I won a competition!

I recently entered posts into British Science Week competitions run by A Short Scientist and Soph Talks Science… and I won both!! I’m pleased to introduce my two winning posts: Volcanoes of the Solar System and How did Life Begin.

Both of the competitions had the theme ‘My favourite science topic’ so I just had to write about space- Astrobiology and Planetary Science!

Here’s a little taste of each….

Space Volcanoes

Imagine a Volcano……you probably thought of a dark cone, alive with activity- ash flying in a tumbling storm cloud, volcano bombs left right and centre, and deadly lava coursing down its steep slopes: something reminiscent of composite volcanoes on the Pacific Ring of Fire (think Mt. St Helens). Or perhaps you thought a less violent shield volcano releasing tides of indestructible basaltic… But even Earth’s largest volcanoes and mountains are dwarfed by Olympus Mons, Mars’ largest volcano. Its size is caused by Mars’ lack of plate tectonics…

Check out Soph Talks Science for the rest!

How did life begin?

It is rather difficult to conduct research into astrobiology, as planets/moons that take months or millennia to reach. Therefore, astrobiologists must use the only example of life that we have: Earth! In order to discover where (and if) life could have arisen in the wider universe, we must first understand how Earth came to be teeming with it! Traditionally, to search for our ancestors and ancient species, we turn to the fossil record. However this only goes back so far- plate tectonics and volcanoes might be useful when maintaining the constant atmosphere life needs, but the constant recycling of rock also means that ancient fossils get destroyed, or deformed so significantly that we can’t reliably trust it as evidence. So scientists have begun to delve into the story our genes tell…

Check out A Short Scientist for the rest!

Thank you so much to both for selecting me! What a great way to celebrate British Science Week!