially in the sciences?  Now I don't know about you, but I think the best way to get kids and young people engaged in science is to encourage them to get stuck in and investigate themselves. (As a bonus, creating their own questions and working out how to answer them is a very valuable skill in science anyway!)  Could virtual reality be a perfect way to allow children to have an immersive and experimental experience with science, without any health and safety concerns/fears!? Young people don't all have access and chance to experience what its like

Tonight’s post comes to you written on a train on my way home from a lovely day out in Cambridge, went punting with the family! And whilst we were wandering around the beautiful city, I spotted this in a window of a bank… Could this be a new way of introducing science to the high street? Making it very accessible as literally part of somewhere people use all the time! Potentially even a fun reason to bring children to the bank with their parents?! Unfortunately, I only saw this in the evening, so didn’t get the chance to go in and check it out myself. But I was really curious to find out how this little pop-up science centre came about, and went on a little google hunt!   In October 2015 Cambridge Science Centre first introduced and hosted a town centre takeover, where science communicators took exciting and interactive exhibits to a range of locations around Cambridge, including the one at Barclays.  I've got no idea if they kept the pop up science centr

This week, I went to a Code Club meet-up and had a very interesting discussion with a retired engineer about educating kids about STEM careers.  So a bit of background about me: I've been running Code Clubs for just less than three years. The clubs are mainly aimed at children aged 7-12, and are based in the community. My clubs are all about creating a fun space for children and young people to explore coding and technology - I fill the room with resources and encourage the kids to come up with their own questions and make their own projects.  In the UK, coding has started to be introduced into the curriculum (the list of things teachers have to teach), but from my experience, I don't think many young children realise what a major skill coding and technology could be in their future careers. Do they think its only relevant if they want to be involved in games or app development?!  Do children and young people realise the potential of STEM careers? Especially when many

A YouTube director that I admire, Sammy Paul , talked on Instagram a while ago about the unique problem solving that comes with being a director, especially for low-budget projects. He described a situation where they needed a prop to move and stand up in a certain way for a music video. In the end, they created a 'velcro hinge' which could allow the prop to move but also be dismantled and easily put together again.  Sammy explained how this was a unique problem and it was part of his job to think on the spot and spur ideas with his small team to get the prop working as it needed to. And I couldn't help but see the parallels with science. I think a key part, and one of my favourite parts, of being a scientist is problem solving in unique and niche situations. New ideas - like the velcro hinge - might sound strange because they haven't been thought of before but remember...  Unique problems require unique solutions. 

It is absolutely undeniable that Sir David Attenborough has captured the imaginations of a huge number of people. But what makes the man such an amazing communicator?  I think a huge part of what makes David Attenborough so inspiring is that you can see how inspired he is! On screen, he is so genuine and his excitement to discover things in nature is infectious!  He always shares the story of the animal he is carefully describing, taking time to pause and watch the animal act in its natural environment. You can hear the wonder in his voice and it draws you in, captivating you in the moment.  In an interview with The Independent to celebrate his 90th birthday just over a year ago, Sir Attenborough said:  “Experience has taught me how amazingly big and unpredictable the natural world is. When you’re young, you think you know it all about the natural world.  But in fact we only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still t

Metaphors can be really important in helping patients and the general public understand complex diseases and scientific principles. Using metaphors can enable patients to make informed decisions about their treatment as well as communicate what is happening in their bodies. Cancer and metaphors The language surrounding cancer typically uses metaphor more than other diseases, particularly by the general public. Often using strong military language, cancer is described as a “battle” that is “bravely fought” by a “survivor” or even “victim”. This language could benefit some patients – helping them feel motivated and part of a team with their friends and family, their “army”, facing the “battle” together. Part of an army?   Recent emphasis on military language during cancer fundraising campaigns – my sister’s haul of medals from Cancer Research UK, after completing Race For Life every year for the past 11 years! In 2015 and 2016, she received an army-style dog tag at the finish lin

As scientists, we are always trying to put things into boxes, carefully researching and labelling discoveries in an attempt to make the world make sense. Just as there is an organ system for each process of the body – for example, a digestive system for absorbing nutrients from food - the immune system is responsible for defending the body against invading pathogens and foreign objects. The immune system is divided into two main ‘boxes’; the innate and adaptive response. The tortoise and hare of biology – the innate system responding immediately to the threat of invasion, a fast but simple response; the adaptive system taking longer to develop but providing a more specific and targeted response. But one immune cell is slightly more complex than the others, and doesn’t quite fit as clearly into just one box. Dendritic cells have many important roles as part of both immune responses. Much like other innate cells, (such as macrophages), dendritic cells locate the invading pathogens

Another #scicomm review today, but this time a very fun one!  Last Christmas, my 15 year old little brother got me a fantastic little Christmas present - a smartphone microscope from the Science Museum: Smartphone microscope in my hand to show you its size. It's a really nifty little gadget - you can just clip it over you smartphone's camera at the top and it lights up and magnifies the image up to 30x. It's definitely designed as a gadget just for a bit of fun, but I thought it could be such a good #scicomm (science communication) tool. Its tiny, portable, quite cheap and loads of fun, especially in the garden or outdoors! So below I've shared some of my favourite snaps taken with the microscope. All the best ones are the ones from nature!  Maybe this is a tool that could be used to make using a microscope easier and accessible for young people, who knows...!  Daisies Bluetac Grass and a feather (left bottom = grass, right bottom = feat

Following my post yesterday - #scicomm reviews: Michael Mosley vs the Superbugs - I wanted to take a closer look at the potential alternatives currently being researched to combat antibiotic resistance. What might we be using when we run out of antibiotics?   So let's take a step back for a minute - What are antibiotics and why is antibiotic resistance such a problem?  Antibiotics are drugs that kill bacteria or prevent them from reproducing or spreading - treating or preventing bacterial infections. Most people first take antibiotics but antibiotics are used for much more than helping those at the GP surgery. Modern medicine would be unrecognisable without antibiotics - they are used to prevent bacterial infections to keep surgery and transplantation safe as well as for immunocompromised people who cannot fight infections themselves, such as cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy or patients with autoimmune diseases who take immunosuppressive drugs. 

One of the things I'm really excited to introduce as part of my #kirstyblogseverydayinjune challenge is a new series of posts - #scicomm reviews. I love watching a good documentary or reading a good book that covers science in a non-academic way. It's relaxing, fun and introduces me to areas of science I don't study and become fascinated by, or areas I do and love to see portrayed in a different way (and see how accurate I think they did it!).  So the first thing I'd like to review from my #scicomm perspective is a recent BBC TV programme - Michael Mosley vs the Superbugs . The programme discussed antibiotic resistance and some of the new research exploring ways to avoid using broad spectrum antibiotics. And I thought it was fantastic.  The show opened with a very visual, if a little gross/awesome, representation of the skin microbiota - the different types of bacteria that live on human skin, completely natural and harmless in healthy people. The show's

A few weeks ago,  I completed my last assessed piece of work before my final exams - a 10 minute presentation on my dissertation research, followed by 5-10 minutes of questions.  And as part of this session I also listened to 15 other students' presentations.  As someone who is fascinated by science communication, I was really excited to explore how to change  But it was hard work. M y main goal was to engage my audience of peers, making sure they could grasp my specific (and pretty niche) subject in just a few minutes. For me, by supporting all this information (which is new and possibly confusing to my audience) with a key story. Why this research means something - essentially why they should listen/care about what I was telling them.  But when I watched my peers, this story link was the key thing I thought was missing from all of their talks - why I should be listening? Why their piece of research helped to fill a gap in the knowledge we have in that field.  Initially (and