Category: My blog

I never thought I would have two popular science books to my name but here I am, and if you’ll indulge me for a mere second, I am so proud of myself. I thought I’d write a little blog post to tell people about how I got into science writing. This is just my story, and I know many other science writers with similar backgrounds, but others who came into the field from completely different areas of expertise too.

Fire & Ice is my second popular science title, which will be published by Bloomsbury in September 2021. It’s about volcanoes in space, and follows my book Catching Stardust, which was about comets and asteroids, published in 2018.

What inspired me to become a science writer?

Fire & Ice is a book I always had in the back of my mind as something I wanted to write, but I only just got around to it, 20 years after I started my Bachelor’s degree. My first science love was always volcanoes. It began when I read a book at 17, which was probably the first ‘popular science’ style book I’d ever read. It was called ‘Surviving Galeras’ by Stanley Williams, about a science team who got caught in an eruption at a volcano in Colombia. I have since read ‘No Apparent Danger’ by Victoria Bruce, which tells another side to the story, one that is possibly more balanced. Nevertheless, Surviving Galeras was the first book that really piqued my interest in studying ‘fiery mountains’.

Why would you want to study active volcanoes?

Why? You might wonder. Well, that is a good question because I don’t class myself as particularly brave, and so you might wonder why a book about a scientist who nearly lost their life on the side of an active volcano could be inspiring. But there was something about active volcanoes that just fascinated me, and I wanted to know more. It led me to apply to study geology at university, to learn more about volcanoes, mountains and loads of other natural phenomena. I followed this with a PhD researching ancient volcanoes in the Arctic, moving from geology into geochemistry, as it allowed me to sometimes be in the field collecting rock samples (traipsing up mountains, which I loved) then doing very careful analytical work in the lab, which always made me feel like a ‘proper’ scientist. I know that’s silly but I loved the feeling of being in the lab surrounded by cool looking equipment.

On the side of an active volcano

Following a science route through academia also gave me the chance to study a real active volcano, one on the small Caribbean island of Montserrat. This volcano is the place that provided me with rock samples to use for my Masters research, but I also got the chance to work as a volunteer volcanologist there when I took some time out of my PhD studies to do an internship with the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, which was part of the British Geological Survey. My love of volcanoes only grew at this stage, as I was flown around the steaming volcanic vents by helicopter to carry out scientific analyses, it was like James Bond science. I haven’t mentioned yet that I also love flying and was seriously considering that as a career before volcanoes got ‘in the way’, so to speak!

From Earth to space

After I finished my PhD, my science took a turn in a different direction. I took up a position at The Open University studying the chemistry of comet and asteroid samples, ones that had been collected in space and brought back to Earth by some phenomenal space missions (you can read a little about my past research here). This field of science is actually called ‘cosmochemistry’ because it’s the chemistry of space samples, but it really isn’t very different to the geochemistry I did on my volcanic rocks (they’re all rocks after all, just from different places). At this point though, I suddenly found myself on a very steep learning curve for everything to do with space science, and I was totally hooked! For nearly seven years I got the chance to work on some very exciting science, including analyses on lunar and martian rocks!

Science researcher to science communicator

Yet, during my research I discovered that I had a real passion for talking about my science to people, communicating what I did to the public and school children. After an internship writing for The Guardian science and environment team in London (here’s some of my articles), becoming a BBC Expert Woman, and appearing on countless radio and television news programmes speaking about space science and, in particular, the Rosetta mission to a comet, I discovered that my love of talking and writing about science had, perhaps, eclipsed my love of actually doing science. Of course, I’ll always miss my days in the lab discovering new things and tinkering with expensive lab instruments, but the world of science research is highly competitive. There are lots of good people (too many you could argue) and there just aren’t enough positions for everyone to stay doing what they love for an entire lifetime career. Not that I wouldn’t recommend it still, as a science background and the skills that one can acquire in science training provide a great base for moving into many industries. For me, that was a move into science communication, but it was still very daunting, like setting out afresh having spent a decade cutting my teeth as a scientist. Yet, I knew I would be doing something else I loved and, at the same time, hopefully inspiring some more people to love science as much as I do.

