tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16568700084899898682024-02-07T20:24:57.003+00:00words of sciencehayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-48588450931319047672018-03-14T10:36:00.001+00:002018-03-14T10:44:07.240+00:00A nod to the art folksOnly yesterday I remarked upon the <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/optimism.html" target="_blank">beautiful artwork</a> for the Focus feature I wrote. (In fact, the scientist I profiled is so enamoured with it that she wants a print for her office.) Now <a href="https://eic.rsc.org/feature/natures-vibrant-secrets/3008763.article" target="_blank">my article on structural colour</a> has come out in Education in Chemistry and the art team have used this stunning beetles image, which is currently full size on the front of their website.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d38c5dutwb1t0j.cloudfront.net/Pictures/380x253/P0/8/4/136084_GettyImages-511121338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="380" height="213" src="https://d38c5dutwb1t0j.cloudfront.net/Pictures/380x253/P0/8/4/136084_GettyImages-511121338.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It's illustrating the fact that many beetles get their colours from the structures in the layers of their exoskeletons, as opposed to (or as well as) colour pigments. Although as the squid scientist I interviewed pointed out, the picture is certainly pretty, but the colour structures in beetles aren't nearly as sophisticated as in squid - beetles only make static colour this way, while squids make dynamic colour, producing any colour in the visible spectrum by altering the structures in their skin. (Within microseconds!)<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-39513530386131259352018-03-13T10:11:00.000+00:002018-03-13T10:11:00.561+00:00OptimismLast month's <a href="http://www.sciencefocus.com/" target="_blank">BBC Focus magazine</a> was the "optimism" issue. Instead of worrying about a future full of pollution, superbugs and extinctions, my editors at the magazine decided to highlight research that offers potential solutions for some of the big challenges facing the planet. I was asked to profile Cassandra Quave, an ethnobotanist, who studies medicinal uses of plants with a focus on treating antibiotic-resistant infections. She was billed (not by me) as a scientist "whose research might just save the world". Quite something to live up to, huh? I do like the design on this piece and it was the cover article, so here's the cover too.<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhSwJWS_wxUCxfiEIu3O_g7K7TX33hPmW4qLoTELqcUTqQKTBdBEX11WPLjCmvQ4bk4iOdWVRrRoBAWoZbnqn6l-9TUnG13wq6sOqXvP_LJ-za1DYr1Wp_3xxnSVAu2LUmS2h7gYZcwikj/s1600/Focus_CassandraQuave-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="514" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhSwJWS_wxUCxfiEIu3O_g7K7TX33hPmW4qLoTELqcUTqQKTBdBEX11WPLjCmvQ4bk4iOdWVRrRoBAWoZbnqn6l-9TUnG13wq6sOqXvP_LJ-za1DYr1Wp_3xxnSVAu2LUmS2h7gYZcwikj/s320/Focus_CassandraQuave-1.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-38287643516543769092017-09-04T12:20:00.001+01:002017-09-04T12:22:04.636+01:00Big Questions update<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Questions-Science-Keat-Looi/dp/0233003959" target="_blank">Big Questions in Science</a> came out four years ago next week. Those four years have been pretty busy ones for me so I have to be honest and admit I haven't taken too much notice of what's been going on with it. However, I'm now reliably informed by one of my co-authors that not only have we broken the advance on this book (which means royalties), we've published a Chinese version. It hit <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Big-Questions-Science-Chinese/dp/7556207188" target="_blank">Amazon in June</a> apparently.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAqwyDMoMrmnbiZdsYBo1zZOXGDueMsPLIX6DrwUp6NQd1X6L0DhirLI7yiGkdqtQ7wFUHOIwXXCge78r9oF2Z9pWICjloB0DuS_X8-rlh7lbCKEJ5CThCs05ION4MnKr35sv3BHNyl-9/s1600/Chinese+Big+Qs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAqwyDMoMrmnbiZdsYBo1zZOXGDueMsPLIX6DrwUp6NQd1X6L0DhirLI7yiGkdqtQ7wFUHOIwXXCge78r9oF2Z9pWICjloB0DuS_X8-rlh7lbCKEJ5CThCs05ION4MnKr35sv3BHNyl-9/s200/Chinese+Big+Qs.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<br />
Yeah. I dunno. I'm not loving the design but I guess a giant Q on the cover doesn't make much sense in Chinese.<br />
<br />
As an aside, I'm no longer publishing as "Hayley Birch". You'll find all my newest publications under "Hayley Bennett" and I've amended my Google profile (top right) accordingly.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-69662532477889530332015-12-11T17:13:00.000+00:002015-12-11T17:27:12.276+00:00New book... terrifying<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbul6D5iVlfxm32fboMk3_vM3HibHbz_Q-67Ooz5K8snfvBD0pBxoytEsjAl-fVOA1bcjiUlGQvKnxvBTVgdsrYxDUg_RszivyrlGppMMRgO0xcdB3OhRrODwE5uG9-X7V6N5JiEkHfE9/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbul6D5iVlfxm32fboMk3_vM3HibHbz_Q-67Ooz5K8snfvBD0pBxoytEsjAl-fVOA1bcjiUlGQvKnxvBTVgdsrYxDUg_RszivyrlGppMMRgO0xcdB3OhRrODwE5uG9-X7V6N5JiEkHfE9/s320/cover.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
<br />
I have <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848666675/" target="_blank">a book</a> out. Apparently. I've just been alerted to this fact by Chemistry World <a href="http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/11/hayley-birch-50-chemistry-ideas-need-know-review" target="_blank">writing a review of it</a>. I did actually know I'd written it, of course, just not that it had published. So that's nice/terrifying... Everything that I publish terrifies me, if I'm honest. Generally, I run and hide - in a social media sense - whenever it happens. Perhaps I'm not the best at doing my own PR.<br />
<br />
So, ahem, if you're vaguely interested in sciencey sorts of things and you think maybe you'd like to know some more about chemistry, maybe you should try buying my book and, you know, reading it, or something. Was that a strong sales pitch?<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-49872452388886742432015-07-16T16:57:00.005+01:002015-07-16T16:59:20.897+01:00Found fiction<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Discovered this whilst procrastinating/in the midst of a meltdown. I have a vague memory of writing it (probably some years ago) when I was supposed to be doing something far more important...</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A dinosaur pooed in my shoe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know it was a dinosaur because I heard it while I was
inside looking for the other shoe. It made a noise just like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was definitely a velociraptor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I couldn't wear the shoe. It had poo in it. My mum said you
should never touch cat poo in case it gets in your eyes and makes you go blind.
