A Fangirl Got Invited to the 2011 WA Science Awards

Last night I attended the WA Science Awards as a guest of the Department of Commerce. I was in the same room with incredibly talented scientists. I understand that for most people this isn’t a big deal but then I’m not most people. Like how someone might follow the career of an athlete, artist, actor or chef, I follow the careers of scientists. Being at the WA Science Awards was a HUGE deal to me.

I got there early and the aim was to position myself somewhere to watch who was coming. I had a quick look at the list and it was impressive. I started making a mental list of who I would like to chat to. The butterflies in my stomach were threatening to escape when out of nowhere a waiter appeared offering pre-drinks. I collected my nerves and had another look around and started to see familiar faces, people I knew or had interviewed for a science news article or had a photograph taken with them in the past.

I relaxed and started chatting with people in the foyer of the Bellevue Ballroom at the Perth Convention and Entertainment Centre. At some point while chatting to one of my bosses, the Editor of Science Network WA, Jason Boudville and a colleague Marion Lopez, I lost my composure and forgot about etiquette altogether. I had not just spotted Professor Barry Marshall in the crowd but also who he shares his 2005 Nobel Prize in Medicine with, Dr Robin Warren. While I was tweeting my excitement, I left my amused boss to explain to Marion why I had suddenly transformed into a fangirl.

A few, (okay, maybe a lot), of them say that I collect scientists like Pokémon. I get photos taken with scientists I admire and respect. And why not? Why should only celebrities be treated like super stars? Before walking into the ballroom I decided that I had to get a photo of the Prof Marshall and Dr Warren together. And as tempting it was to visit almost everyone in the room for a photo, I didn’t but boy was it tempting. I have three photographs to share.

I like the Ballet, Opera, and Transformers

I’m stuck at home at the moment waiting for a major accident to clear that has spectacularly closed a road in two directions. Here’s a short break from the chemistry and the madness that is my academic life. If the local traffic conditions are forcing one upon me, I may as well take it.

So here it is. I love the ballet, opera, and Transformers. Half the interwebz is full of criticism of Michael Bay’s treatment of Transformers and the other half of the internet is blithely ignoring the critics frothing at the mouth while Michael Bay pockets fill with money.

I’m a child who grew up in the 1980′s and Transformers was staple viewing and have nothing against the remodelling of particular Autobots or the lack of plot because I find the whole thing entertaining. I can happily switch off my brain for a few hours and watch mindless explosions glued together with bits of a plot where the hero gets the girl in the end. This is an action movie after all.  It’s not like the ballet or opera where there’s time devoted to developing plot and character. Or is it?

Unless you’ve been forced against your will to watch Transformers or indeed anything else, save everyone the bandwidth and keep your whingeing to a minimum. And by forced, I don’t mean watching something to keep things harmonious with your partner so you can do things with them best kept behind closed doors. What I mean is that you’ve been kidnapped, gagged, and frogmarched into the cinema and then tied down to the seat where your eyes are forced open to watch something that cost more than the house you live in to create being offered to the world as entertainment.

I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here

I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here!

No, this isn’t a wail of despair lamenting at the state of science in Australia, rather it’s the name of an award-winning science enrichment and engagement activity bringing scientists and school children together that has been running in the UK for three years. Scientists and students communicate on a website. The students can ask the scientists about their work, science and about themselves.

Now that’s the fun warm fuzzy part done with. For the scientists it’s an X-Factor style competition for scientists where the students participating vote for their favourite scientist. This year, I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! is running in Australia for the first time from June 14th, 2011 – Friday 24th 2011. It is being organised by Bridge8.

The aim of this program is to allow students to talk to a scientist in an informal-ish setting and an opportunity for scientists to show students that they don’t do everything in a lab coat and to demonstrate that science is very much part of everyday life. There are different zones grouping scientists into specialty areas. The first week of the program is where the students and scientists get to know each other in their interactions. The second week is where the pressure mounts as scientists with least votes are evicted until one is remaining in each zone to be crowned the winner.