What’s next for this geologist turned science writer?

So, with two books under my belt I wonder what is next on my science journey. In 2019 I was invited to write a space show for the Hayden planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, an opportunity that wouldn’t have come up without my move into science communication. This was a fascinating experience, which took me to New York for meetings with the amazingly talented museum team who were making the show. You can read a bit more about it here. I never would have guessed when I was 17 and reading about volcanoes in detail for the first time that they would send me on such an interesting career path. I’m so grateful to that author, and others like them, for sharing their story and talking about science in such creative ways. Science might seem like such an analytical, precise field with no space for creativity, and whilst it certainly involves a lot of careful, dedicated work, there is no science without imagination. The scientists and science communicators I have been lucky to meet in my career are some of the most interesting and creative people I know. They push the boundaries and think ‘outside the box’, questioning their sources and thinking carefully about what they see. These are skills that would serve many people well in life, especially in the world we now find ourselves in.

I am so incredibly excited to share with you the cover design for my next book ‘Fire & Ice: The volcanoes of the solar system’. It’s now available for pre-order wherever you normally get your books, but please do consider supporting your local independent bookshop because, as we all know, they are usually lovely places to browse for books and they need our support to stay open.

Here’s a link to my publisher’s webpage to get you started: Pre-order ‘Fire & Ice: The volcanoes of the solar system’.

I’ll post more about Fire & Ice in due course, I’ve been thinking about a blog post for it so I just need time to sit down and put that together. In the meantime, I made this little explainer video in May 2020 when I’d just completed the first draft of Fire & Ice, so it will explain a little bit more about the book, until I find the time to write that blog.

I was a guest on this week’s StarTalk Cosmic Queries episode all about the interstellar object Oumuamua, with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice. Check out the podcast below.

This week I hosted this fantastic event online for Japan House, London introducing JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to the UK. The event focussed on JAXA’s aims and activities and looks ahead to the imminent return of the asteroid explorer Hayabusa2.

Here is my latest StarTalk Radio podcast, recorded live with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Negin Farsad. In this Cosmic Queries episode, I answered questions sent in by StarTalk fans about Comet NEOWISE. It was a lot of fun as we discussed where Comet NEOWISE came from, how it got its name, and whether it could hold the building blocks for life.

You can catch-up with our chat on the StarTalk website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re a StarTalk+ Patron subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free too.

I took part in this fantastic show for ESA TV as part of the Asteroid Day programming. It was produced by BoffinMedia and presented by Richard Hollingham who interviewed asteroid experts Dr Katie Joy, from the University of Manchester, Prof Alan Fitzsimmons from Queen’s University Belfast and Dr Detlef Koschny from ESA. The programme also features literal space rockstar Dr Brian May (of QUEEN fame…but he is also an astrophysicist) and Astronaut Luca Parmitano.

You can catch-up with the show above, where we chat everything asteroids, including how we study them, how we can divert them from Earth-crossing orbits and how we might one day utilise them for their precious metals.

Asteroid Day 2020 is upon us.

In this video I explain why the United Nations have designated June 30th as the day of asteroids and why we need to learn more about them. An asteroid might be on a collision course with our planet in the future.

Asteroid Day reminds us that we need to learn more about these space rocks so we can send spacecraft up to divert them away from Earth and possibly save our planet and its inhabitants.

Asteroids were formed at the very start of the Solar System, at the same time as the planets and so they can tell us a lot about how the planets formed. But they could also be useful in the future if we can mine them for their precious metals. Asteroid Day reminds us that we don’t need to be scared of these space rocks, and that they might even end up saving our planet from environmental destruction.

If Asteroid Day has got you thinking you want to learn more about these enigmatic space rocks then my book Catching Stardust is a great place to start. It’s aimed at non-specialists wanting to learn more about asteroids, as well as comets, and how we study them in space. It also looks at diverting asteroids away from dangerous Earth-crossing orbits, as well as discussing asteroid mining! Available as hardback/ebook/audiobook.