Question: Aseil - Lucy why did you decide to be a Scientist?

Lucy Lawrence answered on 21 Mar 2022:

My family has always encouraged, often difficult but open scientific discussion about our viewpoints.

“Lucy, have you heard about stem cells?” “What do you think of animal testing?” “Lucy, have you seen they can do this in the lab?”

Science has always been a point of fascination for me. And for that, I thank my grandfather. Sharing the scientific discoveries and curious facts in a way that I, as an eager 11-year old, could understand.

As I grew up, my fascination grew deeper. I started to be the one asking the questions, if my grandfather had heard of the genome project or monoclonal antibodies? Had he seen that scientists have been able to help a quadriplegic move his fingers with a help of a chip in his brain?

Studying Alevel science took my fascination and interest to a whole new level, I had access to a whole new world of science.

And that’s why I wanted to become a scientist, I LOVEEEE learning new science facts that arent standard pub quiz facts.

Some of my favourite ones I’ve ever learnt are:

🥼You can be allergic to WATER…. 💧It’s called Aquagenic Urticaria.

(The reaction happens when water comes into contact with the skin, and it doesn’t matter the temperature, purity or salt content. Even bona fide, chemical-free, many-times.
distilled water will set it off! Aquagenicurticaria is as baffling to scientists as it is to the rest of us. Technically, the condition isn’t actually an allergy at all, since it’s likely caused by an immune reaction to something within the body, rather than an over-reaction to something foreign, such as pollen or peanuts. It’s thought that water is interacting with the outer layer of skin, which consists mostly of dead skin cells, or the oily substance which keeps skin moist. Contact with water may cause these components to release toxic compounds, which in turn leads to an immune reaction, but for some this can be internal too.)

🥼And what space smells like………….

(✨Some astronauts compared it to gunpowder, and that makes alot of sense because its mostly because its made up of dying stars.

🍴So although a pure whiff of outer space is impossible for humans, since its a vacuum so we would absolutely die if we tried, the astronauts that are outside the ISS say it also smells like fried burnt steak.

🌚The reason they are smelling this isn’t that they miss home cooking, but because the byproducts of all of the combustion in space are smelly compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. And these molecules are all over the universe, they just float around forever, and have even been shortlisted for the basis of the earliest forms of life on earth. So not surprisingly they can be found in coal, oil and even our food.

🌜The smell of the solar system is also particularly pungent because it is rich in carbon and low in oxygen, so just like a car if you starve it of oxygen you see the black soot and get the awful smell. Its just like that.

🌑So if you didn’t learn anything else today, at least you now know that space smells of fried burnt steak)

So I hope that answers your question – its because I love finding out new things!