Author Archives: modjosh

Here we are! After two fantastic weeks of competition, two weeks of questions on everything from science musicals to top tips for science we’ve had the penultimate vote, and you have your finalists. Let’s take a look at who’ll be going head to head in the final tomorrow: Ecology Zone Thomas Doherty-Bone vs. Sofia Franco Extreme Clean Zone Jessica Liley vs. Sarah Tesh Genes Zone Vicky Forster vs. Marlene Lorgen Particle Physics Zone Zachary Williamson vs. Kristian Harder Stem Cells Zone Matthew Tomlinson vs. David Christensen Tellurium Zone Julie Speakman vs. James Hickey Iodine Zone Susan Skelton vs. Simon Langley-Evans Congratulations to the November 2013 finalists! And to those who’ve been voted out, commiserations; but remember, you can still join in the live chats! We’re grateful to the Wellcome Trust for providing part funding to run I’m a Scientist: Get me out of here!, as well as to the STFC … Continue reading →

It’s the penultimate day of I’m a Scientist: November 2013. So far we’ve said “so long” to 14 scientists, and this afternoon, another 7 will gracefully* bow out leaving just two finalists in each zone to battle it out for the title! In the meantime, we’ve decided to try out something new on our contestants: We’re opening the floodgates. Tomorrow afternoon (Friday 22nd) we’ll be opening up the live chats in all the zones to any students who want to chat with the scientists. We’ve never had students chatting with scientists outside of their teachers’ classrooms before; keen students will be able to log in in their own time to chat with the scientists, get in some last minute questions, and give the finalists a chance to pick up some eleventh-hour votes, before the winners are announced at 3 pm. The live chats will be open from 12 pm to … Continue reading →

You may have noticed that all our scientists are now in the final stages of some top notch soup strainers. Not one to shy away from a charitable lol, we thought this would be a nice way for us to get involved. Make a donation to Movember here, which supports men’s health programmes that combat prostate and testicular cancer, and if you’re taking part Tweet us a photo of your ACTUAL nose neighbors. Check out the scientists ‘tashes in; Ecology Zone, Extreme Clean Zone, Genes Zone, Particle Physics Zone, Stem Cells Zone, Tellurium Zone, Iodine Zone

The third day of I’m a Scientist: Get me out of here! is just about done with, the scientists — we’re sure — will be answering questions late into the night, but for now, let’s take a look at what happened today. Today in the Tellurium Zone, carrotcake116 wanted to know why some people have different coloured eyes; heterochromia is what it’s called, and it’s caused by distribution of a substance called melanin. In the Particle Physics Zone, science1234321 wanted to know if it is possible to control lightning: Yes, to some extent. lightning is attracted by charge. we can divert it with Faraday cages. after all, it’s just a bunch of electrons flying about. We can work with that. Robots, were a big topic of conversation today. In the Iodine Zone, epicduckofepicness wanted to know whether it will ever be possible to create a human-like artificial intelligence; a question … Continue reading →

The sun is setting on another day of I’m a Scientist: Get me out of here! and here we are again to look at the questions the students have been putting to the scientists. In the Particle Physics Zone, the scientists were asked to consider what they might change about the Universe, given the chance: What law of physics would you change? Joel wants to change the second law of thermodynamics, making the world a much more spontaneously tidy place, Kristian would happily leave his desk a mess if he could change special relativity and travel through the stars. In the Genes Zone, students wondered just how plausible a zombie outbreak might really be, the advice: “Don’t panic.” In the live chats, we caught up with the old favorite questions of nature vs. nurture, Do you think genes or environment have the biggest effect on characteristics? A great question, and … Continue reading →

Well. We did it. We’re coming to the end of the first day of our November 2013 round of I’m a Scientist: Get me out of here!, and what a first day it has been. Students have asked questions on everything from radioactive cottage pies, to life elsewhere in the Universe, to house cleaning robots. Among the major themes today were the old favourites, “Does your work harm animals?”, “How does your work help people?”, and “Why is the sky blue?”. In the Ecology Zone, students had the scientists evaluating how interesting they find their research; while in the Genes Zone, the students were interested in different ways of curing cancer, and whether curing inherited diseases might play a role. In the Iodine Zone, the live chats looked at everything from football playing robots, to the future of DNA mapping; and in the Particle Physics Zone the students were looking … Continue reading →

I’m a Scientist: Get me out of here! is back from 11th–22nd November with 7 brand new zones, 35 scientists, and more than 70 schools taking part. With more than eight applicants for every scientist’s place, there was fierce competition, but we’re ready to announce the scientists who will be competing for the final I’m a Scientist titles of 2013, and the schools who will be deciding their fates. Our thanks to the Wellcome Trust for part funding the event, and to the STFC for funding the Extreme Clean, and Particle Physics Zones. Ecology Zone The Scientists: Thomas Doherty-Bone University of Leeds Aliens in our water – I look at how introduced crayfish, crabs, newts, plants, microbes affect rivers, lakes and ponds – should we worry? Sofia Franko Newcastle University I try to understand the best way to make marine animals happy in our aquariums, so that they will eat, … Continue reading →

Here at I’m a Scientist HQ, we’re busy ramping up for the November event, but we wanted to take a moment to update you on some of the zones we’ll be running over the next twelve months. All scientists’ applications are in for November 2013, and we’re currently choosing our scientists for each zone; but there’s plenty of time to register to take part in for March and June 2014. If you see any zones in March or June that are up your street, make sure to get your applications in. Equally, if you suspect your friends, colleagues, or family members may be up one of these streets; make sure to tweet them, email them, or copy-out long-hand the URL onto a post-it for them. Of course, if your streets lie elsewhere—and we’re in serious danger of over-extending this metaphor now—remember we always run a couple of general zones, so … Continue reading →

Seeing as we’re all such good sports here, and seeing as it’s for a good cause, I’m a Scientist have decided to set a couple of charitable goals. The scientists are already sporting their red noses and we’re getting on board by asking you to retweet us on Twitter. So.. If we get 100 retweets we’ll donate £50 to Comic Relief And if we get 150 retweets, Shane will wear a red nose for the rest of the day But if we get over 200 retweets the rest of the office (Rosie) will wear one So. Retweet. You can also make a donation here, and you should, because it’s for a good cause. Check out the scientists noses in; Brain Zone, Digital Zone, Drug Development Zone, Food Science Zone, Health Zone, Medical Physics Zone, Space Zone, Technetium Zone, Ruthenium Zone, Rhodium Zone, Palladium Zone

And It’s all over! We’ve had such a brilliant, intense two weeks of live chats and entertaining questions and engaged minds, that it seems sad to say goodbye. But we have our winning scientists, the summer holidays and lots more events on the horizon to look forward to! The eight winning scientists have made it through four nail biting rounds of evictions. Each student vote counted and in some zones the evictions came down to almost single votes! It’s time to reveal the winner in each zone. Congratulations to: Zone Winner Where they work Yttrium Zone Allan Pang Queen Mary University of London Zirconium Zone Carol White University of Leeds Niobium Zone Michael Cook Imperial College London Earth Zone Nuala Carson SynthSys, University of Liverpool Laser Zone Tom Lister Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Molybdenum Zone Ash Cadby University of Sheffield Organs Zone Bob Bonwick Cheltenham General Hospital Pathology Zone Samantha … Continue reading →