Scientific Content Creation
Communicating complex science to the public. Below are examples of my work curating science stories for world renowned galleries.
EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
London's SCIENCE MUSEUM welcomes over 5 million visitors per year.
THE SCIENCE OF PAIN
The "Pain Less" exhibition revealed the neuroscience of pain and pain relief, delving deep into the difficult questions surrounding consciousness, the human perception of pain and what can influence it. The exhibition included video interviews, storylines, artwork and much more.
WHAT MAKES FOOD DELICIOUS?
For the feature exhibition "Cravings", we worked with chefs, gastrointestinal experts and neuroscientists, we uncovered those curious mechanisms inside us that urge us to reach for that chocolate cookie – even when our stomach is full.
Guests at the Cravings press preview watched as BBC Breakfast broadcast live from the Cravings exhibition to 7 million viewers, with stories from the exhibition featured in the Guardian, Newsweek, The Independent, Radio 4’s Today programme and on BBC News.
SCIENCE FESTIVAL: ROBOT SAFARI
"Robot Safari" was a three-day festival held at the Science Museum, featuring 13 different biomimetic robots from across Europe. Our team created an immersive jungle, ocean and desert themed space for the robots to fly, swim or crawl around in.
My role involved helping engineers and scientists to engage with families, students and robotics fans, creating live demos and providing communication training to the experts.
SCIENCE TOPICS AND STORIES
Watch the interview with Steven Pete, a man who lives with congenital insensitivity to pain, a condition that's more dangerous than most people think.
The video features Cambridge University geneticist Dr. Geoff Woods, whose team discovered the rare genetic mutation that blocks pain signals in the body from being transmitted to the brain.
Neuroplasticity and gaming
While researching the topic of phantom pain, I discovered how an X-Box and virtual reality can help reduce phantom limb pain in amputees.
The game uses the concept of the "mirror box" to create a realistic visual illusion of the limb for the gamer, interrupting the negative feedback loop that can cause the painful sensation.
Consciousness
We've all heard the horror stories of patients being given general anaesthesia, only to remember the whole, painful experience...
Dr. Emery Brown from the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, explains the link between brain activity and consciousness, helping us to better understand what happens as we go under.
"Milking" spider venom
Could spider and snake venom be painkillers of the future? For this story, I watched a snake's fangs being "milked" at Venomtech Laboratory in Kent and found myself face to face with a snake during the gallery opening!
Venoms contain powerful proteins, honed by thousands of years of evolution, their potency can be harnessed to create highly selective painkillers.
Multi-sensory perception
The fascinating way our senses interact with one another, can help us create the perfect dish.
The work of Dr. Charles Spence (the mastermind behind Chef Heston Blumenthal's creative genius) reveals which colours, shapes and cutlery make food taste better, and why airplane food is usually terrible. The Crossmodal Perception Laboratory at Oxford University is a collection of weird and wacky objects, all designed to investigate multi-sensory perception.
Remotely operated turtles
The U-CAT, a robotic turtle ROV, was built to explore underwater shipwrecks to assist underwater archeologists. Visitors could simulate a dive in a sunken shipwreck.
Programming workshops
Ran a hands-on robotics workshop, with experts from University of Warwick teaching basic programming skills applied to animal behaviour.