There is the very real possibility that this is going to be all consuming. I am going to be in the General Zone of I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! and I hope to be able to show the students a wide variety of science and its applications. The various books I have collected over the years with science experiments that can be carried out with household items are at the ready. If allowed and with enough time, I may even participate in a live chat carrying out these if relevant.

I will be blogging throughout the event as well as tweeting. The Australian I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! will be happening at the same time as the UK version. It’s going to be a truly international event for the first time in June 2011. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow the Australian event from the account, @IASAus and the hashtag, #IASAus. The UK event can be followed on the account, @imascientist and the hashtag #ias2011. You can follow my participation in the program best on this blog. I would send you to my Twitter account @ScientistMags but I tweet a lot and my updates on this will get lost in amongst the many tweets on science and science communication I make every day.

Related articles

• I’m a Scientist, Get Me out of Here elimination nerves (newscientist.com)

The World of Chemistry

This Youtube video has been around since 2008 but it is making the rounds on emails and social media during the International Year of Chemistry.

Chemists Can DANCE!

On the 28th of March, 2011 at the 241st American Chemical Society National Meeting, over 200 chemists celebrated the 2011 International Year of Chemistry by dancing. They were dressed in business suits, lab coats, (I’m assuming clean ones!), and even as Marie Curie in a mass line dance to an original rap.

Original Lyrics and Music: Richard Li and Utsarga Sikder

VERSE 1
International year of chemistry– two thousand eleven
We’re representing science — 24/7
We’ve got antimatter, fuel cells and a ton of Nobel Prizes
Sustainable energy solves the problem as it arises
Chemistry — the central science, building blocks of life
Engineering new solutions, rid the world of its strife
We’re part of the solution, we ain’t no precipitate,
This is the chemistry dance, now get up and participate

CHORUS
Now, I know a dance that we do every day
In the cells of our bodies, in biological pathways
It happens when two molecules react by perchance
Now get up everybody, do the chemistry dance
Move to the left now move to the right
We’ll be doing the chemistry dance all through the night
Now clap your hands everybody let’s go
We’ll be rocking it out to the chemistry show
Move to the left now move to the right
We’ll be doing the chemistry dance all through the night
Now clap your hands everybody let’s go
We’ll be rocking it out to the chemistry show

VERSE 2
Now it’s been a hundred years since
Curie had copped her second prize
Discovering new frontiers, changed the world before our eyes
The mother of radioactivity, had an electronic affinity
To study the reactivity of polonium and radium –
Gotta’ give a shout-out to Heck for his palladium-
Catalyzed reactions that shifted our course of action
Towards alkene substitution, it’s the primary solution
To halogenate the substrate – a chemical revolution!

CHORUS
Now, I know a dance that we do every day
In the cells of our bodies, in biological pathways
It happens when two molecules react by perchance
Now get up everybody, do the chemistry dance
Move to the left now move to the right
We’ll be doing the chemistry dance all through the night
Now clap your hands everybody let’s go
We’ll be rocking it out to the chemistry show
Move to the left now move to the right
We’ll be doing the chemistry dance all through the night
Now clap your hands everybody let’s go
We’ll be rocking it out to the chemistry show

Bridge
An ingenious combination of environmental innovations
Of water purification that’s helping our league of nations
These chemical applications and their many implications
Will provide the accommodations to ensure our rejuvenation
So Obama got together with the UN forces
To address all of these problems and utilize our resources
Pasteur passed-your expectations with all his pasteurization
Get out of your hibernation, it’s IYC’s inauguration

CHORUS
Now, I know a dance that we do every day
In the cells of our bodies, in biological pathways
It happens when two molecules react by perchance
Now get up everybody, do the chemistry dance
Move to the left now move to the right
We’ll be doing the chemistry dance all through the night
Now clap your hands everybody let’s go
We’ll be rocking it out to the chemistry show
Move to the left now move to the right
We’ll be doing the chemistry dance all through the night
Now clap your hands everybody let’s go
We’ll be rocking it out to the chemistry show