Nature vs Nurture
29 June 2022
Despite my original plans at the start of my training, I am by no means a bioinformatician. I studied degrees for both science and information technology, but I quickly found out that i would be better suited as a bioinformatics end user rather than a developer. All the software engineers in my classes had been coding since they were toddlers, but for me it felt like learning how to ride a unicycle upside down. It’s pretty embarrassing to struggle so much in programming 101 but some people’s brains are just innately better tuned for computer programming, just like others are naturally talented at music or art. It doesn’t mean we should avoid the things we aren’t naturally talented at, in fact there’s a lot to be said for knowing how to learn under non-ideal conditions, and having an interdisciplinary overview of different skillsets. Biologists need a better understanding of bioinformatics, just like software engineers need to know more about biology.
Managing Expectations
8 April 2022
When you hear about “cloning”, what’s the first image that comes to mind? Frankenstein-esque experimentation carried out in abandoned hospitals, or Clone Clubs filled with identical “sistres”? I want students to be excited by science, but also realistic about its everyday implications. Rather than making copies of whole organisms, animals or humans, the bulk of the cloning done in molecular biology labs is fusing tiny pieces of DNA together. It’s not exciting, glamorous, or particularly newsworthy, but it’s the necessary grunt-work that makes much of our experimentation possible. Scientists who are experienced in all aspects of molecular cloning and recombinant DNA technology are incredibly valuable across the sector.
What lies beneath
22 February 2022
Science communication to the general public is hard, and there’s no worse feeling than seeing the light drain from people’s eyes as you explain “what’s so fascinating” about your research project. This issue is further exacerbated in the molecular biosciences, where the processes we study cannot be seen with the naked eye. An inherent distrust can creep in if our scientific findings aren’t shown through a photo, screenshot, or graphic to be shared online. Thankfully we have microscopy, the great equalizer. Being able to magnify microscopic organisms through powerful lenses has been a lifesaver for science communicators.
Stuck in our ways
17 February 2022
Hollywood likes to portray scientists as power-hungry industrialists, ready to veer into madness at a moment’s notice. A radioactive spider here, a zombie apocalypse there. That’s simply the price we pay for… innovation (?). I can’t speak for other scientific disciplines, but none of the biologists I know feel powerful at all. We are all very much at the mercy of the natural order and living organisms are behaviourally, cognitively, and genetically stuck in our ways.