• Question: When you were young were you fond of science and if yes was it your dream to become a scientist and has your dream been full filled?

    Asked by sadie to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 7 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by WhiteFang, bobatron, 635gdna25, xoxo Gossip Girl, Abbiw24, toxic waste=sour, cRz AK47, Terance117, 582gdna37.
    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      I actually wanted to be a vet!

      I went to university and studied as a vet but I realised half way through the course that I’m a big science geek and I love the science side of things more so I took some more science-y courses and ended up in research.

      I always had a fascination for biology and I feel so lucky to be paid to do something that I love so much and help others by doing it.

      Being a scientist is a really really amazing job. You’re constantly learning, using your brain, surrounded by people who love doing their job and have the freedom to come up with crazy ideas and watch them work or fail (and I get to use bunsen burners, dry ice and glow in the dark bacteria which always look cool!!)

    • Photo: Tora Smulders-Srinivasan

      Tora Smulders-Srinivasan answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      I’ve loved biology (particularly DNA!) since I first learned about it in school when I was 13 or so — and since then wanted to work in genetics/biology of some type or other. I kept my options open and actually loved math as well as chemistry and physics, but DNA & biology really interested me the most and it definitely was what I dreamed of doing.

      I was a biology major with genetics and development as my specialization at University (a bit different where I was in the USA than how it works here) and continued to love genetics/DNA.

      I love what I do now, so yes, I’d say my dream’s been fulfilled! I get to do genetics with my fruit flies and I love that & am getting exciting results, which is always great!

    • Photo: Daniel Parsons

      Daniel Parsons answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      I loved physics and chemistry at school. I didn’t like biology as much, which I find funny now because I am fascinated by physiology and evolution of life when I read general articles about these and other biological topics.

      I didn’t dream of being a scientist at all – I just fell into it if I am honest. I really enjoyed University and finding out a host of new things – I then did a PhD, which is like 3 years of studying one very focused topic and writing around 10,000 words (a big book) about it – and now I get to study and research the things that really fascinate me, such as how, for example, over geological time scales (millions of years) the Earth has changed from been super hot to been very cold and covered in ice – and trying to understand how well we can see the evidence for these changes actually preserved in the rocks – which is great.

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