I think velociraptor poo is probably a bit like cat poo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There weren't any pictures of velociraptor poo on the
internet. There was one of some brontosaurus poo. I thought maybe I could take
some pictures of my shoe, and the poo, and put them on the internet. Just in
case dinosaurs were pooing in other people's shoes. Maybe they would want to know
whether a brontosaurus or a velociraptor had done it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
252 people liked the picture of the poo in my shoe. Some of
them didn't believe a velociraptor had done it. But I told them: “I heard it. It
sounded just like the one on<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> Jurassic Park.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One person asked how I knew it wasn't a unicorn. I don't
know about unicorn poos. But it didn't sound like a unicorn.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
THE END</div>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-59945342685790608272015-05-20T10:46:00.002+01:002015-05-20T10:56:40.508+01:00Birds in the basketSorry if you've already seen these photos (and read the story) multiple times via my Twitter and Facebook profiles, but I just have to share...<br />
<br />
<b>Yesterday afternoon:</b><br />
<br />
So I was just putting my bike away and turned around to see the same old blackbird perched on the top of the door to the bike shed. "Silly bird," I thought. "Is it still trying to make a nest in here?" I carried on putting my bike away, but when I turned around again I saw the bird's tail poking out of the top of someone's bicycle basket. I got my phone out and crept over to see if I could get a funny picture of it sitting in the basket... Imagine my surprise when I peeked over the rim and saw these!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8kG7-_qXh7DRd-l8BYs5yJk1xyotYs9Kmv0zNpLqvnSMHFJ24zyk-vWj3x6BQYO3ZLrcJbgWxC5yZF0zog69lmZOtPgRAi-quERQyJGScXaA72VRjwcFgyBIw-qyZ0IobI0Kef6FfqWI/s1600/2015-05-19+15.51.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8kG7-_qXh7DRd-l8BYs5yJk1xyotYs9Kmv0zNpLqvnSMHFJ24zyk-vWj3x6BQYO3ZLrcJbgWxC5yZF0zog69lmZOtPgRAi-quERQyJGScXaA72VRjwcFgyBIw-qyZ0IobI0Kef6FfqWI/s320/2015-05-19+15.51.43.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXf226XwODmyTSQoGObmtBNW72Ug0qd_29n1GMwdrwLrqm8qKjLKdxmr7vIf9uOtfHiAaV5Lw81m4sPnh9m3BQm1tyOS0ZQcqJi-gHh8r2m6nA_46yk1DDzfsYJgm5UTh-eHp5zsuUIASr/s1600/2015-05-19+15.51.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXf226XwODmyTSQoGObmtBNW72Ug0qd_29n1GMwdrwLrqm8qKjLKdxmr7vIf9uOtfHiAaV5Lw81m4sPnh9m3BQm1tyOS0ZQcqJi-gHh8r2m6nA_46yk1DDzfsYJgm5UTh-eHp5zsuUIASr/s320/2015-05-19+15.51.57.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
There followed some discussion among Facebook friends as to whether I should do anything about the situation. After consulting the RSPCA website, we decided that as the birds were healthy and being fed by their mother there was not too much cause for concern. However, I said I would attach a note to the bike - to warn the owner, in case they should suddenly turn up (after several weeks absence, clearly) with the intention of flinging a bag into the basket.<br />
<br />
<b>This morning:</b><br />
<br />
Well, I tried.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8U8xcH6R0tmIu-NC98C5dgYQuxxNHL7puvnAJZgghTfemdk2R9ZBHCZ60op-AOH_BWETbjrwKRg9cOVxPh695zGvkXISaXrtMZug4jBcO7p1fua69HqawDxC4Ov7OLWF5cKNv57TD1mZL/s1600/2015-05-20+06.48.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8U8xcH6R0tmIu-NC98C5dgYQuxxNHL7puvnAJZgghTfemdk2R9ZBHCZ60op-AOH_BWETbjrwKRg9cOVxPh695zGvkXISaXrtMZug4jBcO7p1fua69HqawDxC4Ov7OLWF5cKNv57TD1mZL/s320/2015-05-20+06.48.11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Unfortunately, Mother Blackbird didn't very much like our plan and quickly despatched the note as if it were an unexploded bomb, onto the grass outside. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to photograph this, but I was just standing there open-mouthed as she pulled off the (three pieces of) sticky tape with her beak and then carried the whole thing away.<br />
<br />
Half an hour later, I recounted the story to my own mother over the phone. She is a bit of a twitcher and advised that the nestlings would be out of the nest within a couple of weeks so it was probably best to leave them to it. I'm also sure that putting a note anywhere else - like on the front of the bike shed - would draw too much attention and risk stressing out Mrs Blackbird even more. (She already has a loud, creaky gate and constant to-ings and fro-ings to contend with.) They seem okay where they are, so I will keep an eye out and report back once the chicks have (hopefully) flown the basket!<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-36502495611049159372015-03-10T18:04:00.001+00:002015-03-23T11:15:03.157+00:00The perfect proposalI am in the midst of writing a book proposal. When I say "in the midst", I mean I have been thinking about it for over nine months and not actually written a word of it yet, so whether you consider this the start, the middle or the end of the process is really a matter of opinion. Anyway, I have come to a point where I feel it would be useful to put my feelings about this process into words. So this is mostly a pep talk / message to my future self, in case I ever find myself in this position again. But just in case it is of benefit to others, I am sharing it.<br />
<br />
Following a heart-to-heart with a good friend, the question I have been asking myself just in the last couple of hours is: Why do I really want to write this book? This, I realise now, is the most important question of all.<br />
<br />
Do I want to write this book in the hope that it will become a best seller and make me enough money to buy a small island, which I can flounce off to each winter in order to write more best-selling books that will rake in the cash? Or do I want to write this book because it means I can spend several months of my life learning about something that fascinates me and wake up every morning knowing that I have the time and space to write, which is a thing that I genuinely enjoy doing?<br />
<br />
If the answer is the small island, then all I am thinking about is how to write the perfect proposal for the best-selling book. All that's in my head is how I'm going to convince the publisher that my book is going to be the Best. Book. Ever. When they read my proposal they need to be thinking, "Man, if we don't accept this proposal then we are ID-I-OTS. Send a courier with a cheque* for six figures immediately."<br />
<br />
The book that buys the island is the book that the publisher has been waiting for all their life.<br />
<br />
But if the answer is more about fascination, and time and space to write, then I need to view the proposal in a completely different way. I'm thinking about how to attract a publisher who wants to publish my book. This might sound like the same thing, but it's really not. If my aim is to write a book that I'll enjoy writing, I have to write the proposal for <i>that</i> book, not the book that I think the publisher wants. Otherwise, I could end up spending months of my life working on something I'm not particularly excited about and, okay, I might have a small island at the end of it, but will I be HAPPY when I'm flouncing off the following winter to write my next stupendously popular book in the knowledge that part of my soul will have to die in the process?<br />
<br />
[Long pause for thought.]<br />
<br />
If I go with the second type of book, the gamble is that there might not be a publisher who is as fascinated with the subject matter as I am. Is that likely though? Am I a complete loon who is only interested in stuff that doesn't interest anyone else?<br />
<br />
What I think I have concluded is that unless I actually want little pieces of my soul to start disappearing, I have to write the proposal for the second type of book. That way, if it is accepted, I'll have (more of) a guarantee of spending time on something I'll enjoy. Besides which, the mysteries of publishing are such that it can be impossible to predict what it is that the publisher actually wants. If I write the proposal for the book that buys the island, whether the publisher actually likes it or not may have just as much to do with who they had lunch with last Friday as with how I describe the potential market.<br />
<br />
The only sensible option is to write a proposal that passionately communicates what fascinates me about the subject matter, and to write it in a style that I will enjoy writing in for tens of thousands of words.<br />
<br />
Obviously, I'm making this a bit too black and white. I can't totally ignore what a publisher might want to see in a book proposal. If I am really fascinated with the population dynamics of a very rare species of cockroach and have convinced myself that there are more than a couple of other people in the world that want to read 600 pages on the subject, then I have probably strayed too far from the book that the publisher has been waiting for all their life. But ultimately, there's very little point submitting a proposal about ladybirds when what I am really interested in is cockroaches.<br />
<br />
There. I think I have justified to myself the type of proposal that I REALLY WILL start writing tomorrow. My soul will remain largely intact. <a href="http://www.privateislandsonline.com/" target="_blank">Purveyors of small islands</a> need not contact me just yet. But who's to say that the book I want to write isn't the book that buys the island? Or at least a patch of garden to put a two-metre square <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/14902536" target="_blank">writing hut</a> on...<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I don't know why they wouldn't just log in to internet banking and send the six figures electronically. But publishers can be strange creatures.</span><br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-47874601356969815182015-01-27T11:38:00.002+00:002015-01-27T11:38:42.975+00:00Horrible HistoriesSo I'm a bit behind the times, but I've only just discovered the genius that is Horrible Histories. It actually contains quite a lot of science (see below). Word is that it's not <i>completely </i>accurate, but, hell, it's certainly funnier than most comedy programmes on the telly at the moment...<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/D-VMnRQMIb0" width="560"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-47168385822016525462015-01-23T11:12:00.003+00:002015-01-23T11:25:36.374+00:00Sports and periodsSo, a quick word on all the sports and periods stuff that has been bandied about in the last week.<br />
<br />
To recap: British tennis player Heather Watson loses a first round match at the Australian Open, makes a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/30892207" target="_blank">casual remark about "girl things"</a> affecting her performance and now she's broken "<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/30908551" target="_blank">the last taboo"</a> in tennis.<br />
<br />
The BBC followed up with a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/30926244" target="_blank">lengthy discussion</a> of whether periods really affect sporting performance and <i>Runner's World</i> encouraged Paula Radcliffe to <a href="http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/paula-radcliffe-speaks-out-on-the-affect-of-the-menstrual-cycle-on-performance/12833.html" target="_blank">speak out on the subject</a>. Middle distance runner <a href="http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=28247" target="_blank">Jess Judd</a> has been drawn into the debate too, after it emerged she was prescribed drugs to delay her period - with apparently unhelpful side effects - during the 2013 World Championships. <i>The Telegraph</i> chipped in with an <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/australianopen/11363381/Australian-Open-2015-At-last-someone-Britains-Heather-Watson-mentions-the-P-word-in-Melbourne.html" target="_blank">awkward piece</a> that started "Poor Heather Watson" and ended in what some might describe (I wouldn't) as a "joke" about PMT.<br />
<br />
Honestly, I don't whether to laugh or cry. It's as if no one ever considered that having blood streaming out of you, being kept awake at night by stomach cramps and all the other general inconveniences that come with being on your period, might not be the best thing for someone trying to push their body to the limits of human performance.<br />
<br />
So good on Watson for just coming out with it. But she clearly didn't expect her remarks to cause such a stir, and they shouldn't have. Being a modern kind of woman, she probably didn't consider that mentioning a thing that affects 50% of the people on the planet would be such a big deal.<br />
<br />
OBVIOUSLY, the reason most female athletes don't talk about their periods publicly is because they don't want anyone to think they're trying to make excuses. But that doesn't mean female athletes aren't talking about them at all. The idea that Watson's remarks were <a href="http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/paula-radcliffe-speaks-out-on-the-affect-of-the-menstrual-cycle-on-performance/12833.html" target="_blank">"the first time in history"</a> that someone has referenced periods as a reason for a poor performance is plain ridiculous. Er. Perhaps, women just aren't talking about them to the national sports media, because they're afraid someone somewhere will say, "Yes, but can she really put that crappy match/race down to her period? Maybe she just didn't train hard enough." (Unfortunately, I suspect that is what some people will now be saying.)<br />
