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Stinging nettle soup

Stinging nettle soup

My most memorable science lesson at primary school? Stinging nettle soup. I can remember Mr Nielson sending us outside to carefully pluck young stinging nettle leaves. And then coming back into the lab and watching him rolling up such a leaf, rubbing it between his...

Red ink

Red ink

My chemistry teacher at secondary school encouraged us to experiment as much as possible and was a great storyteller. But Mr Radford had one major shortfall, and that was his penchant for red ink. Every Friday, we’d hand in our dog-eared exercise books with our best...

Gut feeling

Gut feeling

We would briefly walk through a glasshouse crop or a field of fruit together. He was the experienced advisor for the Agricultural Advisory and Development Service, and I, the biology undergraduate enjoying a fantastic internship in the beautiful Kent countryside....

When things aren’t quite what they seem

When things aren’t quite what they seem

The Irony of Fate is my favourite Russian film. It hinges on the fact that in Soviet Russia, all apartments everywhere looked the same. And that after one too many on New Year’s Eve, you realise too late that you’ve ended up in somebody else’s flat because that flat,...

The Athletics of Creative Science Communication

The Athletics of Creative Science Communication

I’ve worked in science communication for twenty years, and it still excites me. Why? Because working in science communication is a creative top sport. Each day brings new subjects to work on, and I never know what’s coming next: pig breeding, the history of gulags and...