I am delighted to say that I have been awarded a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship to conduct my own research into nanoparticle biosensors for 3 years, commencing July 2020. Here’s a brief overview of how I got to this stage.
Read moreI won the ‘Three Minute Wonder' North East England heat!
I am delighted to have won the North East England heat of the ‘Three Minute Wonder’ science communication competition run by the Institute of Physics.
Read moreScience podcast study featured in Nature and published in Royal Society Open Science
I’m very pleased to say that I was interviewed about my research into science podcasts as part of a ‘Career Feature’ article by Roberta Kwok for Nature. The article features insights from several excellent science communicators, so I am humbled to be in such esteemed company!
This came hot off the back of my study on science podcasting being published Royal Society Open Science the week prior. Link/DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180932 I am really pleased to get this work published as it is my first piece of solo work and the peer-review was very thorough. I hope it’s of interest and helpful to the science communication community.
Read moreScience podcast study featured in 'Science'
My study of science podcasts was featured in ‘Science’ magazine’s ‘news in brief’ section
Read moreNew preprint: a large-scale study of science podcasts
How podcasts are being used to communicate science to the global public
Read moreI guested on the 'School of Batman' podcast
I was interviewed about how my research in nanotechnology could help Batman!
Read moreWhy two-year degrees would be very bad for both students and staff in science
Why 2 year degrees would be bad for or students and staff in research-intensive subjects
Read moreGuest blog on Errant Science Clutter: "The Fellowship Fallacy" →
I wrote a guest blog for Errant Science Clutter, all about the challenges faced by early career researchers when applying for postdoctoral fellowships. Words are by me, cartoons are by Errant Science, and fellowship frustrations are shared by all.
Read moreI was on Robot Wars S9! (kinda)
I paid £10 to get my name laser-etched onto an incredibly powerful spinning disk robot. Best £10 I've ever spent!
Read moreWhat helps or hinders science communication by early career researchers?
Recently I gave a 15 minute talk about 'What helps or hinders science communication by early career researchers?' at Re:Con Event in Edinburgh. This post includes a video of my talk and my presentation slides.
Read moreBlog: Lewis grows bacteria... for science!
As a biophysicist in a biochemistry lab, I'm often learning new skills. To my surprise, recently I had to learn how to grow genetically modified bacteria to produce an artificial binding protein called an 'Affimer'. This blog post details nearly a whole week in the lab as I try to make these Affimers for the first time!
Read moreA self-archiving checklist for before submission, before publication, and after paper publication.
Writing a scientific paper is pretty challenging. But there are also a lot of ancillary things to do to ensure that people can access a free-version of your paper, and so that your funders/institutions have a version for them to track impact, and so that your paper gets some publicity! There is so much to keep track of, that I decided to come up with this helpful check-list! I hope others find it helpful.
Read moreA surprise comic abstract by Errant Science!
ErrantScience.com made a comic abstract for one of my papers!
Read moreBlog: Designing scientific figures for colour blindness
How to optimise scientific figures for colour blindness with a handy example tested by using a colour blindness simulator
Read moreA dainty list of Science Web-comics
I love web-comics and I love science; so here is a list of science-themed web-comics.
- ASAP Science - science web-comic aggregating facebook page.
- Beatrice the Biologist - funny comics about biology
- Bird and Moon - nature and science cartoons.
- Brief History of Everday Objects - does what it says on the tin.
- Brown Sharpie - mathematical cartoons inspired by sharpie fumes
- ERC comics - web-comics about some of the research funded by the European Research Council.
- Errant Science - hilarious comics about being a scientist, with bonus informative blog
- Indexed - funny graphs
- Lab Bratz - life in the lab is hard
- LEGO Grad Student - the LEGO grad student struggles through the world of academia.
- Lovelace and Babbage - gorgeous comics about the adventures of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage and how they invented computing.
- Pedromics - life in the lab is hard, but funny.
- PhD Comics (Piled Higher and Deeper) - the truth about academia.
- Quark comics - planets say the funniest things
- Red Pen/Black Pen - academic-research focused comic
- Sci-ence - science vs. pseudoscience
- Sketching Science - brilliant webcomic about working in a life sciences
- SMBC (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) - maths, science, philosophy
- The Awkward Yeti - not 100% science, but regularly featuring internal organs and planets.
- The Upturned Microscope - life in the lab is REALLY hard.
- This Isn't Nesseria - medicine, innuendo, and existential crisis.
- XKCD - maths, physics, computing, and brilliant data visualization.
Honourable mentions (i.e. not quite science-y enough)
- Existential Comics - philosophy web-comic
- False Knees - irreverent comic often featuring birds. You might learn something.
- Strange Quark - comics by a physics professor
I'd like to make this list comprehensive with time, so you know some science web-comics that I've missed, then please email me at L.MacKenzie1@Leeds.ac.uk or leave a comment below and I'll add them to the list. Last updated: 5/2/2017
A big list of science podcasts
I love listening to podcasts and I love science. Here is a big list of science podcasts that I’m currently aware of. This list aims to be eventually comprehensive, so if you know of some of science podcasts I’ve undoubtedly missed, then please email me on L.Mackenzie1@Leeds.ac.uk or leave a comment to let me know.
Read moreDesigning scientific figures for colour blindness
How to optimise scientific figures for colour blindness with a handy example tested by using a colour blindness simulator
Read moreBuilding a Hexastix: a pointy sculpture of mathematical madness and fun (for less than £5)!
I was recently inspired to build a very fun object/maths sculpture known as a "Hexastix". This strange object is a curious assembly of 72 pencils held together with only 8 rubber bands! Hexastix are easy to make, and lots of fun to put together. Plus, all the supplies I needed for it were found on the high street for under £5 in total!
Read moreBuilding a Hexastix: a pointy sculpture of mathematical madness and fun (for less than £5)!
I was recently inspired to build a very fun object/maths sculpture known as a "Hexastix". This strange object is a curious assembly of 72 pencils held together with only 8 rubber bands! Hexastix are easy to make, and lots of fun to put together. Plus, all the supplies I needed for it were found on the high street for under £5 in total!
Read more