Jellyfish Be Banned

Riding high on the back of the NI science festival, in what has become an international sensation (among young scientists anyway), Famelab came to Northern Ireland. In over 150 different countries worldwide the participants, or Famelabbers as they become affectionately known, educate us about everything from the science behind why we kiss (Emer Maguire – NI & UK winner) to why we should remain vigilant against malaria (Oskari Vinko - International winner). Contestants have just three minutes to impress a panel of judges, and of course the audience. They arrive at the final via video entry, which if they are successful, have the prestigious honour of giving their talk in front of a live audience.
On a whim, or more honestly, as the result of serious feat of procrastination, I entered Famelab NI last year. Submitting a video titled ‘95% curious’, I talked about how clever and fascinating these animals are in evolutionary terms. I even added in a little bit of classical conditioning for those of you who want to become better scientists (disclaimer; watching the video
But I can say, I found it an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding experience. Picking a topic, giving it your own flare and delivering it to people who are genuinely interested is quite thrilling. Not constrained by the criteria of a journal or by scientific vocabulary and phraseology, in famelab the more expressive and passionate you come across the better. That is what I liked, the freedom to not only be a scientist that collects data, crunches numbers, writes papers (hopefully in the near future), but to be able to wave my arms around, jump around the stage, raise my voice with excitement and show you why I find this smelly, stingy, potentially edible blob of gelatinous tissue absolutely fascinating, and to implore you to find it interesting