This week I won Highly Commended for the Queensland Women in STEM Prize! All the nominees are extremely inspiring, doing incredible work to change the world and it was surreal to be recognised among them. The award ceremony was held… Read More »2022 QLD Women in STEM Prize
Bobtail squid are cephalopods, closely related to cuttlefish. They are about the size of a thumb, making my painting roughly 6 times larger than life! They swim using their cute little paddle-shaped fins or by jet propulsion, and munch on… Read More »Did a squid
I painted a nudibranch! Nudibranchs (“noody branks”) are a group of squishy little molluscs that have very wacky shapes and colourations. My favourite nudibranch is the blue dragon (Glaucus atlanticus). These little guys are only about 3 cm long so… Read More »Blue dragons
It took a very long time, but I managed to make a shot of espresso completely from scratch. Here’s how… 1. Plant a coffee tree in the backyard (thanks, mum). Water, and wait 4 years for fruit. 2. Harvest the… Read More »I made coffee from SCRATCH!
I was super lucky to head to Mon Repos Turtle Centre in March 2021 to watch loggerhead hatchlings crawl into the ocean! Their mumma would have laid a clutch on this beach a couple of months earlier, and that night… Read More »Baby turtles
When I was at uni I had the one-off opportunity to use a 3D printer. I felt like a kid in a candy store, but if all the candy was plastic and in any shape I wanted. Naturally, Budding Mathematician… Read More »Don’t cry over spilled fractals
I wrote this essay as part of an undergraduate research project I did in 2012. Some readers might find the mathematics in some parts a little bit prickly, so I’ve marked them with an asterisk. Everything else is aimed at… Read More »An Introduction to Fractal Geometry
For Halloween 2021, my husband and I picked the most convoluted costume. Here are two photos. On the right is a zookeeper next to a white-naped crane. On the left is my husband and I (a human, not a real… Read More »Walnut and Chris: the ultimate love story
I painted a tardigrade! Tardigrades (also called moss piglets or water bears) grow up to 0.5 mm long, meaning my painting is about 650 times larger than life. They might just be my favourite animal. They can be found in… Read More »All hail the tardigrade
You know that excitement you get when you have a couple of cocktails and decide you want one of every element on the periodic table, and order some of the cool ones, then you forget, and then a few weeks… Read More »I’m a gallium gal now