• Question: What advise would you give to young budding scientists out there?

    Asked by nerdygeek456 to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 24 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Read, read, READ! Find books, magazines, wikipedia, reddit, anything. Find the areas you like; you probably won’t like ALL of either biology, chemistry or physics, but you will find that niche that really fascinates you. I didn’t really enjoy physics at school because I thought electrostatics was boring (I still do) but then I read about W and Z particles and quarks and multiple universes and supersymmetry and I loved it! Keep looking till you find the thing you love.

      Then, when you’ve found an area you like, keep reading! Have a look on the website for your local university and see if there are any people researching that subject there. Contact them and see if they would like a work experience student for a couple of weeks in the summer. Get out there and start talking to PhD students in the lab, go to public lectures, watch the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on television!

    • Photo: Josh Meyers

      Josh Meyers answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Ask questions! (which you’re already doing)
      Even if you already know part of the answer. Ask. Ask. Ask.

      Also, just follow the path you enjoy.

    • Photo: Chris Armstrong

      Chris Armstrong answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      Rebecca absolutely nailed it!
      READ. As much as you can, there is so much out there.

      Do wiki runs, click through links until you exhaust your interest. Read deep scifi (nothing pricks your interest more than thinking about future science). Take out that encyclopedia and annoy the hell out of your parents with some fact about volcanos you just read.

      Its all about asking questions as well, there is always someone who knows more than you about something. Go up to them and ask, be it a fellow class mate, your teacher, or your parents. You can learn from anywhere, I find that just talking outloud helps, I bounce ideas off anyone that will listen, sometimes I don’t even need their response its just taking it from vague strings in your head to a real sentence with words will get the juices flowing.

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