The Scientistt Podcast

What is it like to fly in to the eye of the storm? 

Nick Underwood is an aerospace engineer and NOAA Hurricane Hunter, providing mission-ready aircraft and professional crews to the scientific community.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center provides a wide range of specialised airborne environmental data collection capabilities vital to understanding the Earth, conserving and managing coastal and marine resources, and protecting lives and property.

In this podcast we gain a truly unique insight in to a career that goes largely under the radar, exploring the realities of the working environment and future ambitions for those that take to the skies on a regular basis. 

Timestamps 

00:48 - Who is Nick? 

01:30 - Flight responsibilities. 

02:20 - Flying research laboratories. 

02:55 - Off-season projects. 

03:35 - Career journey.

06:00 - Astronautical ambitions. 

07:55 - The tech. 

09:40 - The first flight.

11:10 - Climate change. 

12:25 - Water not land?

13:30 - The eye of the storm.

14:30 - Engineering responsibilities. 

15:50 - What is your favourite book?

 A Nobel Prize. Some would say it represents the pinnacle of scientific achievement in any given field. In this episode, we're lucky enough to be joined by Joachim Frank, one of a very small number of scientists that can say they have won the prestigious award.

Joachim was born and educated in Germany, before completing postdoctoral research in the United States and at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, U.K., where he worked on problems of electron optics and image processing. His current position at Columbia University as a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Biological Sciences, is one that he has held since 2008.

In 2017, Joachim recieved the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, alongside his colleagues Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson, for the development of cryo-electron microscopy, which both simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules. This method moved biochemistry into a new era.

Timestamps

00:15 - Who is Joachim Frank? 

01:05 - Initial interested in science?

04:34 - A degree in Physics? 

06:25 - How do you stumble upon Nobel Prize winning research?

07:30 - The seeds & The process. 

16:48 - What are the implications of the work?

21:55 - Receiving a Nobel Prize. 

22:48 - Does the prize open doors? 

27:35 - Advice for PhD students? 

29:50 - What is your favourite book?

Ever wondered if academia is the same around the world? Are the experiences, influences and motivations of all PhD candidates the same, regardless of background or culture? We certainly wanted to delve deeper here. 

Zarrar Salahuddin is a PhD candidate at the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan, as well as an active daily blogger with over 700 entries to his name, and a thriving Twitter account with over 10,000 followers. As well as a scientist, Zarrar is a religious man. It is renowned that these two forces often come in to conflict, many suggesting they are simply incompatible, however Zarrar has a unique take on his spirituality. 

Timestamps

00:52 - Who is Zarrar? 

02:08 - International Perspectives 

03:35 - Research? (Mitigation and Prevention of Carbon Emissions)

05:02 - The Blog 

07:23 - Religion & Research

11:08 - Leaving Pakistan?

14:00 - Competition and Academic Culture in Pakistan

18:10 - Supervisors & Struggles 

21:15 - What is your favourite book?

How do you gain 20,000 followers in less than 1 year? That's the question that many people have for Stefanie, founder of Career Conversation, a Twitter handle and Youtube channel that has skyrocketed to success since its creation. 

Now, Stefanie is sharing her secrets (or strategies...) online, allowing others to learn from her own experiences and get a head start in the world of academic Twitter. 

Follow Career Conversation: https://twitter.com/careerconversa1

When Wendy lost someone close to her as a result of suicide, she chose to do something about. 

Academia. It has it's problems. Wendy Ingram, the Executive Director of Dragonfly Mental Health, is working to create change in one of the most prevalent areas of current discussion; poor mental health. A molecular and cell biologist by training, she now posts videos, presentations, and workshops online, in order to help raise awareness and cultivate better mental health amongst academics worldwide. 

You can follow Wendy here: https://twitter.com/pyromanticism

How many times do you see a newly published article in a popular journal, and not quite fully understand it? It would be great to learn directly from the author wouldn't it? Today we're joined by Darwin Guevarra, a postdoc at Michigan State University studying emotion regulation. We find out more about his recent paper in Nature Communications, which found that placebos without deception reduce self-report and neural measures of emotional distress, and what the consequences of this critical research may be for the medical world. 

Read the full paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17654-y.epdf?sharing_token=-ED4bKmbW-ULyh6GyML0wNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MDikbR0MXIbBA-QB-2Ina5BLi2nTjpV1TcRojtpGUamNJ7_6vY-MEW6zFQr7ribQRXWvn7WQSVqKWuZW47t-QGTfkUfjm4PYD8L3rJcuJw63dwW65r7M2Aauxh5yL-vqk%3D

Follow Darwin: https://twitter.com/GuevarraDarwin

Join the free Scientistt community: www.scientistt.net 

Imagine turning your Twitter account that was created to complain about WiFi signal at a conference, in to a thriving community of over 43,000 people. Today we're joined by somebody that has done just that, all whilst keeping their personal identity anonymous. 

PhD Diaries, or @thoughtsofaphd, documents the realities of a life in academia through her relatable, honest and humorous tweets. In this podcast we delve deeper in to the person behind the account, why it was created, what it has become, and the successes and struggles associated with having a huge following. 

Follow our guest here: https://twitter.com/thoughtsofaphd

Catch up on previous episodes here: https://scientistt.net/pages/podcast

When his brother was diagnosed with autism, Sam was inspired to further understand the relationship autistic people have with the world around them. A qualified doctor, he now combines his psychiatric work with his PhD studies; investigating the prevalence of adult autism in psychiatric facilities. In this podcast, we delve deeper in to Sam's important research, the motivations behind his work and his thoughts on the mental health issues that autistic people face living in a society that is geared towards the needs of the non-autistic population. 

To find out more about Sam, check out his Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SamuelJTromans

Don't stop here! Listen to more of The Scientistt Podcast at: https://scientistt.net/pages/podcast

What's it like to be a woman in science? We're joined by Beth Eyre and Sofia Bariami, PhD students from Sheffield and Edinburgh universities. Despite having vastly different research topics, both Beth and Sofia have many things in common, notably their positions as Scientistt ambassadors, their identity as women and dealing with the effects of Covid-19 on their work. This podcast aims to delve deeper in to the specifics of their research, and find out what struggles and ambitions have been born out of their journey through academia. 

Check out both of their profiles at: https://scientistt.net/pages/ambassadors 

Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura is an analyst, researcher and is the international operations manager for Remembering Srbencia UK. But life hasn't always been easy. Arnesa's analysis of the Bosnian War, genocide, fascism and Islamophobia, are fuelled by her first-hand experiences during the conflict. Experiencing life as a refugee, to now holding post as a lecturer and published author - her story is a hugely interesting one.