By Ruby Joy Martin, Class of 2023. Now, I am not ashamed to say that I often have a cheeky wee in the shower. Research undertaken in 2015 demonstrated that males who found it difficult to urinate found it easier to initiate when listening to running water. So, there may be some science behind my bad habit. The brain-bladder axis describes the constant …

A psychological perspective on how our time perception is linked to responding to climate change By Isolde Gottwald, Class of 2022.   Most of us find it hard to respond to temporally distant events. Think of trying to buy Christmas presents before everyone is in a rush and flock to the shopping malls, or booking your next holiday trip – if you’re anything like …

By Natasha Damara Suriani, Class of 2022.   When was the last time you went twenty-four hours without coffee? Judging by the fact that you’ve clicked on this article, I would wager you, or a close friend of yours, are a regular coffee drinker.   Caffeine, Caffeine, Caffeine Aside from the lovely taste of a morning latte, many of us consume coffee for its stimulating properties—the start-your-day, …

By Hasathi Bhagavatula, B.Sc Blended, Class of 2022   A biology enthusiast named Felix was vacationing in the Andaman Islands of India, when he accidentally spotted a peculiar-looking plant. On further inspection, he realized it looked similar to an algal species he studied before but something about it was…enthralling. It was brought back to laboratories for further investigation and after 18 months of …

By Camila Alfonso, Class of 2020.   Animal welfare, greenhouse gas emissions and health concerns. These are some of the reasons people are choosing to become vegetarian or vegan. While all these reasons have science (or ethics) to back them up, there’s some people who just can’t say no to a juicy steak or a delicious cheeseburger. What if there was a …

By Kirsten Lee, Class of 2020. Cheese, glorious cheese. The melting, oozing, creamy goodness, loved the world over. Unfortunately for those who struggle with lactose intolerance, it is more of a love-hate relationship. From a young age I have struggled with dairy, and a few years ago I had to say enough was enough. It was doing me more harm than good. …

By Madeleine Hedin, Class of 2020.   Over the last 18 months or so (aka in lockdown), you’ve no doubt, at some point, had a little extra time on your hands to ponder the very nature of reality. I for one, find myself losing my grasp on time, which has led me to question “is time even real?” I decided to do a …

By Isobel Abell, Class of 2020.   Bourke Street on Christmas Eve. Eight dogs in a small room after you say “Walkies!” The state of online learning. We’d all describe these situations as chaotic, but what is chaos? Collins Dictionary describes chaos as a “state of complete disorder and confusion.” While this perfectly describes my undergraduate degree, it’s not quite enough for …

By Eilish Roberts, Class of 2019. Am I the only one who feels like my attention span is becoming shorter than a matchstick? I used to be able to read an article in one sitting, but now I get a few sentences in before mindlessly reaching for my phone. Once I’m in the distraction vortex, I’m in deep; it can sometimes …

By Janine Jaramillo, Class of 2020. “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” – Will Rogers At some point in our lives, we have heard of this classic quote and understood its sentiments. First impressions can make or break our reputation and potential relationships with others. We must quickly act to ensure a proper first impression. In some …

By Cat Thomson, Class of 2020. Image courtesy of Lennart Wittstock via Pexels It’s now October which means that Halloween and the spooky season is just around the corner. If you’re like me, you’re planning out your costume and are getting ready to share some ghost stories with friends. We all (hopefully) know that there is no evidence to support the existence of …

By Sophia Giarrusso, Class of 2020.   I’ve been wracking my brains the past week trying to think of an interesting topic to write about. A topic that will be useful to my readers in their everyday lives. So, I decided to get some advice from my boyfriend’s brother. I approached him this morning and said, “Bill, what is something that you’ve always wanted …

By Ekmini Ramanayaka Pathirannehelage, Class of 2020.   Imagine that in the middle of the Pacific Ocean there is an island called ‘Susceptibilis’. It has a population of 150 people. Measles isn’t a problem on this island and no one is vaccinated against it. Suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, a case of measles pops up in the west of the island. …

By Wayne Du, Class of 2020.   Before COVID19 hit Melbourne resulting in our countless number of lockdowns, I had so many good habits, including a healthy routine that involved going for a run every morning before heading off to uni. However, since March 2020, I have found myself a new routine, one that I cannot say I am much proud of. It …

By Leela Calalang, Class of 2020.   At the time of publication, Melbourne is on track to hold the world record for time spent in hard lockdown. Sitting at a running total of 228 days, our options for meeting new people are certainly limited under COVID-19 restrictions. Like millions of other Australians, you might have been tempted to take advantage of the …