<br />
So while I think we should talk more openly about periods, I wonder how Jess Judd, for example, will feel about some disappointing performances being so publicly put down to periods. Perhaps periods were a big factor but I'm sure both Judd and Watson will have other thoughts about why things didn't go to plan and they'll have discussed them in private with their coaches.<br />
<br />
Plenty of women in sport ARE talking about periods - to each other and to the teams around them. I know a running coach who expressed some concern about my periods and potential symptoms of anaemia. I've talked about periods numerous times with team mates at my running club. I'm sure I'm not the only one here.<br />
<br />
Honestly, I don't think anyone really knows whether having a period makes you suck at sport. I haven't done a thorough search of the literature, but from what I can tell the studies are quite limited in scope - <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17145688" target="_blank">this one</a>, from 2006, covers basketball, volleyball and martial arts but it's quite common in sports science for studies to be small and for methods to vary from one study to the next, making it difficult to come to solid conclusions.<br />
<br />
Doubtless, there's a psychological aspect to it as well. There have been plenty of times I've got myself into some sort of shape for an important (by my standards) race and then realised it was on a collision course with the first day of my cycle. It puts you off but if, say, <a href="http://mosaicscience.com/story/made-marathon" target="_blank">you've trained for a marathon</a> for six months, well, you just have to get on with it. Which I think is what Watson was saying - "Hey, what can you do?", rather than "Oh, poor me".<br />
<br />
Yes, it would be good if we knew more about the effects on sporting performance and how to safely avoid those effects. But I don't think we need special allowances for period days or anything. We've be dealing with them for, like, millions of years, after all, and we're mostly competing against other people with the same problem.<br />
<br />
It would just be nice, though, if these sorts of statements didn't come as such a shock. By the media's reaction, you'd have thought we were still in an age when ladies were only let on to tennis courts <a href="http://www.saywhydoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/tennis3.jpg" target="_blank">in full length frocks</a> and it would be <a href="http://kathrineswitzer.com/site/wp-content/uploads/SwitzerStory_RunnersWorld.pdf" target="_blank">unthinkable for a woman to try to run a marathon</a>. So can we all just talk about this stuff enough so that periods are no longer a taboo.... but not so much that amazing athletes like Heather Watson and Jess Judd have to be pitied or excused for having a period? No, not "Poor Heather Watson"! Amazing Heather Watson! Who had a bad day and is probably over it now because she's a strong, intelligent woman who works really freaking hard.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://mosaicscience.com/story/blood-speaks" target="_blank">Blood Speaks</a> discusses the stigma attached to menstruation in other parts of the world.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.saltyrunning.com/2013/02/28/salty-confidential-your-menstrual-cycle-and-your-metabolism-unraveled/" target="_blank">Salty Running</a> is home to numerous articles about running, periods and fertility written by women who run.</li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-53310372156271160542014-10-16T11:28:00.001+01:002014-10-16T12:26:26.475+01:00VegetablesThe weather has changed, the days are getting shorter and I won't be able to get to my allotment after work any more. Not without a head torch, anyway. So I thought I'd share a photo of some of the fruits - or vegetables - of this summer's labour. I'm suddenly a big fan of chard. It was easy to grow, mainly because the plant was given to me by a neighbour, but it didn't seem to require much attention once in the ground. The horseradish was found wild among the parsnips - we had grown our own but the wild plant fared better. We managed to have an entire meal out of this lot, though we did have to add some beef brisket to make proper use of that horseradish...<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidI2dxGzvRh4jSmO00H5QsrHiuWpAYCFDAAP4M8ilvsDpx1C1_PxgLII3p-eknrGpxy4ki7a4-kixrB4yAq22cPRBfVbR-hg3ae0zzNqMR3dwqe65THiRpRnGAsB49I25n8YR_dwvn9IXi/s1600/2014-09-27+14.18.46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidI2dxGzvRh4jSmO00H5QsrHiuWpAYCFDAAP4M8ilvsDpx1C1_PxgLII3p-eknrGpxy4ki7a4-kixrB4yAq22cPRBfVbR-hg3ae0zzNqMR3dwqe65THiRpRnGAsB49I25n8YR_dwvn9IXi/s1600/2014-09-27+14.18.46.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-22561529571937097172014-09-17T17:10:00.000+01:002014-09-17T18:37:13.102+01:00The value of editingI just remembered that at primary school I tried to put on a play of <i>The Little Mermaid</i>. This followed on from a number of successful productions that had received critical acclaim from teachers and classmates alike. A few of us were collaborating regularly as writers, producers and actors, and now we were ready for the big time.<br />
<br />
(Yes, I was precocious. I also wrote three books at primary school, one of which I typed up, illustrated and sold to my friends' parents for £1 a go. But don't worry, by the time I got to the third year of secondary school, I'd had every last ounce of confidence knocked out of me by acne and the bleep test (<a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/262.html" target="_blank">ironic</a>).)<br />
<br />
Until <i>The Little Mermaid</i>, each of our plays had been short, carefully scripted and well-rehearsed. There was one that I remember as a kind of parable about stealing and another that involved making giant, cardboard dinosaur heads. In hindsight, I probably should have made a few cuts to the lengthy dinosaurs-eating-each-other scene in the latter, but I think it may have been there to illustrate a point about the futility of existence...<br />
<br />
<i>The Little Mermaid </i>was different. It was an adaptation of the popular Disney film by the same name, featuring all the same characters, the exact same script and an approximately similar running time (83 min). We were obviously working to a much tighter budget than Disney, which resulted in several of our mums being driven up the wall by our endless pursuit of silver milk bottle tops for the making of mermaid scales.<br />
<br />
Somehow, I had taken charge of this epic production and it is still a source of embarrassment to me that as a year four junior, I did not recognise the value of a good edit. Possibly I hadn't even heard of editing. Had I done so, I swear that play would have been at least 75 minutes shorter. I can distinctly remember standing in the school playground trying to direct another shambolic rehearsal that never progressed beyond the first 15 minutes of the "script" (which was largely in our heads), while distracted nine-year-olds snuck off for games of "horses". The thought did flit through my mind that we might not be ready, but as the performance drew closer, there seemed to be no question that it must go ahead.<br />
<br />
When the curtains opened (metaphorically, because our theatre was the void of the school sports hall), we must have been intending on performing some of the play completely unrehearsed, banking on the fact that all of us were so familiar with the content of the film that we would be able to wing it. I was playing <a href="http://squackle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/clipsebsmile.gif" target="_blank">Sebastian the crab</a>, as well as a number of other characters that I can't recall now. I feel so sorry for everyone involved but especially the teachers, who were not aware of the running time, the number of costume changes or the fact that at some points we would be wearing bikinis. Oh god.<br />
<br />
As it was, the 83 minutes never played out in full because, fairly quickly, a teacher decided enough was enough and called a halt to it. The experience must have been pretty mortifying because I think that was the last time I ever acted in anything. With the exception of a dance production about electrical circuits penned by our headmaster, in which I was assigned the minor role of A Wire and made to tiptoe about to music from <i>The Nutcracker</i>. (This was a far less distressing role than the one selected for my best friend, Sarah, who played The Bulb.)<br />
<br />
Anyway, having shared this traumatic episode with you, I feel that there is at least something we can all learn from it about the value of editing. Which is that editing is crucial and often just as crucial - particularly when you are ripping off an entire Disney film for a school play - as the writing process itself.<br />
<br />
Also, any intended philosophical point to a scene about dinosaurs eating other dinosaurs is probably going to be lost on nine-year-olds, so you should edit accordingly.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-83179877946775035212014-09-05T14:11:00.000+01:002014-09-08T10:35:35.732+01:00Journal poemsWhilst browsing the contents of a recent issue of the <i>Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research </i>(funtimes!) I came across an article entitled "<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/.VAWQL_ldU9s#.VAmsMvldU9s" target="_blank">Poem: On Sustainability</a>". Assuming it wouldn't be an actual poem, I clicked on it. Turns out the <i>Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research</i> publishes poems. Or at least this one:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sustainability, an age-old concept,<br />
A complex, daunting puzzle;<br />
Many questions beg for answers -<br />
Sustainable for whom? For how long?<br />
At what rate?<br />
Static or dynamic?<br />
Economy, environment, population,<br />
Taste and preferences, the resource base -<br />
All undergo change;<br />
Science, innovation, new thinking<br />
Sprout, spread, proliferate, march on;<br />
As the poet put it, 'Old order changeth<br />
Yielding place to new' -<br />
Change is the only constant!<br />
Take GNP for instance -<br />
At some point, secular stagnation sets in.<br />
Sustainability, like derived demand, is<br />
A function of exogenous factors,<br />
Not a stand-alone;<br />
<i>Ceteris Paribus</i>, but other things<br />
Seldom remain the same!<br />
Sustainability, in reality<br />
Is tantalizing, though elusive -<br />
A noble goal, nonetheless,<br />
Always worth pursuing!</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Chennat Gopalakrishnan </blockquote>
There was some <a href="https://twitter.com/jonWturney/status/506744967935852544" target="_blank">disagreement on Twitter</a> over whether this could actually be considered a poem or not. But people also argue about whether a <a href="http://www.damienhirst.com/mother-and-child-divided-1" target="_blank">cow in formaldehyde</a> or <a href="http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/tracey_emin_my_bed.htm" target="_blank">a messy bed</a> is really "art". So...<br />
<br />
Anyway, this conversation brought to light a few other examples, so should anyone wish to delve into the strange world of journal poetry, here are some links. Knock yourself out.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo00800a036" target="_blank">Comparative mobility of halogens in reactions of dihalobenzenes with potassium amide in ammonia</a> by Joseph F. Bunnett and Francis J. Kearley Jr.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1984PASAu...5..566S&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf" target="_blank">The detection of shocked CO emission from G333.6-0.2</a> by J.W.V. Storey<br />
<br />
<a href="http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/article.aspx?articleid=1885100" target="_blank">CT Scan</a> by Elaine Greensmith Jordan (and <a href="http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/collection.aspx?categoryid=9188" target="_blank">other gems</a> from CHEST Journal's Pectoriloquy section)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2659993/" target="_blank">The Public Health Call</a> by Gabriel Scally (written as a folk song, but works as a poem)<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-54769377756792529942014-04-08T10:17:00.000+01:002014-04-22T13:10:43.311+01:0026.2<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I recently published <a href="http://mosaicscience.com/story/made-marathon" target="_blank">this piece</a> for Mosaic magazine. It’s about what happened to me in the run-up to
<a href="http://www.brightonmarathon.co.uk/" target="_blank">Brighton Marathon</a>, as I tried to get to grips with my own limitations as a
human being and a runner, and with the limitations of science to explain them.
