Author: Valarie

“Do one thing every day that scares you. “

Eleanor Roosevelt

I’ve mentioned before that I’m absolutely terrified of public speaking. It’s almost to the point where it’s irrational, but I can’t help it. Even thinking about having to give a presentation gives me heart palpitations.

I get the joy and privilege of having to overcome this fear once again on this Thursday. I’ve just completed my PowerPoint presentation, which I spent a lot of time on and I’m hoping the colorfulness of it will distract my audience from my shaking and terrified voice. I’m also 11 weeks pregnant and have been experiencing morning sickness, except all day, for the last 3 weeks. So now I’m terrified of being sick on my audience as well.

I may just keep a paper bag in my pocket, you know, for worst case scenario type stuff.

Anyway, my presentation is on antibiotic resistance, which as a microbiology MSc student I am very interested in. I usually gripe over my friends for saving their kid’s leftover antibiotics to use as they see fit should they get sick. I mean I really do harp on them over this. Or anyone who will listen really. So you would think I’d have no problem getting in front of less than 20 fellow students and doing the same thing.

Either way, nervous or not, it is such an important topic and I feel that everyone should be as excited about it too. It’s amazing to me that as much as we use and rely on antibiotics in modern medicine, so many people still seem to be very unaware as to how they work and the dangers or misusing them. Even doctors have gotten a bad reputation for prescribing them to people suffering from a cold, which is viral in nature and not treated by antibiotics.

I think if people genuinely understood what was happening in their body whenever they didn’t finish a full course of antibiotics, or what transferring resistant strains to their family members could do, or how this entire crisis is going to have an immense effect on everyone in the future, maybe…just maybe they would do their part to help.

So I will overcome by fears on Thursday to discuss this topic for 10 agonizing minutes and maybe someone will be there listening and if they didn’t know before, maybe they will be more wary in the future when it comes to antibiotic use.

And I will overcome so we can all overcome.

“And I believe that good journalism, good television, can make our world a better place.”

Christiane Amanpour

It’s amazing how much influence television has on our daily lives now, isn’t it?

Did you know the first electronic TV was invented in 1927? It was invented by Philo Taylor Farnsworth who was only 21 years old at the time. I think when I was 21 all I was doing was watching TV.

How amazing is it that this invention has been able to bring people so much closer. Whether its gathering around the TV together to watch who gets a rose at the end of the latest Bachelor episode or tearing up watching the news and watching helplessly as Australia burns.

Those responsible for delivering news and entertainment have such a great responsibility as they can reach such a large audience. However, being able to captivate an audience is an art in itself that should not be underappreciated.

Each film and and television show that is created undergoes a lengthy process that tests both creativity and persistence. Deciding on a topic for your message is as crucial as doing the research to deliver the most accurate message possible. It’s not wonder that there’s so many more crew members than the actual cast for many programs and movies. The development takes all kinds of minds and skills to accomplish a project successfully.

One aspect that I haven’t been able to not notice since our lecture last week is the actual filming techniques and types of shots used. It seems so subtle, as the camera angles change and go from close up to wide shot, but is done in such a way that many don’t even notice. It’s incredible how something as seemingly simple as using different types of shots can elevate or possibly even ruin the experience of watching something.

This form of media has come such a long way since the introduction of film. Using new techniques and methods has made watching TV and movies such an enjoyable experience that many people rely on it as a way to wind down and relax. It’s a wonderful thing to have the ability to express a variety of topics from something as mind numbing as reality TV to something as beautiful and thought out as Planet Earth.

Being able to communicate with others has never been easier and film has become one of the most important forms of doing so.

“There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous and 2. Liars.”

Mark Twain

Unfortunately I missed last week’s lecture in my Communicating Science class due to illness, which is unfortunate as it is one that deals with me overcoming one of my biggest fears. Public speaking.

Everyday I watch people are me have to give public speeches, whether it’s on the news or my professors giving a lecture and I always admire and envy the confidence that they display as they do so. However, for many this is not a skill that is built overnight. I think for the majority of people, having to give a talk in front of an audience can send us into fight or flight mode immediately. As someone who suffers from anxiety and panic disorder, public speaking is one of my triggers for panic attacks which is especially embarrassing to have in front of a group.

So how do you get over fears or phobias? Certainly not all at once and definitely not by avoiding them for the rest of your life. This is actually something I have learned through CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) for panic and phobias. You must start confronting these fears, but slowly and in small steps.

At this stage, it still seems impossible that I will ever not be nervous while giving a speech or presentation in front of even a small audience, but every journey begins with a small step.