By Kate Bongiovanni, Class of 2020.   It’s a beautiful sunny day and you’re walking through your local park soaking up the warmth of the sun, listening to the breeze rustle through the trees, watching swans drift lazily through the pond.  You can hear birds chirping, a couple chatting on a park bench and children frolicking in the playground.  Then the calm …

By Christina Renowden (@eco_christinar), Class of 2020.   For over 200 million years, frogs have been happily chirping, peeping and hopping about the planet. Often referred to as a barometer of a healthy environment, frogs, now sadly, are increasingly under fire. Are their nightly calls diminishing to the point that we cannot hear their soft, melodic voices warning us the planet is …

by Jess Beecroft, class of 2020. Preventing plant diseases using fly larvae fat Black Soldier Fly Head, Hermetia illucens. Image by Thomas Shahan via Creative Commons Plant diseases present never-ending problems for food production. With loss of crops leading to food shortages and negative economic impacts that range from local to worldwide scales, it is no wonder that so much research is invested in …

By Kim Meyers, Class of 2016 What makes Earth so extraordinary is the life it homes. Life occurs in so many different shapes and forms and occupies so many different habitats. But there was a period in Earth's history when life almost... ...ceased. And scientists can't yet explain why. Mass extinctions have always been a part of Earth's history with our planet having to …

By Jasmine McBain-Miller, Class of 2016  We’ve all experienced the unpleasantness of having an insect fly into our mouths. If we’re lucky and fast enough, we might manage to spit them out. If we’re unlucky well… at least they’re nutritious! In the end we should just be thankful that swallowed bug wasn't any larger. Most insects are quite small, although stick-insects can be relatively …

By Kim Meyers, Class of 2016 Most of us strive to lead healthy and happy lives. But our vulnerability to disease in adult life can be shaped long before we even leave the womb. Life is incredible. Strands of DNA drive our development and allow us to transform from a single cell, to a freaky looking bean before becoming functioning human beings. …

By Tim Brown, class of 2016 As I’m typing this, a group of researchers from QUT are cruising along the Great Barrier Reef. But they aren’t surveying fish or looking at coral. They are simultaneously sampling the water beneath them and the air above them for a small molecule called dimethyl sulphide (or DMS). So, why do they care about DMS? Well, …

By JT Yeung, class of 2017 (Image by www.twin-loc.fr via Flickr) I've always had a burning ambition to turn my scripts into videos. Particularly since we are living in a more visual-centric world, videos are effective at conveying information that words simply cannot. I made this video based off the article I wrote last year with the help of my friends - Margaret Ho, Joyce …

By Kimberley Reid, Class of 2017 (Sabre-tooth tiger image credit James st. John via Flickr)     Do sabre-toothed tigers lounge in empty lecture theatres? Have you seen a grizzly bear queuing for coffee? They sound like ridiculous questions, but one-fifth of Australian university students would subconsciously answer yes…including me. A typical lecture during my undergraduate degree went something like this. I’d walk in to the …

By Leslie Ng, Class of 2016 We’ve all experienced it before, and we can’t escape it. Whether it’s a building that looks like a duck, or electric sockets that stare back at us; we seem to be able to make out faces from ordinary objects. The good news is you’re not going crazy, looking for faces is something that the brain …

By Po-Chen Liu, class of 2020. Visit Po-Chen's LinkedIn and Website. Mind control, is real, well basically. In 2012, a ​paper published in the journal Nature by Brown University demonstrated paralysed subjects can control a robotic arm using their thoughts, and only their thoughts, via a Brain Computer Interface (BCI). A new hope in the future of restoring damaged bodies using robotic prostheses? Cyborgs?! BrainGate BCI …

By Chayton Bouwmeester, class of 2020. With roughly a third of the country below average sea level, you can imagine why the Dutch might have an adversarial relationship with water. So far, water levels have been managed by a complex system of dikes, dams, and sand dunes. However, as global water levels continue to rise, the sea threatens to return to …

By Calandra Grima, class of 2020. Image by James Wainscoat, via Unsplash (left); Image by Luke Jones, via Unsplash (right) From the Black Death, Spanish Influenza and HIV/AIDS, to SARS, Ebola, and now COVID-19. These are just a notable few of the numerous disease outbreaks in human history that originated from animals. Each of these diseases shook the world when they arose and caused widespread death, illness and fear. …

By Sophia Giarrusso, class of 2020 (@GiarrussoSophia on Twitter) Vervet monkeys have small cute faces and bright blue testicles. Over the male’s lifetime, the blue colour will change according to social status. In other words, a low-ranking monkey will have much lighter nuts than an alpha. The male vervet monkey. Image credit Malingering on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)   Vibrant shades of blue are everywhere in nature. Blue hydrangeas …

