#30daysofinstascience

Hi everyone! If you’re reading this, you’re likely interested in joining me or following along on my Instagram challenge! Or you just really like to read my blog, either way.

I hope that you find the challenge interesting, both if you’re wanting to participate and if you just want to observe. I thought I would list the days here in a short post, so everyone can keep track and maybe get some inspiration for your pictures! I tried to keep it inclusive to all disciplines in STEM, but as a molecular biologist I found it challenging to think of things directly applicable outside of a molecular biology lab, so I apologize. If you aren’t a biologist, or don’t even really work in a lab, feel free to skip the days you can’t do, or better yet, get creative! I’ve offered a few suggestions for the more biology-heavy topics, so hopefully we can all find something to share.

To make it easier to follow, I grouped the challenge into four weeks of “themes.” If you’re good at math (or even just mediocre at math), you’re probably thinking, Alyssa, four times seven is only 28. Which, you’re right, I just added two days on the end, no worries! I wanted to keep things straightforward and I thought this was a good way to do it.

If you do want to participate, don’t forget to use the #30daysofinstascience hashtag so we can all share. Also, please use either the hashtag #thecurioussheep (or #the_curioussheep) or tag me (@the_curioussheep) so that I can for sure follow everyone and thank you all for joining in. For each day, feel free to simply share the picture or write as much explanation as you want.

If you’re following along and not a scientist/STEM person, I’ll be sure to offer a bit extra explanation for some of the things you might not know what they are (for example, assays and pipettes) on my own Instagram, so not everyone participating has to explain it!

Thank you again for your interest in this challenge, hopefully it’s fun, engaging, and we all have a good time!

 

Week 1 – All About You

Day 1 – You. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you look like? Please feel free to share your face, share your pet, share your home, whatever you feel comfortable with. It’s just a way to introduce yourself to the world (at least, the part of the world following you!).

Day 2 – Education. What degree(s) do you have? Where did you go to school? Share a picture of your alma mater, your diploma, or anything else you think accurately represents your time in school.

Day 3 – Project. What are you currently working on? This could be a research project, articles you’re writing, code you’re developing, or anything else in your life that you’re working on (heck, even building a desk for your house!).

Day 4 – Desk. This doesn’t have to be just your desk, it could be any work space you use on a daily or weekly basis. Do you have a favorite booth at your local diner or café? Or do you literally spend all your time at your lab bench? Messy, organized, it doesn’t matter!

Day 5 – Beverage. I just thought this should be a fun fact kind of day. What’s your beverage of choice or your absolute favorite beverage treat? Maybe you drink strictly water, or you get all your water from coffee and tea, or you only drink whiskey in the evenings (I wouldn’t recommend this one).

Day 6 – Motivation. What do you find motivates you? Why do you choose to work long hours or fight against those problems that fail over and over again? This could be your family, your pet, or even just the world at large.

Day 7 – Inspiration. Wait, isn’t this the same as motivation? I guess you could argue that, but I think they’re a bit different. What or who inspires you? Why did you choose to go into a STEM discipline? Why are you choosing the career path that you are?

 

Week 2 – All About Protection

Day 8 – PPE. PPE = Personal Protective Equipment. This week focuses on how you protect yourself at work. It doesn’t have to be a particularly dangerous job, I know I don’t work with anything super nasty. Think about what you have to protect and why and share it today!

Day 9 – Lab coat. In biology, we wear lab coats mostly to protect our samples from us, so none of our DNA or hair or skin contaminates anything. Chemists wear lab coats to protect themselves from the harsh chemicals they use. Or perhaps you don’t have a lab coat, but you frequently collect samples outside in the rainy woods, your rain coat can be your lab coat!

Day 10 – Safety glasses. How do you protect your eyes? Do you need to protect your eyes? I wear glasses on the daily anyway, so technically my eyes are always protected. If you don’t have safety glasses or goggles, how about sharing some cool sunglasses instead!

Day 11 – Gloves. How do you protect your hands? This could be in lab, outside collecting those samples, or baking treats at home for your science colleagues.

Day 12 – Shoes. Do you have a favorite pair of shoes that you wear to work? I know I do. Or perhaps you work in a lab that works with super contagious materials and require those odd rubber shoes, or you have a favorite pair of hiking boots to go exploring!

