I'm not a genius, just a scientist - and you can be one too
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“You must be so smart”
If I had a dollar for every time I heard this, I wouldn’t be any smarter, but I sure would be quite a bit richer!
There seems to be an impression that scientists are all geniuses. The truth is we’re really just regular people who know quite a bit about one particular thing. I can talk to you all day about DNA and genetics. But I know almost nothing about chemistry. Physics blows my mind, and I can barely add two and two without a calculator.
Being a scientist isn’t about being the best student and having the best grades. It’s about being curious, it’s about answering questions and solving problems, it’s about figuring out why things happen. And I’m a pretty big believer that anyone can be a scientist if they have the inclination.
“Citizen science” is something that’s becoming increasingly popular. It’s a movement that aims to get anyone and everyone involved in scientific research. It’s all about public participation. Basically the idea is that anyone in the community can contribute to scientific research by collecting information.
Ok, I just realised that I possibly made that sound awfully dull. But it’s pretty simple and can be lots of fun.
For example, there’s a team of researchers in the New England area who are trying to figure out how many koalas live in the region, and how we can best help them to survive. So they need people living in the Armidale to Inverell region to help them record koala sightings. If you’re more into amphibians than koalas, then you might like the Australian Museum FrogID project. You can download an app for your phone and help record frog calls in your local area. There are also other projects where you can record sightings of echidnas, or birds, or different plants.
Researchers at Macquarie University have taken a slightly different route and want you to scoop some possum poop for them. They’re trying to figure out how antibiotic resistant bacteria might move between wild animals and humans, via faeces.
Another project that local scientists are involved in is looking at the health of soils on farms. Researchers ask participants to bury a pair of cotton undies in their soil (I swear I’m not making this up!), and dig them up a couple of months later. Healthy soil that contains lots of microbes will be pretty effective at decomposing the fabric, while less healthy soils will leave the fabric intact.
There are tons of projects out there. If you’ve got an interest in science then getting involved in a citizen science program can be a great way to start. You don’t need to be a genius – but you can be a scientist.