By Ekmini Ramanayaka Pathirannehelage, class of 2020. I think our hands have been feeling extra special over the past few months, don’t you? From Prime Minister Boris Johnson to celebrities doing #SafeHands Challenge initiated by the WHO, prioritising hand hygiene has been a key message in helping to slow the spread of COVID-19. Would you believe it when I say that it actually wasn’t so …

By Jordy Grinpukel, Class of 2016   You race down the corridor, trying to avoid the milling crowds lining the hallway. Get out of the way! Your final exam has just started, how are you so late? And why is everyone so in the way?! They won’t let you in, you’ll fail! And God, why now to need the toilet so badly?! …

By Charles Tan, Class of 2016 No one likes stress very much. We’ve always been told we needed to deal with our stress by getting rid of it. But is that even possible? What if stress isn’t as harmful as we first thought and it’s just been misunderstood?   When we think of stress, we almost always paint it in a negative light. …

By Kate Huckstep, class of 2019 Microplastics have been getting a lot of attention lately, as more and more of them are found in our oceans, rivers, air, and soil. Very recently, scientists have discovered yet another – somewhat surprising – location abundant with microplastics: a good old cup of tea. Morning Tea: Picture by katiew via Flickr What Are Microplastics? Microplastics, technically speaking, are tiny particles of …

By Trish Koh, Class of 2016 First direct image of an exoplanet (lower left red spot) orbiting its star (centre blue spot). Credit: European Southern Observatory via their website Movies have long explored the ideas of discovering exotic new landscapes that we could colonise and the potential to find extra-terrestrial lifeforms. Whenever we find a new planet, these reveries have the potential to …

By Caitlin Selleck, Class of 2016 Many people can’t stand spiders, and put it down to their hairy bodies, their many legs, or the way they move. Why are we really scared of spiders, how did this fear evolve, and is it still a useful response? I’ve always wondered why people dislike spiders, probably more than most. No, I’m not a psychologist, …

By Sabrina Lewis, Class of 2016 Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is the language used across Australia, primarily by deaf individuals and their family members. During the winter holidays I took a 1-week intensive subject: Auslan and Visual Communication. Over the course of the week I gained a number of skills and learnt a range of interesting facts about Auslan and deaf culture. Three things …

By Adrian D'Alessandro, Class of 2016 Last Thursday I entered the final phase of a 12 year journey. It involved a medieval torture device, metal all over my teeth and my face getting cut open just so I could chew properly. Of course I’m being a bit melodramatic when I say medieval torture device, but I’m not the only person to …

By Leslie Ng, Class of 2016 (Pigeon image credit Hybrid via Unsplash)   It’s a lovely day for a stroll in the art gallery. You find yourself standing in front of a painting that has caught your eye. It’s the ‘Impression, soleil levant’ by Claude Monet, famously depicting the port of his hometown of Le Havre. You try your best to admire the …

By Jasmine McBain-Miller, Class of 2016   (Chicken image credit Stephen Mierendorrf via Unsplash)   They are our avian defenders. Our silent watchers of disease spread. They warn us of imminent dangers. They are our sentinel chickens. While she may not look like a defender with her stumpy legs, tiny beak, and lack of scale armour, she is proving herself more than worthy of the title. Valiant chooks have …

By Ebony Ciarrocchi, Class of 2016 Welcome to the world of animal courtship. Things can get pretty brutal out there in the wilderness, so to score yourself a mate, you’ve got to be the best of the best. And there’s no Tinder in the animal kingdom, so these guys have gotta go back to basics. Basically, these animals have more game than …

By Adam Grodeck Sometimes a bit of nostalgia is a welcome distraction from the dreary drag of life. I often find myself flicking through old photo albums, especially the film prints of me and my brother as young’uns. There’s a unique pleasure in doing this; baby photos are damn cute! But the photo that you’re about to see is the mother of …

By Sakib Kazi, Class of 2016 When it comes to climate change, humanity’s response has been one failure after another. We were late in realising it was a thing, we were late in organising a legal framework to deal with it, and a large proportion of the public still aren’t all that worried about it. We tried to tell ourselves that …

By Kate Trewin, Class of 2016 Everyone in the world loves a good meme, and everyone’s ideas on what a good meme are vary widely, but we love them none the less. Why is this? Well, science might have the answer! To begin with, lets delve into what makes a meme; the most common memes are your well known ‘advice animals’ such …

By Moshe Jasper, Class of 2016 I remember the moment like it was yesterday. The busy bustle of the state library lawn. Trams clanging, pedestrians hurrying, uni students relaxing. A clear-skied, relaxing spring day. There I stood, gaping as an incredibly tall, slightly freaky activist literally jumped up and down on the spot in front of me, chanting about how "Help …