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

Malcolm X

For this week, we will be talking about journalism and specifically how science journalism can affect the public. The hot topic right now is 2019-nCoV, or the novel coronavirus. It’s hard not to know what this is as there’s been a bit of hysteria with this outbreak as it’s been headlining every news outlet at the moment.

It is so vital to communicate with the public, especially on matters about public health and disease outbreaks. Not wanting to repeat history, the Chinese government was able to get global public health into action quickly to contain the virus as much as possible. This is so important to prevent the spread of the virus as the more a virus spreads, the more it can mutate.

 However, what the general public don’t realize is that influenza is much more detrimental. In both influenza and 2019-nCoV they usually causes severe complications with patients with comorbidities (those who had a disease prior to infection) or those who are immunocompromised due to age or pregnancy.

Most of the burden from outbreaks such as this will most likely be economical because screening people at airports is expensive and labs and other health facilities will also really feel the pressures. But because there has been such a quick and grand response it means it gives the virus less opportunities to spread and mutate, which is a really good thing.  

Science journalism has a responsibility of providing accurate information as the general public may not have a background in the topic and may not understand how dire something is or not. It seems that many people on Twitter or YouTube have exploited this event to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories. I have seen things as ridiculous as this novel coronavirus being created by Bill Gates on purpose. I honestly can’t even delve into the conspiracy theories much because I can barely understand them myself, they are that absurd. This theory stemmed from a circulating image from Pirbright Institute of a patent for a vaccine for a non-human coronavirus.

As someone in the science field, it is incredibly disheartening to see friends and family on social networks spreading misinformation, which only acts to scaremonger others into fearing and mistrusting science more than they already do. So while I am excited to see such a quick response from public health to contain an outbreak, events like this often can create unnecessary fear and anxiety for the general public.

I understand why there is a panic right now and I think it’s important to be cautious with a new virus, especially because new viruses can have the potential to infect and kill more people than viruses that circulate more often. However, with all that said. Should you panic? No, at this point in time it doesn’t really make sense to be anxious for something that ‘might’ happen. Should we be cautious, aware, educated and practice good hygiene. Yes, of course, always. 

Wash your hands, you filthy animals.

Some rules are nothing but old habits that people are afraid to change

Therese Fowler

Recognizing your bad habits is simple. To know that something is unhealthy or destructive, you generally don’t usually need to look far to obtain that kind of information. But what about changing habits and behaviors?

Our environment dramatically influences our behaviors and healthy or unhealthy habits. If you have grown up in a culture that indulges in unhealthy foods and eating out then it makes it much harder to try to adopt healthy eating behaviors. With chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes affecting millions of people, finding a way to influence societies nutritional choices is a vital target for preventative healthcare.

By changing what we consider social norms, we can dramatically affect a population’s habits. However, this occurrence does not usually happen all at once. After all, it is one thing to want to change, but it is another to actually overcome things that have become almost impulsive.

I recently enrolled in a communicating science course as a part of my graduate program and changing human behavior was the center of the focus for the first lecture. I found this appropriate for a group of life sciences major who are enrolling in a course that, for most of us, is completely different from every other class we have been in for the last few years. For me personally, this topic resonated with me for so many reasons, but the most important one was how I was going to have to overcome my behavior that makes me so uncomfortable with public speaking.

As a high school student who enjoyed liberal arts much more than anything else, especially anything science related, I frequently performed at poetry readings or readings in my creative writing classes. However, as time has passed and I have switched over to mathematics and life sciences, I have become more and more comfortable with my introvert behavior that I’ve been allowed to settle into. This course will push me back into something that feels so unfamiliar and I am sure that a dozen class meetings isn’t going to change me, but it puts me an environment that encourages change to happen.

My fears of failure and my intense anxiety that I struggle with on a daily basis feels vulnerable, but then I guess change has never been comfortable.

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hey there! My name is Valarie and I am currently a student at the University of Westminster in London working on my Medical Microbiology MSc. I moved here during the summer of 2019 from the United States to be with my British husband and shortly after moving here I enrolled in school. My background is in medical laboratory science and I am a certified Medical Technologist by the American Association of Bioanalysts.

I’ve always been very curious and had an interest in science, but it wasn’t until I started my first few years of college that I discovered that I am also a lab rat. This blog is a place for me to discuss different subjects within science such as current events, my thoughts and experiences as an American student in a British university, and to just help communicate science overall.

I hope you join me on this journey of discovering what this blog will transform into and that you’re entertained along the way.