"nothing is real atoms never touch each other youve never touched anything in your life" ok. well when i pet my dog he is soft and when he licks my hand it is wet and that is far more real to me than whatevers going on at an atomic level

Happy earth day everyone

Scary climate change and pollution statistics can sometimes be overwhelming but all I have to do is step outside to remember why the earth is worth fighting for

Saw this beautiful long tailed tit at my window today.

I hope this doesn't really need a specific post but in light of transphobia yet again being in the news a lot in the UK I just want to be very clear : this blog supports trans people. I am trying my best to be an ally in the real world and online. I don't post much about it because I come to tumblr to escape news and I know lots of other people do too but I want to make sure everyone knows this blog (even though it's tiny) is a safe space for trans people and so is my science side blog. The transphobia can feel overwhelming and I'm sure I don't even know half of it, but there are a lot of people who do support you and I encourage any other allys who see this post to write one similar if you have been feeling like I have.

I've been really enjoying this book, I meant to post this photo a couple of weeks ago. I've nearly finished it now!

Can you do the lyrics to Cotton Eye Joe?

String identified: tatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCttcattatttgtaatgataagtaacaagtatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCttgtattTattgattTaaaaAtcaCtttatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCtttatCttagtagcgcCtt

Closest match: Anisus vortex genome assembly, chromosome: 7 Common name: Whirlpool Ram's Horn

(image source)

The moon dressed as Saturn.

Science and art and starkid's firebringer

This post feels like it has really been a long time coming and is possibly a little shorter than I would've liked so there may be a part 2 but this is the key stuff.

I have been irritated for a while now by the idea of art vs science because I've never understood why not both? I feel like there are so many things that people try and force to be separate when really everything is so much more complicated than that. The best post I have ever seen on Tumblr is one that said art and science are fucking on the couch. It's not a quote I am able to use in my personal statement to uni but if I could I would because it is something I so strongly agree with and that really has made me think about art and science.

A lot of the art I've created has stemmed from scientific ideas or facts for example I made a piece inspired by the fact that humans share so much of our chemical composition with stars and that so many elements are created from supernovas. Imagination is so key for both art and science, in science maybe it's imagining a solution or an experiment, in art maybe it's imagining what you want your piece to look like or what media you want to use or in both maybe its just an abstract hypothetical idea that is fun to consider but might never actually be created. I feel like science connects every aspect of life and maybe that's just because I love it but because of that it makes so much sense for it to inspire art because life inspires art.

Starkid's firebringer is a musical that I feel highlights these themes beautifully. It suggests it is human nature to create art and to investigate the world and ultimately, I think, it suggests it is human nature to be kind. Zazzalil is curious about the world and this leads her to the scientific discovery of fire but this damages the environment. Obviously this links to the problem of climate change but more broadly it shows that science isn't good or bad it just depends how we use our knowledge. Firebringer really emphasised for me why I want to do science for good. I want to help people and to help the environment and although maybe a starkid musical seems like a strange place to get inspiration, if science can inspire art why shouldn't art inspire science too? The moment of the musical that made me cry is when zazzalil sings to jemilla "this is the dawn, the dawn of our time". This quote also made me think about scientific discovery and how although I feel I tend to criticise humanity often for our lack of care for the environment, lack of action etc. We have made so much progress, scientific understanding has advanced so much and we can do more. The scientists of tomorrow will have so many problems to face but there's also excitement for the things we might discover. And again, maybe it's strange to other people that firebringer is the thing that inspired me to remember this but to me it doesn't seem strange at all; because in my mind creativity is creativity and the art feeds the science and the science feeds the art and I do science to help people and some of those people do art to help people and maybe that helps someone else who does science or who does neither. And maybe we don't have to just be one thing, just pick one thing, maybe we can feel connected to so much and yet like me, still be unable to put it into words because you'd need my life story to explain why I want to study science

And even though it might not be the most acceptable way to put it, art and science are fucking on the couch.

Happy Pi Day from Katia Plant Scientist! Pi Day is March 14th, which is a mathematical pun on the date written out as 3/14. Pi is the mathematical constant defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and this constant is approximately 3.14159. Pi has many more decimals than this of course, because it is an irrational number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers. Pi has an endless string of decimals that never repeat or fall into a predictable pattern. This is where the idea of “Pi Day” originates. This quirky mathematical holiday has been celebrated since 1988 by making and eating pies as well as holding math-based quizzes and competitions. Contests where students and math enthusiasts recite as many decimals of Pi as possible are a popular Pi Day activity. This is my homemade pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving dinner, featuring Crown Prince pumpkin as the main ingredient and garnished with pecan nuts. A math joke that is in fact a Mom Joke and not a Dad Joke because my Mom used this with me as a mnemonic … Q. What’s wrong with the equation ‘pi r squared?’ A. Pi are round. Cake are square. #katia_plantscientist #piday #pie #dinner #STEM #mathematics #math #mathisfun #mathjokes #mathskills #numbers #NumberPi #March14th #redwine #dinnertable #pumpkinpie #science

Happy Pi Day!