By Elizabeth Newton, Class of 2016 Have you ever heard of dancing manakins? No, not dancing mannequins. Manakins are small birds found in the forests of South America. They’re special because many of them are great lookers, great dancers, or a combination of both. It’s the male that takes all the attention, for it is he that goes to great lengths to …

By Lachlan Tegart, Class of 2016 You know those memories that you think of and immediately undergo a whole body cringe? They're just the worst. One of my most vivid cringe-attacks was back in Year 9. I really loved school, especially in Year 9. I was very much a self-admitted nerd. It was the day before our first maths test; we were quite anxious. We …

By Sam Spillane, Class of 2016 Is it artists, or scientists, who can most appreciate the natural world around them? Richard Feynman has this beautiful piece from a BBC interview, often referred to as "Ode to a Flower".  He talks about a disagreement he had with a friend of his, an artist.  The artist told Feynman that he sees the beauty of the flower, and …

By Sidney Ruthven, class of 2020. Zombie is a relatively modern word, but the idea spans many cultures and centuries. Wherever we look, the world’s media is riddled with stories about these monstrous creatures, but they’re just stories, right? Various ideas come to mind when I say zombie. The word invokes images of iconic movies like I Am Legend, tv shows such …

This Feature Friday, I'm delighted to introduce you to another of our former students, Dr. Sat Dushyanthen, and her YouTube channel, Science in Motion. Sat studied with us during her Masters of Biomedical Science in 2013 to 2014, specialising in oncology. "Science communication was a core subject at the time. I'm so glad it was - I'd never even heard of …

By Vicki Huang, class of 2020. For those of us who brave Melbourne’s changeable weather: Give yourself a pat on your back. But let’s especially congratulate Melburnians who hang their laundry outside - which takes extreme skill and courage. To perfect this chore, laundry legends need to consider weather patterns, clothes-line angles and pegging tactics. As someone who has been lectured …

After graduating from my Bachelor of Science, I started working as a Digital Content Producer in the International Marketing and Communications division at Deakin University. My job keeps me on my toes and I’m responsible for a spectrum of things which include executing large-budget digital campaigns, managing content marketing blogs, and leading end-to-end video production duties.  A large part of my …

  I hadn’t even heard of science communication as a concept, let alone an industry, until I took Jenny’s class back in 2013. The idea that I could write or talk about science in a fun and interesting way — as a job — changed what I thought I would be able to do with my science degree. Since then I …

  After completing my Masters in Bioinformatics, I worked as a Bioinformatician at the Victorian Life SciencesComputation Initiative for a year before starting a PhD in the Bioinformatics group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. My project is all about developing computational methods to help diagnose children with genetic disorders. I am heavily involved in the bioinformatics community. I served as Vice President and then President …

  Interesting times when I enrolled in science communication subjects taught by Jenny Martin. As an international student, living for the first time away from Brazil while changing my career from IT management to research in Bioinformatics, I not only enhanced my English skills quickly, but also learned to deliver my ideas more efficiently and effectively by “knowing and engaging my …

I am currently in the third year of my PhD undertaking a project that involves a partnership between the University of Melbourne and the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. My research focuses on how environmental variables affect the transmission of a marine parasite that affects both wild and farmed salmon populations, and how to prevent it. I started my PhD …

I am currently studying medicine at the University of Western Australia. I am heavily involved in student advocacy, currently serving on the general committee of Western Australian Medical Students Society (WAMSS) – WA’s peak medical student body. Immediately following the Science Comm unit with Jenny, I finished up and submitted my masters’ thesis in November 2015, completed under the tutelage …

  Hello! I’m a scientist, artist and science communicator. I have recently finished my Master of Science (Botany) at the University of Melbourne. Back in 2014, I was quick to enrol into Dr. Jenny Martin’s two science communication courses. At the time, I knew precious little about this area of work…but I had a hunch I was a science communicator at heart. …

  I’m a recent Master of Science graduate from the Kolev Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Research Group. I have spent the past two years endeavouring to make water quality monitoring accessible by developing cheap, easy to use paper-based sensors for environmental contaminants. Since studying with Jenny I have given my completion seminar, and written and submitted my major research thesis. Without …

  Although I’ve always had an interest in biology and writing, it never really occurred to me to combine these two loves. Studying science communication at the University of Melbourne made me realise the importance of sharing research as widely as possible ‒ to both scientific colleagues and the general public ‒ and tailoring my writing to its intended audience. In early …

  One of the best decisions I ever made was to take up the Science Communications course in my 3rd year at the University of Melbourne. Not only has it allowed me to combine my strong interest in both Science and Communications, it has led me down a most interesting career path. After completing the Science Communications course, I volunteered at Melbourne …