I want to say a little bit about what I was trying to do with this story and
how that influenced the way I wrote it. In writing this story, little pieces of my life became tangled
up in the process of my research and my writing. It’s not an overstatement to
say that it has changed the way I think about running, about writing and about
my life.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9rhrR34YJY-PfD9rW1nNkvW1zE9iqKZMtWPYMUlQv_pN5LmHa6xaGRJ_eJCc45KviwPJ92wlOE0TS0UcDZ2K-tccCpatzVAb3_mKw-LIQxFPwkQuSvo5e_NQ5uNITMlJvwC7j8jKzsc9/s1600/Hayley_running_Goldblatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9rhrR34YJY-PfD9rW1nNkvW1zE9iqKZMtWPYMUlQv_pN5LmHa6xaGRJ_eJCc45KviwPJ92wlOE0TS0UcDZ2K-tccCpatzVAb3_mKw-LIQxFPwkQuSvo5e_NQ5uNITMlJvwC7j8jKzsc9/s1600/Hayley_running_Goldblatt.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
It was never my intention to write a straightforward explainer on
the science behind marathon running. Yes, I wanted to try to understand what
makes a good marathon runner. Yes, I wanted to explore what genetics and
physiology and biomechanics and psychology can tell us about what’s going on in
the body of someone who is training for a marathon - me. But it was always clear to me that there
were going to be no easy answers and the more I looked into the research and
the more I talked to experts, the more complex the picture became. I think,
actually, people often forget that science doesn't have all the answers. Sometimes
answers take years or decades to emerge and sometimes they’re not the answers
we want to hear. I tried to bring a sense of this to my writing. It wasn't a
piece that was saying: science is brilliant because it’s telling us this, and
this. It was a piece that was saying: science is difficult and
confusing and frustrating, but hey, so is life.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
I also wanted to present the
people involved in science in a different light to the one we often see them in.
I wanted to show them not as names on a list of study authors but as real
people with their own characters and opinions. I could be criticised for
thinking too much about people and stories, and not enough about the science. But for me it wasn't about creating some false balance of expert viewpoints. In an area as complicated as this, you can never really speak to
enough scientists or read enough papers – and I did read a lot of papers – to
reach a reliable consensus. And anyway, what a boring read such a story would make
for. What I tried to do was give the reader a sense of the complexities
scientists are dealing with and how they feel about them. By interacting as one
human to another, I wanted to make people relate, in their own ways, to the
questions as I was asking of them.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
Finally, I tried to be
honest about my own difficulties and confusion and frustration in understanding
the science, as well as about everything that was going on in my own life at
the same time, as I prepared to run my marathon. In truth, I'm a little
uncomfortable with how honest I ended up being, but anything else would have felt
wrong. I wrote months of diary entries. If I visited a lab or talked to a
scientist I would make sure I sat down that evening to collect my thoughts on
the meeting. If there was something I wanted to remember about my run on any
particular day, I would write that down too. As I progressed through my
research and my training, these entries came more easily to me and I found I
was writing for myself as much as the magazine. What is included in the final
story is just a fraction of what exists. Some of it has changed very little in
the editing process, so it’s as raw as when it happened to me. In other parts,
I’ve had to cut chunks of text or insert explanations, but everything that’s
there actually happened and I'm pleased with the more intimate, more honest
story that this way of writing has led me to tell.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
In some ways, this was
the easiest story I’ve ever written. In others, it was the hardest. 7,000 words
– the longest single piece I’ve ever written – fell onto the page in a matter
of two or three days, but they were all the result of long conversations, long
hours spent reading or just thinking, long runs and, although no blood was
shed, real sweat and tears. It was an epic task. And at the same time I was
going through a really hard time in my personal life. I didn't want to talk
about that too much in the story, but the story itself was personal so it was
impossible to ignore completely, and there was a sense in which writing about
it helped.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, enough. I'm
finishing with one diary entry I really wanted to include, but that didn't fit anywhere in the story. It’s just a personal anecdote about running and it’s
exactly as I wrote it when it happened – no editing – but I like the way I contrasted
all the drudge and the hardship of training for a marathon with the feelings of
purpose and satisfaction. There’s absolutely no science in it, but reading it
again today, it made me wonder whether maybe doing science can be a bit like this too.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote>
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">“On New Year’s Day, having slept - to the disbelief of
[Mr Hayley] - through our Spanish neighbour’s noisy party, I rise at 10am, still full
of sherry trifle, and start rummaging through drawers, searching out running
tights and top. There’s no hangover to appease. On account of the 14-week
countdown to marathon day, I celebrated with a sip of cava and a single gin and
tonic. However, there’s still a soaking to be had.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">As I pad gently to my warm-up spot behind our block of
flats, rain is already finding its way into my barely broken-in trainers. At
least three or four times on my 15k plod, they fill with water as I trip
through a puddle. Usually on an easy-paced run like this, I’d stick to grass,
but today Durdham Downs is so soggy that I'm forced to tread the pavements.
