Diary of a science communicator – a week in the life

One of the things I love about what I do is the diversity. There are plenty of weeks with lots of slogging, behind the scenes-type efforts that can really challenge my commitment and resolve to keep going and then there are weeks like last week, which went something like this…

MONDAY

My regular Appliance of Science column was in the Irish Examiner; each column answers a different science question, last Monday the question was “Does chicken soup really cure a cold?” The question was posed by my brother in law over Christmas dinner, as we considered the fate of the leftover turkey. Although a bit of an old wives tale there are a number of scientific studies that provide evidence to the fact that chicken soup certainly has some cold busting potential. You can read the full column here.

TUESDAY

School runs are usually predictable and routine but Tuesday’s came with an unexpected phone call. The producer of Newstalk’s High Noon had read Monday’s Appliance of Science column and proposed a slot on national radio talking about which old wives tales really do work on a cold and which are pure fiction.

WEDNESDAY

I headed to Dublin for a stop off at Newstalk HQ and a chat with George Hook about which old wives tales work and which don’t. Wet socks and onions under your bed sheets… can they really cure a cold? Have a listen if you want to find out if your favourite cure was mentioned and what science has to say about it (my piece starts about a quarter of the way into the podcast).

THURSDAY TO SATURDAY

The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition was on in the RDS and this year I was there too, with lots of hands on science experiments at the European Union Stall. The atmosphere was fantastic and it was great to see so many young people with such an interest in science and technology.

I had one experiment with me that everyone wanted to try… making slime. Here is the recipe in case you want to have a go yourself!

SUNDAY

Back home to my family, to be greeted by lots of welcome hugs, plenty of catching up and then back to preparing school lunches!