As a Busy Summer Turns Into a Busy Autumn…

Wow! I’ve only just realised that I haven’t posted anything since mid-July… It’s been a busy few months!

The road along which my freelancing adventure has taken me has had several twists and turns and, as I expected, has not been anything near the route I expected!

When I left full time paid employment I made sure that, despite my dissatisfaction with my job, I left on good terms with my colleagues. It was my good relationship with these wonderful people which led to me having the opportunity to work with the BBC’s Bang GoesThe Theory team, and it was also the reason for my incredibly busy summer.

I was contacted out of the blue by a former colleague to ask if I could help them out with a project. They needed someone who had the appropriate experience and CRB checks to assist on a residential course working with young people from across Lincolnshire as part of the National Citizen Service. They wanted me to start that very day… and so my relaxing summer break, along with my free time for writing and being creative, evaporated before my eyes!

I spent a week staying in the student accommodation at the University of Lincoln with several hundred teenagers, 12 of whom became ‘my’ group to work with for the next 3 weeks undertaking a social action project in the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire. I may have been nominally the group leader, but the young people made their own choices about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to contribute to their local community. They decided that they would like to help out a local charity, The Boston Woods Trust.

We met some wonderfully dedicated people who were extremely supportive and encouraging to the young people, helping them to gain new skills and confidence and giving them the chance to work with people of different ages and backgrounds as equals.

We weeded, uprooting tons of Ragwort.

We mulched, helping young trees to grow.

We dug trenches and laid slabs, helping in the construction of a ‘compass’ in ‘Jenny’s Wood’.

We all learned a great deal.

Some of the young ‘men’ in the group learned that running through a patch of waist high nettles bare chested as a show of ‘manliness’ can be very uncomfortable! Maybe… hopefully… one day, they will realise what it takes to really be a man!

Almost as soon as my adventures in Boston were over, it was back to work as a part time lecturer at Lincoln College, with hugely increased hours compared to last year. Not only am I teching GCSE Science, and Biology as part of the Access to Higher Education for Health Care Practitioners (Access HE HCP) course, but I have also been asked to teach Maths… Aaaarrrggghh!! (Oops, Sorry!!).

That was my initial reaction though…

I have to say that I’m actually really enjoying teaching Maths. The course that I’ve been charged with teaching is ‘Maths for Nursing’, which means that all of the Mathematical principles which I have to cover have practical applications, and aren’t the really scary kind of Maths (I dropped A-Level Maths after a term!). Having worked as a research scientist for several years I understand what it’s like to have to use Maths. Thankfully, I have always been pretty confident when it comes to the basics, thanks to a great start from my parents and some really good teachers when I got to school, so making the jump to any actual application of the Maths seems fairly logical for me.

The feedback from my Maths students so far has been encouragingly positive. I think they appreciate the fact that I’ve openly admitted that Maths isn’t what I chose to do… It’s something that I see as a ‘necessary evil’ if you will, but I equally make sure that I put across the message that it isn’t something to be scared of. It is, in fact, something that all of my students use every day, even if they don’t realise it. Sometimes it really is a case of fear of the unknown, and once you point out that, actually, these are all simple mathematical things that they do know, everything falls into place!

More busy times are ahead with long days lecturing at College, several bookings through Dr D’s ScienceDays, and some GCSE exam marking coming up in November… When you’re a freelancer you have to take the work as and when it’s available… 

Science Busking Transcends Language Barriers

This weekend my wanderings took me back to a familiar stomping ground, but as part of a larger event. I returned to Castle Square, in the heart of uphill Lincoln, to contribute to the Bailgate Busking Festival.

Traditionally, the festival has been a showcase for acoustic musicians of varying styles, playing all manner of instruments from medieval to modern. This year saw the range of acts extended to include the Earth Bound Misfits (well, one of them at least) entertaining the crowds by juggling an assortment of items including a rubber chicken, and myself – Lincoln’s only science busker.

The weather was kind, and the crowds came out in force…

Some were locals –  it was great to see so many familiar faces among both the ‘audiences’ and the other busking acts.

Some were tourists – of various nationalities – some Brits visiting from elsewhere in the UK, some European, some from farther afield.

The whole event had an almost continental atmosphere with people enjoying a drink in the sun while being entertained by the various acts.

The first people to come and see what I had brought along to entertain the masses were a group of Italian students. At first I had a sense of mild panic… Which of the assorted demonstrations lurking in my rucksack could I show them that wouldn’t need too much of an explanation?