Tarmac may be more tiring on my calves and thighs but at least it provides
something more than sludge for my feet to push against.</span></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">At some point on the run, I
notice that I can hardly feel my legs and yet, going by my watch, I appear to
be striding along at a decent enough pace. I don’t battle or grind against the
wind and rain. I just endure it. And keep on. Still, by the time I reach the
familiar flat of Sefton Park Road, around 14k, the cold has seeped into my very
bones and my pace is tempered by the weight of all the water my clothes are
holding. In the last 500m, I pass a yellow-clad man whose only discernible
features in the pouring rain are a balding head and a smile. He sees my plight
and shouts “Happy New Year!”. Cheered infinitely by this small act of goodwill
I quicken my pace just enough to make the last kilometre my fastest and return
home to stretch and pack my trainers with newspaper. The steaming hot shower
and chicken pie that follow are simple but sublime reward.”</span></i></blockquote>
Oh, and also, if you liked this post or the story itself, please direct your enthusiasm at <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/hayley-runs-brighton" target="_blank">Arthritis Research UK</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3gcuQyEBMQj1VaiZDTVDnUocWtWAj1Rx6npx31i7_Kq9PADVMvMTW_lMgLqobs43m6xru2DbXn6Se_r0WxdsnqRyB9cpTV55bfoEqh6Oa4JmX3xQz2v3vsdYRy2p4jgSm4QRW1NhAYbxF/s1600/Running_shoes_Goldblatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3gcuQyEBMQj1VaiZDTVDnUocWtWAj1Rx6npx31i7_Kq9PADVMvMTW_lMgLqobs43m6xru2DbXn6Se_r0WxdsnqRyB9cpTV55bfoEqh6Oa4JmX3xQz2v3vsdYRy2p4jgSm4QRW1NhAYbxF/s1600/Running_shoes_Goldblatt.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Images by <a href="http://www.lydiagoldblatt.com/" target="_blank">Lydia Goldblatt</a>, originally for <a href="http://mosaicscience.com/" target="_blank">Mosaic</a> magazine.</i></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-41739158102135984112014-04-02T10:03:00.000+01:002014-04-02T10:04:35.410+01:00Most of what I know about writing..."Most of what I know about writing I've learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate - and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? ... How much should I be aware of the world outside, and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities, and when should I start doubting myself?"<br />
<br />
Haruki Murakami, <i>What I Talk About When I Talk About Running</i>, p81-82<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-29655855806313635072014-02-24T12:31:00.002+00:002014-02-24T12:52:44.439+00:00The one-handed writerI'm going to keep this short because it's going to take me twice as long as it usually would to type it. After a weekend of excruciating pain and two hospital visits, I'm now a writer in the frustrating position of having only one hand to type with. I haven't lost the other one, but, for the moment at least, it amounts to the same thing.<br />
<br />
An X-ray revealed no fracture. A series of movement-based tests found no nerve damage. But putting on a soft woollen glove feels like torture and Mr Hayley is currently having to tie my hair up for me, help me get my jeans on and off, and cut up my food. I've been given codeine for the pain but I don't want to take it because side effects include drowsiness and confusion. The current thinking is that I have some sort of damage to a tendon in my hand brought on by too much typing.<br />
<br />
The solution: don't do any typing. I don't think the doctor understood my occupation.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, I've been told I have to use my arms more when I'm typing, rather than relying solely on my fingers to do the work... And to modify my working situation through solutions that I'm supposed to locate myself via Google. But mainly, do as little typing as possible. Not an option when you have tens of thousands of words in articles to submit in the next few weeks. And a 60,000 word book due later this year. OH, AND YOU HAVE TO LOOK UP HOME-TREATMENT SOLUTIONS FOR TYPING INJURIES ON THE INTERNET.<br />
<br />
So my plan for now is to get back to the basics of writing - with a pen, using my right hand (thankfully, my "dominant" hand, as the doctor put it). This way I only have to type up an article (one-handed) once everything's researched, written and self-edited. If anyone has any more helpful suggestions, please do tell.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-41879407630897936442014-01-31T14:17:00.001+00:002014-01-31T14:19:21.989+00:00Calling occupants...My brilliant friend <a href="http://smallworldanimations.com/" target="_blank">Claire </a>did the illustrations for <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-big-questions.html" target="_blank">our book</a>. She kindly gave me one of the original sketches as a present. It turned out very differently in the published book (I think the text was a problem for foreign translations) but I secretly prefer this one. Mainly because of the Klaatu connection...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0xXVieUJZDJSp54Av0r8UFB3iEOZ5gFQoSHEyHuftuBOybH0SVnnenJ9nSGSmZgAmGrEecJVsOcwNc_Lha1F9sB9NbOYCksY6tx3MFOH5hbKQbTy6PmwDao7WohQlN4OUE-3uJSyUXw7/s1600/2014-01-31+14.54.02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0xXVieUJZDJSp54Av0r8UFB3iEOZ5gFQoSHEyHuftuBOybH0SVnnenJ9nSGSmZgAmGrEecJVsOcwNc_Lha1F9sB9NbOYCksY6tx3MFOH5hbKQbTy6PmwDao7WohQlN4OUE-3uJSyUXw7/s1600/2014-01-31+14.54.02.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
And here's the music to go with it...<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="80" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:36HRTDeAKnKnZ76ykSBtNk" width="250"></iframe>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-43857848315529971862014-01-30T12:14:00.001+00:002014-01-30T12:15:26.501+00:00How to Survive a PlagueForget Dallas Buyers Club - and Matthew McConaughey's astonishing weight loss - for a minute. I haven't seen it yet. It's probably very good. But there's another Oscar-nominated film about HIV/AIDS that everyone should see. I saw it last night at (newly community-owned) <a href="http://www.cubecinema.com/cubewebsite/" target="_blank">Cube Microplex</a> and I'm still thinking about it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_survive_a_plague/" target="_blank">How to Survive a Plague</a> (2012) may sound like a zombie movie, but it's actually an incredibly moving and important documentary about HIV/AIDS activists' tireless efforts during the 80s and 90s to obtain the drugs that would ultimately keep them alive.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wwhFS1mUaVY" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
The film is pieced together, and brilliantly edited, from footage of activist meetings and demos, and news coverage. I'm ashamed to say that before watching it, I didn't know anything about the influence that ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) and TAG (Treatment Action Group) had on the development of the HIV/AIDS treatments that are available today. I'm glad I now know a little more. It's the most stunning example of what citizens can achieve by taking the principles and processes of science into their own hands. Activists used every resource available to them to learn about the drug development process, and to make it better. They took their fight to politicians and pharmaceutical companies and forced them to give them what they needed. <br />
<br />
I would encourage everyone to see this film. It's not a feel good film. In parts, it's very difficult to watch. In one demonstration, activists carry the ashes of their loved ones to the White House and cast them on the lawn. Many of the activists died before the drugs that could have saved them became available. But director David France creates a beautiful balance of light and dark, contrasting harrowing hospital and funeral scenes with footage of family birthdays and activists stretching a giant condom over the home of senator Jesse Helms. Most of all, though, it's a story that needs to be told. Watch Dallas Buyers Club but also watch this.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-79952791774802322052014-01-22T16:03:00.001+00:002014-01-22T17:15:09.073+00:00The parkrun paperI've always thought someone should write a scientific paper on parkrun. Ever since I attended my first parkrun event at <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/ashton-court/" target="_blank">Ashton Court</a>. Now someone has.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/08/15/pubmed.fdt082.full.pdf?keytype=ref&ijkey=SNORR9uZcgUPWXg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoT636E5a_Q4hQtg13RNljr-CRFqsGI_B86ufIHc_QcHaIFksuHCsj4xqSQMcVjIHyinQTU77rlk1PZ9aqmLcr6EihtYNxji_PsPzqn6KbugQhas7uq82ORVtsC3zbDToVo49h3FiA1XPQ/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-22+14.43.31.png" height="218" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/08/15/pubmed.fdt082.full.pdf?keytype=ref&ijkey=SNORR9uZcgUPWXg" target="_blank">parkrun paper in Journal of Public Health</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
parkrun, the community-managed 5k running event that's been spreading to parks all over the UK, is perfectly set up for a scientific study. You have your participants (runners), your intervention (running) and your data (oodles of it, all neatly saved on the parkrun website). The data bit is what makes it really useful, especially as it's all open access. Unlike on <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/" target="_blank">Garmin Connect </a>or <a href="http://www.strava.com/" target="_blank">Strava</a>, where the data is all locked away behind runners' individual privacy settings, anyone can look up <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/athleteresultshistory/?athleteNumber=237934" target="_blank">my parkrun stats</a>. Runners' 5k times are posted every Saturday after the event, so it's pretty straightforward to chart progress over the course of, say, a year.<br />
<br />
My own observations at the two parkruns in Bristol have led me to wonder: are these events having a genuine impact on people's health and general well-being? Aside from any improvements in fitness, there are the social aspects, the psychological benefits of being outdoors, etc etc. Do these things amount to a better quality of life for all? Or is parkrun only benefiting middle class people who already do enough exercise anyway? Well, the authors of this new paper seem to have had a good stab at addressing some of these questions, although I think it's important not to overstate the results.<br />
<br />