Day 13 – Clothing. Do you have a favorite lab shirt or favorite lab pair of pants? Maybe you have to wear one of those cool hazmat suits, or you like to dress up every day to go to work. What do you like to wear?

Day 14 – Other. There are many kinds of protective equipment, it’s different for every job. Are there any cool, special kinds of protection you use? Perhaps a gas mask or a glove box that creepily always looks like it wants to hug you.

 

Week 3 – All About Tools

Day 15 – Tools. Think about the various tools you use every single day, what might be your favorite? Is it your computer, an awesome sequencing machine, or a rotovap? The possibilities are endless!

Day 16 – Nature. Nature is such an underrated tool. We get inspiration and ideas from it every day. How do you use Nature in your lab? Perhaps you’re a plant pathologist and use plants every day. Maybe you work with animals in a veterinary setting or a lab setting. Nature helps us every day!

Day 17 – Books. Books are such a powerful tool, whether it be textbooks, protocol books, or fun science books. They tell us what to do, share histories, and give valuable information to help us solve our problems. What’s your favorite?

Day 18 – Kits. In biology, we rely a lot on kits to do basic things like DNA and RNA extractions, PCR, and purifications. Do you use kits in your projects? What sort of pre-made tools are out there for you?

Day 19 – Assays. Assays are good to test many different samples at one time. Protein concentrations can be measured by Bradford assays, DNA and RNA can be sequenced, protein interactions can be determined by ELISA. How do you use assays? Or, if you’re a computer programmer, maybe you don’t use assays but arrays, which I’d consider the same.

Day 20 – Pipette. I know I have a favorite pipette, but do you? Perhaps you don’t use pipettes. In that case, perhaps you can share something else you use to pick things up with, or a different type of measuring tool!

Day 21 – Culture. Culturing is essentially in biology, and probably to some chemists. This includes cell cultures, bacterial cultures, fungal cultures, or whatever else you might use every day. If you don’t use cultures at work, you probably have some fungal or bacterial cultures growing at home somewhere, maybe in some old food in the fridge (gross, I know).

 

Week 4 – All About Communication

Day 22 – Communication. The science communication field is constantly growing, and if you’re reading this you’re likely interested in it! What do you find to be the best form of communication for you? Do you like to give public presentations, present posters, or share your ideas on social media?

Day 23 – Instagram. I’m including this social media platform because, well, this is an Instagram challenge! Share how you got into Instagram, share your bio or your profile, or even your favorite Scicomm Instagram account.

Day 24 – Outreach. Outreach is huge in communication! How do you get out there in the community and spread your science? It can be volunteering in an after-school program (like Science Olympiad), or picking up garbage to promote environmental health, or writing for your school newsletter.

Day 25 – Health. Today, people want to know how scientific advancements affect their health. You can share ways that you stay healthy, or ways you think your projects impacts or improves overall health in society.

Day 26 – Writing. Everyone writes at some point in their STEM careers, no matter how much you might dislike it. How do you write? Share your lab notebook with all your scribbles and cross outs, share your blog if you have one, or share a piece of code you’re particularly proud of.

Day 27 – Publishing. Wait, isn’t publishing and writing the same? Technically, yes, but I included this for selfish reasons. I want to know what my Scicomm Instagram peeps are publishing so I can read it! Also, I think publishing is perhaps the most important form of communication among scientists (maybe after conferences), as it allows us to share our ideas with each other and move science along!

Day 28 – Conferences. Have you gone to a conference recently? Is there one coming up you’re excited for? What’s your favorite conference memory? Conferences are so fun for sharing science and networking, it’s important to celebrate!

 

Bonus Days!

Day 29 – Relaxing. If you’ve made it all 29 days of this challenge, good for you! Hopefully you found the challenging exciting, at least some of the days. You deserve it, post something you find relaxing or better yet, post a picture of you relaxing!

Day 30 – Future. Do you have plans for tomorrow, next week, next year, or 10 years from now? What do you envision them to be? Where do you want to end up? Share your goals!

 

Thanks for following or joining in! I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. Good luck!