• Question: What made you so interested into science??

    Asked by amandaa to Darren, Deuan, Duncan, Lori-An, Michelle on 14 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by laurenm14, haley, alexvotier.
    • Photo: Lori-An Etherington

      Lori-An Etherington answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      When I was at school I wasn’t that interested in science to be honest, but I was quite good at it so I started a science degree at university because I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do. The topics that you learn at university are completely different from what you learn at school and when I started to learn about pharmacology and the way in which drugs affect the body I found this really fascinating, especially the effect of drugs on the brain. So it wasn’t until about my 3rd year of university that I really became interested in science.

    • Photo: Michelle Hudson-Shore

      Michelle Hudson-Shore answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      I like finding out new things and in science you are always learning.

      In the first place, doing practical lessons at school, where I had to plan, do and then report experiments got me interested. It was really exciting for me because you start out with a problem and by the end you have found a way to understand it.

      And my interest has just continued to grow from their. Science is great because it helps you to understand how the world around you works and there are so many interesting ways that you can then use what you find out to change things, like conserving the environment, finding treatments for disease or improving animal welfare.

    • Photo: Deuan Jones

      Deuan Jones answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Well I always had an analytical mind – i liked thinking about how things worked (which when I was in primary school usually involved taking things appart) which is a really important part of being a scientist, and I always liked technology – as a kid I used to build pretend robots and space ships and as I got older I loved computers and gadgets – last week I installed a motion-sensitive set of LED lights on a tree in my hall so it lights up whenever anyone walks past – it’s very cool.

      Probably the biggest influence was people – my mum was a nurse and I saw her using her understanding of the body to help people – to change their lives really. I had teachers who were really interested in me and friendly as well as fun – but who pushed me and challanged me as well. As a kid I was quite ill and often in hospital and I had one biology teacher who would send me all the stuff they’d done in class so I could keep up. Also when I was about 14 I was in an all boys school, most of our teachers were guys but we got this really hot teacher for biology, she also ran the mountain biking club and her husband was a fighter pilot in the RAF – basically, to us, she was the coolest person imaginable. She had a PhD in Biochemistry and I think about a third of the boys in that class went on to do PhDs in Biochemistry – that can’t be chance!

      To be honest though, sometimes we just find we’re interested in something and when a good teacher encourages you it just takes off. Biology in my primary school was all plants and animals, but when I went to secondary school and we started doing fungus and viruses I just thought it was incredible.

      Wow that’s a longer answer than I thought it would be.

    • Photo: Darren Nesbeth

      Darren Nesbeth answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      I had no interest in science any more than any other subject until maybe aged 14 and realised I was getting good marks in chemistry.

      I always liked science fiction (star wars, star trek, dr who) but that’s not the same as being good at science in school.

      So it started with some good grades and went from there. I think the fact there’s new information at each stage (before GCSE, GCSE, A-level) made me more curious. Eventually you keep going and there’s no new courses and you have to write the textbooks yourself!

    • Photo: Duncan Hull

      Duncan Hull answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Curiosity. I think science is about being curious and asking questions about the world around you. Sometimes you get answers, other times the answers lead to yet more questions. So as a curious person, I personally find that there is always something new in Science that can be very satisfying to find out about.

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