In essence, yes, there seem to be genuine health and fitness benefits associated with regular parkrun attendance - particularly for people who might have been a bit out of shape to begin with. (It's worth <a href="http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/08/15/pubmed.fdt082.full.pdf?keytype=ref&ijkey=SNORR9uZcgUPWXg" target="_blank">reading the paper</a>, which is not too technical, if you want the finer details). The results are based on improvements in parkrun participants' 5k times and age-graded scores, combined with answers to some simple questions about the perceived impact of parkrun on their health. I did note, though, that the researchers used each runner's first parkrun as an indicator of their "before" fitness. I wonder whether this overstates the difference between "before" and "after" as I would imagine most people - especially if they have never run in anything resembling a race before - would not go flat out at their first attempt. parkrun happens every week so I'd suggest someone's first run is just about testing the water and finding out if they want to do it again.<br />
<br />
Then there's the question about who benefits. The study group is not a random sample of parkrunners - they're people who opted in after reading email newsletters, Twitter alerts, and so on. Arguably not a representative sample, since we don't know whether certain runners are more likely to sign up for a scientific study. For instance, would people who have benefited more from parkrun be more likely to sign up because they are super-interested and keep on top of all their parkrun emails? Still, let's look at the data available. Okay, so women and older people are well-represented, which is great, because other surveys show these groups are less active. However, people of low socioeconomic status are under-represented. The authors suggest two reasons for this: either parkrun doesn't attract people of low socioeconomic status, or it hasn't spread far enough yet, geographically, to reach these groups. (Given that parkruns tend to be based in large areas of green space, there's reason suspect people living in inner city areas can't get to them as easily or don't want to bother.)<br />
<br />
I'm absolutely sure parkrun has real benefits for some people and I think those at parkrun HQ have got to be applauded for the concept, especially the community-mindedness, which I love. On the other hand, it's a shame if, as the authors of this study suggest, parkrun is "contributing to increased health inequalities in some areas"... It's a free event. If anything, it should be a means to *addressing* health inequalities. Something to think about. Anyway, I'd certainly be interested to see more research on parkrun and public health, tapping into that wealth of data they have and thinking about some of these problems in more depth.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-22193243566603299942013-09-04T13:27:00.000+01:002013-09-04T13:28:41.820+01:00Feeding and caring for freelancersIt must be hard living with a freelance writer.<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: I was thinking of making risotto for dinner. What do you reckon?<br />
<br />
Me: Hmmm?<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: Can you just stop looking at that for a minute? I'm making a risotto. What do you want in it?<br />
<br />
Me: Did you know humans can regenerate their fingers?<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: [silence]<silence></silence><br />
<br />
Me (clicking on new link): Huh! No way!<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: Right, I'm making this risotto. Did you post those forms for our passports?<br />
<br />
Me: What? Oh no, sorry, I still had that script to write about serotonin. Actually, that was really interesting because...<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: But we live opposite a postbox!<br />
<br />
Me: Can you stop talking for a bit? I'm trying to finish this article.<br />
<br />
<i>1 hour later</i><br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: Are you going to come and eat this risotto?<br />
<br />
Me (above sound of furious typing): Yep, just a minute.<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: It's getting cooooold!<br />
<br />
<i>5 mins later</i><br />
<br />
Me: Sorry, I just had to get that done while it was in my head. This looks good. Wow, I'm hungry.<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: Did you have lunch today?<br />
<br />
Me: Er, did I? Um... Did you put any fresh basil in this?<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: No...<br />
<br />
Me: What about cheese?<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: Well...<br />
<br />
Me: What's in it then? Just rice and butternut squash and stock?<br />
<br />
Mr Hayley: And garlic.<br />
<br />
Me: Why didn't you ask me? You know I make the best risottos.<br />
<br />
While this is a characterisation, it's a pretty accurate one. Dear me, I'm awful. Carers of freelancers need some sort of support society of their own.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-842473363563210932013-08-28T10:21:00.003+01:002013-08-28T10:22:49.155+01:00The Big QuestionsQuestions. Questions, questions, questions. We ask ourselves questions all day long. Where did I put my car keys? (The same place I always put them, except I haven't looked hard enough.) When am I going to do the washing? (Tomorrow. Always tomorrow.) Shall I go to the Vietnamese supermarket and pick up all the ingredients for this delicious-looking noodle recipe? (No. I'm too hungry. I'll just make the same boring pasta dish I've already made twice in the last week.) When am I going to stop messing about on this blog and start preparing for the interview I've got to do in an hour? (Argh!)<br />
<br />
You probably have more important questions on your mind. Scientists definitely do. Here are some of them, on the cover of the book (BOOK!) that I recently wrote with <a href="https://twitter.com/ayasawada" target="_blank">Mun Keat Looi</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/skyponderer" target="_blank">Colin Stuart</a>:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIewYLgOusBhRxuuqcZtlW55GPYwCswHWlwuWkaakT1nzbGpAZn9EwQIWFgEuFB_Qx73LvBlI3pird7hTuQlozAk0Vi3gr8bgRsRbcOxXSmhUD8z1dFmlxW3u5SdW5lVNl1ql7pZ1RZQ6Z/s1600/Aug2013_Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIewYLgOusBhRxuuqcZtlW55GPYwCswHWlwuWkaakT1nzbGpAZn9EwQIWFgEuFB_Qx73LvBlI3pird7hTuQlozAk0Vi3gr8bgRsRbcOxXSmhUD8z1dFmlxW3u5SdW5lVNl1ql7pZ1RZQ6Z/s320/Aug2013_Book.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know what you're thinking. "Wow, Hayley has very manly hands." They're Mun Keat's.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yay! Book!<br />
<br />
I'm excited (and terrified) because it's the first book project I've worked on where I haven't been "just" editing or one of about 50 other authors. This is actually written by us - the three of us. And it was a total blast. I think I must have had some of the most existential conversations anyone has ever had over Skype while writing this book. There were a lot of in-jokes about robot butlers. And one particularly memorable back and forth about a bestiality reference... see chapter six.<br />
<br />
Anyway, you can buy it "in all good book shops" from 12th September - or <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Questions-Science-Keat-Looi/dp/0233003959" target="_blank">pre-order on Amazon</a> now. Thanks to everyone at Carlton and at Watson, Little, for their help. And to <a href="http://smallworldanimations.com/" target="_blank">Claire</a> for the wonderfully playful illustrations. Worth buying just for those. I mean, you should buy it anyway. But the illustrations are *really* good.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-18815766641447338412013-06-11T11:16:00.003+01:002013-06-11T11:18:13.298+01:00The preserve of professionals?<a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-007-4587-2_7#page-1" target="_blank">On citizen science, Muki Haklay writes</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...by definition, citizen science can only exist in a world in which science is socially constructed as the preserve of professional scientists in academic institutions and industry because, otherwise, any person who is involved in a scientific project would simply be considered a contributor and, potentially, a scientist. ...[U]ntil the late 19th century, science was mainly developed by people who had additional sources of employment that allowed them to spend time on data collection and analysis. Famously, Charles Darwin joined the Beagle voyage, not as a professional naturalist but as a companion to Captain FitzRoy. Thus, in that era, almost all science was citizen science albeit mostly by affluent gentlemen and gentlewomen scientists."</blockquote>
It's an interesting point. What other elements of our society and culture do we consider the preserve of professionals? Am I a citizen athlete, citizen chef or citizen seamstress?<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-82933163146092960432013-05-02T15:13:00.001+01:002013-05-02T15:16:02.404+01:00Trust and citizen scienceAs communicators of science, we often talk about "trust" in scientists. Would the average member of "the public" trust a scientist to tell the truth - any more they would, say, a journalist, or a politician? The <a href="http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Polls/Feb2013_Trust_Topline.PDF" target="_blank">Ipsos MORI Trust Poll</a> gives us an answer to this question. 83% would trust a scientist to tell the truth. Wow, trust in scientists is second only to doctors and teachers! Journalists (21%) and politicians (18%), meanwhile, languish at the bottom of the list.<br />
<br />
(For the record, I think the idea of trusting someone to tell you the truth is a weird concept. The truth about what? Their expenses? Where all the bourbon biscuits went?)<br />
<br />
Anyway, I've been doing some research on citizen science for a report I'm writing and have noticed a lot of references to trust cropping up. While the average member of the public supposedly places a lot of "trust" in scientists (I wonder if those who actually know any scientists score lower or higher...), it doesn't seem to work the other way. Scientists don't have much faith in members of the public. Or at least... even if they would trust them to own up to eating all the biscuits, they wouldn't trust them to do anything resembling scientific research.<br />
<br />
Citizen science projects - like the <a href="http://chickencoopstakeout.wordpress.com/science-questions/" target="_blank">Great Chicken Coop Stakeout</a> or the <a href="http://sabap2.adu.org.za/" target="_blank">South African Bird Atlas Project</a> - use volunteers, sometimes on a mass scale, to carry out scientific surveys and monitoring. From what I've read, some scientists are skeptical about the quality of data emerging from these type of projects. This mistrust extends to policymakers, who are reluctant to use the data on the presumption that it is somehow faulty or unreliable. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://theconversation.com/citizen-science-can-produce-reliable-data-10815#comments" target="_blank">Here's a post</a> by John Gollan, a research fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney in which he explains that far from being of poor quality, data collected by citizen scientists is of similar quality to data collected by scientists and on occasion better.<br />
<br />