I started by showing them the ‘Vanishing penny’… A great little demonstration that “does exactly what it says on the tin”…  Even without a scientific explanation it’s a crowd pleaser! As it happened, I think the gist of my explanation was understood by them anyway… I say I think… My Italian isn’t great, but one of the girls had clearly got the main point about light changing direction between passing through water compared to air, and explained it to the others… Brilliant!

Clearly any bits that were lost in translation did not detract from the over all experience, as my new found Italian friends stuck around to see another couple of demonstrations, smiling as they watched, and even put a few coins in my collecting bucket as they left, to which I gave them a big friendly smile and a hearty “Grazie!” in my best Dolmio advert / ‘Allo ‘Allo Italian accent!

Later in the day I assisted a group of French students in their British cultural experience by letting them have a smell (and even a taste if they were brave enough) of the Marmite I was using to do a really cool experiment which I ‘borrowed’ from the Bang Goes the Theory team (Thanks guys!).

Did you know that it’s possible to turn Marmite white?... No??... You’ll have to come along and see it for yourself next time I’m out doing a spot of science busking – or better still, book me to come and do a science party for you!

Close Encounters of the Science Kind at Cheltenham Science Festival

I can’t believe that it’s almost a week since my first experience of Cheltenham Science Festival. It was a week ago today that I got on a train and began my journey to Cheltenham, full of anticipation and excitement… and I wasn’t disappointed!

Working as a Science Communicator with The BBC

Once again, I had the pleasure of working with the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory team in order to share the joy of science with members of the public. I love this kind of ‘work’… It’s so much fun that it seems like play!

The usual suspects were on hand to demonstrate a range of really cool experiments and, despite the rain on Saturday, the good folk of Cheltenham (and much further afield) turned out in force.

Dr Yan and Dallas joined in on several occasions, showing off their favourite demonstrations, and chatting to people about science and presenting. Dr Yan is a true inspiration, as there is no question that thows him – He’s able to explain even the most complex science on a level that people can relate to, and has a story, anecdote or example for pretty much everything!

Close Encounters with Some of Science’s Most Famous Faces

Anyone who follows me on Facebook will know that one of my first thoughts when I found out that I would be going to Cheltenham was ‘Ooh, I hope I get to meet Brian Cox!’… Well, I nearly did…

The events in the BBC tent included a sneak preview of the forthcoming Wonders of Life series. It was billed as an opportunity to see preview footage of clips from the series, and to put questions to the Head of BBC Science and the series Producer… So what a fantastic treat it was for the audience (myself included) when Professor Cox himself arrived to join the panel!

I resisted the urge to make a total idiot of myself by going up and asking if I could have a photo taken with him while the sound engineer was fitting his mic… Although I kind of regret it now! The poor man seemed to be being hounded by autograph hunters everywhere he went – I guess that’s the price you pay for being probably the best known scientist in the UK! (Brian, if you read this, I hope you appreciate my restraint, and the small contribution that it made to reducing the number of people pestering you!).

The next session in the BBC tent also featured some famous faces, and turned out to be one of the most hilarious things I have witnessed in a while! Adam Rutherford, Kevin Fong, Mark Miodownik and Bang’s own Dallas Campbell battled it out playing ‘Unsung Science Heroes Top Trumps’ (although Mark’s choice of Nikola Tesla was considered to be pretty much sung rather than unsung by the rest of the panel and the audience alike!). Each member of the panel vehemently defended their choice, and made the case for their particular unsung science hero to score points within a range of categories including height (Dallas’ choice of Joseph Kittinger scored well here), geek factor and, bizarrely, grumpiness… It turns out that a lot of talented scientists are actually very, very grumpy!

Close Encounters with an Iconic Piece of Technology – Enigma!

The closest encounter that I had over the weekend, and to my mind the most memorable, was actually getting hands-on and using a genuine Enigma machine. The ability to decrypt coded messages sent using this icon of the world of technology and computing was instrumental in the allies’ victory during World War II.

I actually had the opportunity to set the dials, and use the machine to encrypt a message. In a wonderful meeting of old and new technologies, this coded message was then sent to the code breakers at Bletchley Park via Twitter! The code breakers then used Turing bombes to crack the code, working out the settings on the Enigma machine and the day codes for the encryption, and Tweeted the decrypted message back.

I sent “FUG VLD YED XGWAO RVSEU ECPKQ –AQFF YKQKD RYQ”

Within 3 hours the Bombe Team Tweeted back “LAST DAY AT CHELT S-I FEST WITH BBC”

Brilliant!

