Crystals And Catalysts

I’m so glad to partner with @geniuslabgear to provide you with 15% off on The Pocket Chemist, use the code “CRYSTALS15” on their website.  View this post on Instagram AD | Today I thought I’d share 3 tips on taking notes in a meeting or lecture: 1️⃣Don’t write everything on the slides - they’re always shared later - write the useful information the lecturer/speaker is saying 2️⃣Find the best, most comfortable way you take notes, this can be via notepad and pen, iPad or on your laptop, whatever helps you retain information 3️⃣Rewrite your notes after the meeting/lecture in an organised and tidy way so you can re-read them, it can help with retention of information, or you’ll be able to share them with teammates. . . If you’re a chemistry student, something that can help you have tidy notes, is the pocket chemist. This is something I wish I had when I was studying all those years ago. Your benzene rings will always have...

Whilst staying home and working from home, for the past couple of weeks, has been a new experience for me, I’d never imagined there would be a time where we would all be confined to our homes in fear of a virus. However, I know it’s the best thing we could do to protect each other until this coronavirus pandemic is over. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago when I was on my way to work. There were loads of people on the street. I just managed to capture Shepherds Bush at the right time when there were no cars passing by...

I’ve been  #workingfromhome  for the past 3 (? - I’ve lost count already!) weeks, and the UK has been in  #lockdown  to try to prevent the spread of the  #coronavirus . All this has got me thinking about how we’re still in the initial stages of the pandemic, and we don’t know how or when it will end and how scientists will strive to provide a solution for us. I’ve written a short blog post on this which will be coming your way later this evening…⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 📷This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago when I was on my way to work. There were loads of people on the street. I just managed to capture Shepherds Bush at the right time when there were no cars passing by...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I hope your all doing well.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #StayHome   #StaySafe View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mariam Zaki, MSc🖊 (@scicommography)

I wasn’t planning on writing an article on the coronavirus, as there’s a lot of information out there to read, and my fellow science communicators are doing their job and more to educate everyone on the severity of COVID-19 and how to prevent it (i.e. WASH YOUR HANDS!). But from a conversation with a friend, I found a topic that I feel is important to share with everyone and that’s how the coronavirus is treated. 

(ترجمه باللغة العربية أدناه) Did you know that today is mother language day? The importance of this day is to demonstrate the diversity of languages around the world and to celebrate them. As you've probably guessed, I'm bilingual, I communicate in English and Arabic fluently and I also translate my blog posts into Arabic, as of 2019. The Arabic language is written from right to left and you read a book from "back to front". There are more than 300 million Arabic speakers in the world. What's your mother language? Tell me a fact about it in the comments below! - اليوم هو #اليوم_العالمي_للغة_الام أهمية هذا اليوم في إظهار تنوع اللغات في جميع أنحاء العالم والاحتفال بها. كما تعرفوا ، أنا اعرف لغتين ، أتواصل باللغة الإنجليزية والعربية بطلاقة وأترجم أيضًا مدوناتي إلى العربية اعتبارًا من عام 2019. اللغة العربية مكتوبة من اليمين إلى اليسار وتقرأ كتابًا من "الخلف إلى الأمام". و يوجد أكثر من 300 مليون متحدث بالعربية في العالم. ما هي لغتك الأم؟ قل لي معلومه عنها في...

Last Thursday I attended a media training session organised by the Science Media Centre. It bought together, journalists, scientists, researchers, press officers and people who communicate science in mainstream media, so both sides can understand and work together to communicate science correctly and to encourage scientists to be more vocal about their work and not fear media interviews. ⠀ ترجمه باللغة العربية 👇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ One key message both journalists AND scientists agreed on was that it was okay to communicate uncertainty in science. I was more surprised that the journalists agreed to this too, even though it’s sort of a public understanding that the lay public expects scientists know everything, and won’t accept “more research is needed” for an answer. When in actual fact, the main consensus was that you should communicate uncertainty when the results of a scientific study are not conclusive because that is science. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Science is not finite, as cliche as ...

This week, I have another guest on my blog, my friend Abdul who also studied BSc Medicinal Chemistry with me. Abdul graduated from University College London in 2018 with a PhD in Chemistry, before deciding to pursue his artistic passions and turning towards photography and broadcasting. In this blog post, he will be telling us about his experience in presenting Virtually Reality - a showcase by DoDo Lemons.  Enjoy! ~~~~~~ When we try to communicate complex scientific material to the world, we often get fixated on trying to insert every key term or attempt to be fun and engaging, which can make us lose our vision or the scientific message. So today, I’d like to talk about science communication through a different medium. I was lucky enough to be part of an interesting, quirky show exploring concepts of perception and its relation to mental health, such as psychosis. As part of the DoDo Lemons group , an artistic collective, I was asked to host the “ Virtually Reali...

We all know how to make a cup of tea - right? Wrong! I’m talking about the ongoing debate on how to make a cup of tea — the right way. Do you pour tea into milk instead of pouring milk into your tea? Well according to science, there’s a right way to make a cup of tea which ensures it maintains its flavour and texture. It takes into account the various properties that go into making a cup of tea; whether you use tea bags or loose leaf tea, the chemicals that make up tea, milk and water, how much fat there is in your milk, and even the temperature of your water. With that being said, the scientifically preferred method of making a cup of tea is milk first then tea — if you've already brewed the tea in a teapot — which allows the milk to warm evenly and preserve the taste. Pouring milk into hot tea causes the milk to heat unevenly which causes the proteins in it to denature, meaning they lose their structure and “clump”. But if you're making a cup of tea in a mug: hot water/...

This is the Arabic translation of the blog post: Nootropics aka Smart Drugs - Do they really work هل سمعت عن منشطات الذهن قبل قراءة هذه المدونة؟ أو "العقاقير الذكية" أو "معززات الدماغ" كما يطلق عليها؟ هذه الأدوية التي تدعي أنها من المفترض أن تحولك إلى عبقري و "تحسن من قدراتك الإدراكية" وتستهدف كل شخص يشعر بأنه يريد تعزيز قدرات عقولهم خاصة عند الدراسة أو في العمل.