The comments section provides food for thought. From Les McNamara:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It is odd that a society can train volunteers to reliably perform first
aid, fight fires and provide care to needy and vulnerable people, but
that same society can't trust volunteers to count birds. Scientific
snobbery?"</blockquote>
<br />
Clearly all scientists do not hold the same view - Les is a researcher himself. But why mistrust data collected by volunteers, who after all are just PEOPLE. Like scientists, remember? We are all PEOPLE with the same foibles. In general, volunteers taking part in citizen science projects are not being asked to follow complex scientific protocols, so why should they be expected to make mistakes? If a project is well-designed in the first place (most are designed by scientists themselves) and the volunteers are properly briefed, the risk of bias should be the same as for any ol' science project. Here's Gollan:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It should not be a case of blaming the citizens. The scientist behind
such programs should have checks in place – citizen science project or
otherwise!"</blockquote>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-10260454974460706052013-04-30T15:58:00.001+01:002013-07-29T17:01:36.008+01:00An attempt to run a marathon using SCIENCE: part XIISo after running a marathon you get really lazy. Too lazy to do the washing up, or walk down the stairs at your flat to put the recycling out, or change out of your pyjamas before the postman arrives... Your kitchen sink slowly disappears under a pile of unwashed mugs used to eat chocolate gateau out of and you have to force your way through mountains of unrecycled cardboard to get to the bathroom. When you can be bothered. So, yeah, definitely too lazy to write blog posts.<br />
<br />
I'm exaggerating a teeny bit. Something like that happened for a couple of days and then, lo and behold, the SUN came out! And I had my trainers back on in a flash. The mental recovery was probably harder - my brain went into a flap for about a week afterwards, wondering what it was supposed to focus on after all the training and menu plans came to an end, and all the niggles and sniffles that threatened to ruin the race magically disappeared. Then there was the Boston Marathon thing, which felt strange and horrible while I still had my own marathon in my legs.<br />
<br />
Anyway, here's a picture of me running a marathon:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-nh9zmudsOYFjvzty_7CD-66W6v7ysPRRGQzywBPSXAbOfMbfMbniN_p2AAqUxFsjesx96tMlbUXv0f_Cyua5fBd2lteHhyMUJC44iqihhNTjgI7cj_bjuzEg_uWaIrGxMLkd0KO-rHB/s1600/DSC_9346_400px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-nh9zmudsOYFjvzty_7CD-66W6v7ysPRRGQzywBPSXAbOfMbfMbniN_p2AAqUxFsjesx96tMlbUXv0f_Cyua5fBd2lteHhyMUJC44iqihhNTjgI7cj_bjuzEg_uWaIrGxMLkd0KO-rHB/s320/DSC_9346_400px.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I know! I even look like I'm enjoying it!<br />
<br />
I won't bore you with the details of the race. Suffice to say it was rather hillier than expected - <a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/gb/fernhill-heath-eng/worcester-marathon-route-158199369" target="_blank">a two-lap course that inflicted some severe psychological torture</a> between 20-30k, when all the hills from the first lap reared their ugly heads for the second time around. On reflection, a time of 4:02 was respectable and, hey, I have this nice picture that will no doubt lead me to remember it as being all lovely and smiley and even repeatable in the not-too-distant future... <br />
<br />
So what have I learnt? Has SCIENCE taught me anything about running a marathon? Did it help?<br />
<br />
I guess I should really have run a marathon *without* the SCIENCE first... as a control. But that would have made for an equally poor experiment. I think you learn so much by doing all the training and running the marathon, that a second marathon will always be easier anyway, no matter how much expertise you throw at it. For example, next time (ha!) I would be much more careful about my <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using.html" target="_blank">tapering</a> - not just cutting down on the mileage for the couple of weeks before the race, but avoiding *anything* untested. (I stupidly had a go at some 100m relay reps the Wednesday before - "it's so short it couldn't possibly hurt!" - not thinking anything of it until I woke up the next day, three days before race day, with some very tired thighs). There was also a lot of trial and error that went into planning my pre-race meals. Not particularly scientific either, just seeing what would get me up in the morning feeling energised rather than sluggish. (Brown rice rather than pasta, if anyone's interested, but that's just me.)<br />
<br />
On the subject of nutrition though, I do think that <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using_20.html" target="_blank">reading some of the literature on carbohydrate storage and "the wall"</a> helped. Otherwise, I think I would have been pretty skeptical about using energy gels. Sports drinks, I've concluded, are largely useless in the context that they are used by most people. But a marathon is a special case. You simply can't run on empty. So I spent a long time researching energy gels and tried out everything I intended to use on training runs before the race. As a result, I never hit the wall... and managed to avoid throwing up on a grass verge as I saw several runners doing.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using.html" target="_blank">High intensity interval training</a> at the track has also helped me increase my pace. As coaches keep telling me, there's plenty of evidence for this type of training improving your speed endurance, but I'm not sure whether the effect has been largely physiological or psychological. (I *believe* I can run faster, so I do?) And I reckon the major benefit has been over 5k and 10k rather than longer distances. Still, who knows? It might have taken me 10 hours to finish the thing without all that HIIT.<br />
<br />
There were other aspects of endurance running and training that were not particularly well studied. I remain unconvinced by evidence on <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using.html" target="_blank">yoga</a>, <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using_27.html" target="_blank">cross-training</a> and <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using_10.html" target="_blank">stretching</a>, for example. The problem is that there are just so many variables... Every study tries something different - different exercises, at different frequencies, with people of differing abilities. It becomes impossible to make comparisons. And most studies are small. With runners so stuck in their ways, convincing more to take part in scientific studies is a challenge because it means messing with their precious training regimes.<br />
<br />
I think there's an important lesson to be learned from all this. You can't rely on science to tell you what to do. It doesn't have an answer for everything - well, not yet. People have been running marathons for a long time. People who run them and people who train other people to run them know what it takes, even if they haven't tested it on hundreds of people and published it in a scientific journal. And everyone is different. What worked for me almost certainly won't work for everyone else trying to run a marathon. On the other hand, you can save yourself a lot of money and wasted energy by being skeptical and looking up the evidence that is available (or not available, in many cases). If someone tells you to wrap your feet in newspaper and stand on your head for half an hour every morning to cure your <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using_24.html" target="_blank">plantar fasciitis</a>, try putting it into <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=wrapping+feet+in+newspaper+plantar+fasciitis" target="_blank">PubMed</a> before you do it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNf87NYGPLB7hfSgujcqbTGaF7JRtfOjeK6p2pbFo6jqw_Dfn_E2Iz9u5FxgAhkiI1e3i2AUVDHfo6Kbklp3TuL_Ybe5Nt5CgXquFAcn5SzxLAqDxxCJPtOxj9dbyVF3AD4-LbnnORqLcP/s1600/GarminGraph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNf87NYGPLB7hfSgujcqbTGaF7JRtfOjeK6p2pbFo6jqw_Dfn_E2Iz9u5FxgAhkiI1e3i2AUVDHfo6Kbklp3TuL_Ybe5Nt5CgXquFAcn5SzxLAqDxxCJPtOxj9dbyVF3AD4-LbnnORqLcP/s400/GarminGraph.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh dear - look what happened over that second lot of hills!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-71249569914061576112013-04-06T19:09:00.001+01:002013-04-06T19:27:17.002+01:00An attempt to run a marathon using SCIENCE: part XIThe important business of the day: WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR? Currently, it could be either of the following two outfits...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gReOhdia8DCRnuTrYjj48aVrnbKoHuslqclL7DeZGmmwKLnyC9XrqJASJLvfsvSvrKmNzpJ26X-bw5wxOwbF0EQ8Jwp1HH2Sb0V11_Iia-8jvZx-QFnFRYlitO8vZZD-yVjoDuPASkBu/s1600/2012_04_06_Kit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gReOhdia8DCRnuTrYjj48aVrnbKoHuslqclL7DeZGmmwKLnyC9XrqJASJLvfsvSvrKmNzpJ26X-bw5wxOwbF0EQ8Jwp1HH2Sb0V11_Iia-8jvZx-QFnFRYlitO8vZZD-yVjoDuPASkBu/s400/2012_04_06_Kit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
It's April and due to the Great British Weather there's no telling whether we'll have sunshine or snow next weekend, but if like me you're marathoning for the first time this month, I have one piece of advice: DO NOT run in something you haven't tested out beforehand. Don't even think about it. I made that mistake in a race once before, so this time I've tested two new pairs of shorts in near-freezing conditions, just in case we have warm weather on the day. Since we've had few opportunities for warm weather training, temperature will unfortunately be a worry if it heats up in the next week... but at least I won't get caught out by chafing or embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions.<br />
<br />
As far as the SCIENCE goes, I'll leave my results and conclusions till after the marathon. For now, here are some quite staggering statistics courtesy of my Garmin watch.<br />
<br />
Since the start of the year... <br />
<ul>
<li>I've run <b>585 km</b> (not including warm up/down)! That's the distance from Torino, Italy to Aix-en-Provence, France. I know, I have NO IDEA where that is either.</li>
<li>I've run <b>6.10 km per day</b>, or 9.29 km on each run if you discount rest days. WHAT? I am NUTS!</li>
<li>I've spent a total of <b>66 hours 35 minutes and 17 seconds exercising</b>, not even including all the nasty hurty stretches the physio prescribed. That is nearly three whole DAYS! And I bet I've spent twice as long analysing my Garmin stats...</li>
<li>I've used up <b>28,069 calories</b> just on running. Man, I could have eaten a LOT more cake if I'd thought about it.</li>
</ul>
I am never doing a marathon again.<br />
<br />
Anyway, there's one more thing I want to share with you before I do this thing...<br />
<br />
15 years ago, my dad made a bet with me. A bet worth one thousand