What a weekend!

Wandering in Sheffield with Bang LIVE

This weekend saw my wanderings take me back to my old stomping ground of Sheffield, where I lived and studied for seven years, to join the Bang Goes the Theory team again for the latest stop on the Bang LIVE tour.

It was a pleasure to catch up with some familiar faces, and to meet some new ones, as everyone involved shared their love of science with the good folk of Sheffield.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was that I finally got to see the live show. Dallas, Jem and Dr Yan were on top form, and the lovely and talented Fran did a brilliant job standing in for Liz Bonnin (who was away filming for another project). The dry ice bomb was particularly impressive, and I finally saw the giant hamster wheels in action! The show even helped me with planning my lessons for this week, as I ‘borrowed’ the demonstration to measure the speed of a nerve impulse to use with one of my classes.

The interactive area was as popular as ever and, despite the rain, people queued up outside to get in and have a go at the demonstrations and experiments on offer. Being hardy types, some of the science buskers got out there with them to do some portable demonstrations, and keep them entertained while they waited. My personal favourite for entertaining the queue was the lowest budget 3D movie in the world “Cork on a String”!

Besides the bonus that a trip to Sheffield allowed me to revisit some of my old haunts (i.e Pubs!) in my free time in the evenings, it was also close enough to mean that my hubby, Glenn, could come along… armed with a camera! Thanks to him I now have some great photos to add to the gallery page of the DrD’s Science Days website, including this one, where he managed to catch me being upstaged by Dr Yan again!

Sadly, Sheffield was the last Bang LIVE event for me… Boo! (although the team are visiting Poole, in Dorset, in June).

But… I have just had confirmation that I will be taking to the road again with the BBC for the Chetenham Science Festival… Hurrah!

… and so the Wanderings of the Wandering Scientist continue!

Edinburgh International Science Festival – Bang LIVE goes to Scotland!

I truly have been a Wandering Scientist over the past couple of months…

My wanderings have taken me out on the streets of my home city, Lincoln, to the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham, and most recently to Edinburgh to take part in the Edinburgh International Science Festival!

Once again, I joined the team from the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory for the latest of the Bang LIVE events. This time our home for the interactive area was a rather impressive inflatable tent, proudly displaying the Bang Goes the Theory logo.

Myself and the other Science Buskers entertained and informed members of the public with experiments and demonstrations at Dr Yan’s table. We showed the lowest budget 3D movie ever – “Cork on a String”. We set fire to things (one of the top reasons for becoming a scientist is the freedom to burn things without getting told off!). We amazed people by showing them how to turn Marmite white, and we got the big hammer out again to prove the protective capabilities of liquid body armour… All great fun!

Dr Yan’s table was only a small part of the amazing array of science on show within the Bang interactive area. Other concepts which have featured in episodes of Bang Goes the Theory were also on show, including Jem’s Sky Cycle, and the Big Book Challenge – demonstrating the power of ‘science friction’… I just couldn’t resist having a go at suspending myself from two telephone directories!

The Edinburgh event also featured lots of demonstrations from partner organisations. The Institute of Physics were there showing people how to pierce a balloon with a kebab skewer. The Royal Society of Chemistry had a selection of smells (some more pleasant than others!) to experience. There were plenty of sports science activities for people to try out, including testing how far they could jump and how fast they could throw a ball. There was also a lot of shouting thanks to an experiment being carried out by a team from the Open University to see who could shout the loudest, tested against age and gender.

All in all, it was another great event, and I’m really looking forward to joining the Bang LIVE team again for the next stop on the tour, Sheffield, in two weeks time.

Science Busking at The Big Bang Fair 2012

WOW!!

What an experience!

I was aware that the Big Bang Fair was the biggest Science Fair in the UK, but I don’t think that fully prepared me for the sheer number of people, or the level of enthusiasm, that I would encounter there!

I feel truly privileged to have been part of this wondwerful event!

I love science…

I love sharing my love of science…

I love meeting other people who love science…

I have experienced three days of a dream come true!

I was working with the team from the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory.

Many people might think that the most exciting part of that would be to meet the presenters.

Well, I did meet them all, and they are all genuinely very nice people to be around, and people who take a real interest in raising the profile of science. I had a couple of really interesting chats with Dr Yan regarding the experiments that I was demonstrating, and learned a lot from him… Every day’s a school day!..

Dr Yan sharing his love of science... In MY spot!!

