• Question: how many times in the last week have you said,"wow! that is so cool!"?

    Asked by hnewber to Cassie, Greg, Karen, Sofia, Tommy on 11 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Thomas Doherty-Bone

      Thomas Doherty-Bone answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Quite often. Its often when I have pulled a net out of the water and gazed at what is living there. This past week I have been splashing in a streams in the Yorkshire Dales, then an urban stream in Leeds, then the River Thames in London. There were different creatures in each locality. Caddisfly larvae, Mayfly larvae, leeches, crayfish, Asian clams, Chinese Mitten Crabs.

      Then I might see a technique that helps us see the world differently – in my department there are scientists that use remote controlled helicopters to study rivers.

      And at home, I never tire of the ambush/sit & wait foraging technique and constriction reflex of my Royal Python Monty when I feed her rats.

    • Photo: Karen Bacon

      Karen Bacon answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Quite a lot in the last week – I was out in North Yorkshire a lot in the last week and saw some fantastic places, beautiful forest, moors and cool rocks. I don’t think I could even try to count actually. I also got some new fossils early in the week and have been enjoying looking at some cool 300 million year old fern leaves. So lots and lots!

    • Photo: Sofia Franco

      Sofia Franco answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      A looooot of times! I have been teaching and we get algae from the coast and look for the animals in it! You cannot imagine how many unexpected things you might find and is super exciting even, from finding a tiny rare mussel in the middle of seaweed…. to seeing baby starfish “running” around….to trying to discover if something is a shell or a just really strange animal! Very exciting 🙂

    • Photo: Cassandra Raby

      Cassandra Raby answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Oh you guys have all had great fieldwork this week! I’m very jealous.
      Although with all this rain maybe it’s best not to be outdoors too much :p

      Alas, this week I’ve been stuck in the office drinking lots of tea and reading a lot. But I still end up saying “wooow”… or “that’s awesome!”… quite a lot! That’s because as a scientist you discover new things every day. Even if it isn’t even your own work, you find out all these cool things people have found.. and you think “amazing, now how does that mean about my research?” or what new thing has that just told me about the world?!

      So what in particular got me excited this week:

      I heard a talk from a famous scientist telling me how he got into being on t.v.

      I found out that I can use satellites in space to take pictures of the environment so I can see how it changes in a year. I’ll try and use that in my PhD!

      And I even just learnt how to make my computer do cool things (which makes me feel very clever)..

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