English pounds. Next Sunday, my dad will lose that bet - albeit a few
years later than I intended - when I complete my first marathon. Sadly,
he won't be well enough to watch me run and I won't be
claiming my winnings. Actually, I'm sure he hasn't given that bet much
thought since the day he made it. I asked him a couple of times if he
had any recollection of it and he told me he didn't. But no matter. What he
said provoked in me a fierce desire to show that I was stronger and
more determined than even he knew. That's why when I'm running I'm often
thinking of my dad - not in defiance but with a sly smile that says, "I
told you so." I hope he'll be proud that I proved him wrong. <div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656870008489989868.post-19629426951907385262013-04-02T17:20:00.002+01:002013-04-04T09:45:36.617+01:00An attempt to run a marathon using SCIENCE: part X (Rest)<br />
My race number arrived!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiiMIc_iJAr2zVMExlwyhvV32kydEp62i2gaER9VvBl2HGcEizwkX1bPVQQJ1ViDYFicThh-tJuOqzJtWhhsdWXhYiq7KE26x7dXNwr4Fc-kAFWhNIIprc8anoZU5sRgYN5hZj_u4zTA1_/s1600/Marathon_RaceNumber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiiMIc_iJAr2zVMExlwyhvV32kydEp62i2gaER9VvBl2HGcEizwkX1bPVQQJ1ViDYFicThh-tJuOqzJtWhhsdWXhYiq7KE26x7dXNwr4Fc-kAFWhNIIprc8anoZU5sRgYN5hZj_u4zTA1_/s320/Marathon_RaceNumber.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This week I've been getting to grips with rest. In the practical and the academic sense - while winding down ("tapering") my training I've been devoting some time to theories about *when* to rest. Common sense dictates that your rest day should be the day after your long run. For me, that's usually a Monday, after a 20k or 30k run on a Sunday. However, there are some running bods who would advise me to delay my rest day till Tuesday. Why? Surely it would be madness to run again the day after a killer 30k?<br />
<br />
As I've been finding out, there are plenty of dubious reasons to delay your rest by one day - cleaning out clogged systems etc - but a few days ago I came across <a href="http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,826.0/topicseen.html" target="_blank">this post</a> referring to Matt Fitzgerald's book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brain-Training-Runners-Revolutionary-Endurance/dp/0451222326" target="_blank"><i>Brain Training for Runners</i></a>, which offers an immunologically-founded scientific explanation.<br />
<br />
Now, I like immunology. I was such a nerd about it at university that I took *Advanced* Immunology as well as ordinary, boring, easy immunology. And I got top marks. YEAH. So as you can imagine I was pretty excited to hear this explanation.<br />
<br />
Ben at Ben's Book Blog <a href="http://bensbookblog.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/brain-training-for-runners-by-matt.html" target="_blank">has helpfully copy and pasted</a> page-referenced sections of the book if you're interested. The gist of it is that immune cells produce a molecule called IL-6, which is released during long, exhaustive bouts of exercise and is involved in the body's adaptation to endurance training - suggesting it would work to enhance your marathon performance. Therefore, running again while IL-6 levels are still high should offer some training benefit.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"IL6 is believed to facilitate many of the body’s adaptations to exercise
training, ranging from increased fat burning to greater resistance to
muscle damage, to improved cognition." (Fitzgerald)</blockquote>
Sounds like SCIENCE. Except... "believed"? Could it be just another dubious theory? What worries me is not so much that the theory could be wrong, it's that runners are being told "don't give yourself a well-earned rest the day after a really heavy training session, go back out for more punishment..." The IL-6 theory has been used to support a training strategy known as "<a href="http://www.superskinnyme.com/bonk-training.html" target="_blank">bonk training</a>" (ahem), supposedly practiced by elite athletes, but certainly by diet and exercise obsessives looking for quick-fix solutions.<br />
<br />
"Bonking" approaches involve running before breakfast or within a few hours of a long run, to get your body - in its state of depleted energy supplies - to shift from burning sugars to its back-up fuel, fat. At the extreme end of the scale, bonking means pushing yourself through "the wall" to a hypoglycaemic state where you feel sick, dizzy and fatigued. As those who read <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-using.html" target="_blank">my second marathon post</a> will know, I experienced something like this a few months ago due to misjudging my nutrition needs on a long run and I DO NOT recommend it. It is neither pleasant nor safe, especially if you are running on your own.<br />
<br />
Right. So let's break down this IL-6 business. What's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleukin_6" target="_blank">IL-6</a>? It's a signal protein that tells your body - primarily your immune system - when it should be doing certain things. We've known since the early nineties that IL-6 is released during lengthy exercise. We also know that it's released when levels of glycogen - a stored form of sugar that you keep in your muscles and liver - are low. Makes sense, right? Energy levels are going to get lower the longer you exercise.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17201070" target="_blank">There are studies</a>, in both humans and mice, showing that IL-6 increases up to 100-fold during extreme exercise<i>. </i><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11408420" target="_blank">Here's one</a> showing that IL-6 levels increase after running a marathon. It's thought the molecule is released by contracting muscles, as well as the brain. <br />
<br />
So what happens when you run on already low levels of sugar/glycogen? What is IL-6 telling your body to do? What's the training benefit? It's not so clear. Despite evidence suggesting IL-6 is involved in fat-burning and the body's response to muscle damage, there's still a lot we don't understand about this molecule. In <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-1716.2011.02373.x/full" target="_blank">a 2012 study</a>, Danish researchers wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"it is evident that exercise training has beneficial effects on [fat] tissue inflammation and overall [fat cell] function... but it is not known whether IL-6 contributes to such training-induced adaptations in adipose tissue." </blockquote>
In the same paper, after summarising the results of some experiments in mice, they went on to suggest that IL-6 mediates effects of exercise training on fat tissue. Regular training seems to result in *lower* resting levels of IL-6, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17201070" target="_blank">potentially balanced by increasing levels of receptors producing greater sensitivity to the molecule</a>. But what does it all MEAN? Does running on IL-6 teach your body to switch between fuels? Does it make you fitter? We don't really know. Not only is research pretty early stage, it is published post- the initial hype about bonking and Fitzgerald's 2007 book... Even in 2012, the science of IL-6 was still dodgy.<br />
<br />
The picture gets even more complicated when we appreciate that a good deal of the research in the field of IL-6 and exercise comes out of the lab of a minor celebrity scientist at the University of Copenhagen whose reputation appears to have been somewhat blemished by <a href="http://universitypost.dk/article/klarlund-pedersen-reported-fraud" target="_blank">accusations of scientific fraud</a>. "Leading" exercise researcher <a href="http://inflammation-metabolism.dk/index.php?pageid=111&username=bente" target="_blank">Bente Klarlund Pederson</a> has written several books (in Danish, I can't translate) about exercise but recently found herself under investigation after a paper she co-authored with colleague Milena Penkowa <a href="http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/penkowa-journal-of-physiology-expression-of-concern-turns-into-a-retraction/" target="_blank">was retracted</a>.<br />
<br />
As far as I can see, there just isn't enough evidence yet to cement the link between IL-6 and any training benefit in endurance runners. It's just a theory. We seem to be back to the same problems I've been coming up against with most of the exercise research I've looked at in this series - the studies are too small and too few. And in this case, they're not necessarily in runners/humans. I was able to track down <a href="http://www.minervamedica.it/en/journals/sports-med-physical-fitness/article.php?cod=R40Y2012N05A0563" target="_blank">a relatively recent paper</a> in the <i>Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness</i> (October 2012) focusing on a study in 16 male runners, which showed that IL-6 levels remained elevated up to six hours after a 90-min run - although I can't get at the full paper because of annoying PUBLISHING REASONS. Anyway, the authors didn't translate this result into training advice, which seems perfectly sensible given the thin evidence base.<br />
<br />
Personally, I think it's silly - you might say BONKers - to suggest running on empty, especially if we're talking about only a few hours after a long run. Or to base your advice on one molecule... which might or might not be beneficial in this situation. I imagine there probably are benefits, adaptations, whatever, to this type of training (through the IL-6 route or otherwise), but there may also be risks - like keeling over and DYING. Which, <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/an-attempt-to-run-marathon-by.html" target="_blank">I distinctly remember saying</a>, was something I wanted to avoid.<br />
<br />
Also, if running on IL-6 did have some training benefit, presumably it would depend on levels of the molecule remaining high until your next run. In other words, not replenishing your carbohydrate stores, which would bring IL-6 levels down again. So, what, I'm suppose to come in from a 30k run on a Sunday, eat bacon for dinner (or, I dunno, something else devoid of carbohydrate) and then head back out on Monday morning? Pah! Thus I am going to continue taking a whole day's relaxing break every Monday and use it to stock up on lovely, lovely carbs. So there.<br />
<br />
As for rest in the more practical sense, the hardest part of my training is now over and, so far, tapering has involved eating almost an entire box of chocolates in one weekend (it was Easter) and getting into the studio at 10.30 this morning. (Despite what you might think, keeping lazy working hours is not standard practice for freelancers. And I haven't worked in my pyjamas *once* this year. Okay, maybe once.)<br />
<br />
12 days to go!<div class="blogger-post-footer">This blog post is from <a href="http://wordsofscience.blogspot.com/">wordsofscience.blogspot.com</a></div>hayley m. bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14533315276290075823noreply@blogger.com0