Besides the presenters of the show, I met a lot of other people who were working at the Big Bang Fair. Some were BBC staff, some were volunteers. It didn’t matter… All of them had such a huge energy and enthusiasm for spreading the joy of science that I felt I had found some kindred spirits, and I will never forget my time with them.

The other people who made the whole event really special were the visitors… I spoke to school groups, scout groups, families… I saw, and chatted to, people of all ages from toddlers to pensioners… Most of whom I hit with a big hammer (don’t try this at home!) while demonstrating the properties of liquid body armour!

Every single one of us should try to learn a little bit extra each day, regardless of how old you are, or how much you already know… no-one can know everything… It’s not knowledge that gives us power, It’s the willingness to learn!

I can’t wait to do it again in Edinburgh next month!

Come along if you can: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lwxj1

Bang Goes The Theory - The Best Job Ever for a Wandering Scientist!

I have been a wandering scientist (as well as a wondering scientist, which all scientists are by default) for a year now, but I have been wandering within a fairly narrow geographical area, taking work as and when it comes my way. Today, I got the news I have been waiting for. The confirmation that I will be able to spread my love of science further afield. I am going to be part of a bona fide science roadshow!!

Thanks to an old (sorry, a former – she’s not actually old herself!) colleaugue at the Lincolnshire &Rutland EBP I have landed possibly the coolest job that I could ever have wished for.

I will be working as a science busker for the BBC show Bang Goes The Theory on their live tour of the UK!

The tour will take in four cities across the UK – Birmingham, Edinborough, Sheffield (my old stomping ground) and Poole (Dorset) between March and June. Each event will be filled with sciency fun and frolics, and I will be a part of that! I may only be a small part, but I will do my darndest to make sure that whatever I am demonstrating, and whoever I am  demonstrating it to, the members of the public who meet me leave with a little more knowledge, and a lot more curiosity and enthusiasm about all things scientific!

The Road to Success is Long...

There have been a lot of positives in the last month, and there is certainly a lot to look forward to in 2012:

• Party bookings are up
• School enquiries are up
• Hits on the website are up
• social networking seems to be paying dividends

Despite all of these positives, there is still 'leg work' to be done.

That is what I have been doing today.

Part of being self employed, and taking responsibility for your own success (or failure), is acknowledging that every task is your task (if you aren't in a situation to pay someone else to do it for you).

Today I have walked miles.

I'm not sure exactly how many miles, but I know I was walking continuously for several hours. I wish I'd been wearing a pedometer so that I could calculate how many calories I'd burned!

I dropped leaflets along a familiar route, which would normally take about 15 minutes to walk. 

After over an hour and a half I was running low on flyers, so retreated to a pub for a well deserved drink.

The lessons learned today were many and varied.

It's amazing how quickly you pick up on the types of houses to target with flyers.

My flyers were designed for children's parties, so I quickly started to target houses with  the following:

• Children's bikes outside
• Trampolines in the garden
• Small sized shoes in the porch
• Photographs of children over the fire place
• Curtains in upstairs rooms with football team logos (predominantly Liverpool FC, despite Liverpool being several hundred miles away)
• Cars on the drive way with child seats / sun shades in the back seats

Despite this targeted approach I find that, at the end of a long day, my legs ache and I am tired. 

I am, however, contented in the thought that if even 1 in 100 flyers elicit some kind of response I am better off than I was 24 hours ago.

I have made that difference myself.

I have walked the streets.

I have promoted myself.

I have spoken  to people.

I have earned my money (or will have when my efforts pay dividends)

There is pride to be had from this kind of personal approach to business, and I like that!

I take pride in my business.

I take pride in myself.

I take pride in working hard to achieve my ambitions.

I shall sleep well tonight!

Looking forward to 2012, while looking back to prehistory.

As a scientist my general position is one of looking forward.
Looking to new developments, new discoveries, new technologies.
Looking towards a future in which science will assist humanity in bigger and better ways (or more probably smaller and better ways!).
Looking forwards, hoping to educate and inspire the next generation of scientists, has been my goal for many years now.

Recent developments, however, have turned my perspective on it's head in a fantastic way, and have refocussed my attentions on the past... Not a week ago... Not a year ago... Not even within my lifetime... I'm talking Centuries ago, possibly even Millennia ago... How exciting is THAT?

History has always fascinated me, and pre-history even more so. It's like an ancient CSI case. There's nothing to go on except the scientific evidence!

My mission (should I choose to accept it - which I already have) is to develop an activity day for school children, which links science to history, to be delivered at the local museum... I sense fun times ahead...

Here's to a creative, sciencey, historical, educational and fun 2012!