Biology friending meme?

[sciatrix]

It occurs to me that I have an awful lot of subscribers and friends who have varying interests and expertises in biology, psychology, and all sorts of related topics and ideas. 'Related' being read broadly here--if it touches on natural or social sciences and you want to share, please do.

Therefore, I thought I'd spin up a biology friending meme. What kind of background in the subject do you have? What things do you find interesting?

Comments

[codex8]

This could definitely be fun! My experience is primarily anthropology, but recently I've been training more in psychology by way of social work. Either way the "people are doing things and it's fascinating" segment of the sciences is squarely up my alley!

[felinejumper]

Ooooooh, yes please, I would love to have more thoughtful science & science-adjacent in my life/reading page.

Background wise, I flirt with molecular neuroscience & synthetic biology; on the more technical level, I am/have been interested in flexible signalling pathways & molecular influences on human experience (because I am a terrible reductionist even though I try not to be). I am also sort've in developmental biology -- or, rather, at the somewhat-newish confluence of synthetic biology applied to developmental biology, which is my current science/history research/writing project.

I reallllllllllllllyyyy like & am fascinated by how science is made of people, and am sort've...tentatively...making my way into history of science & science studies from research proper with questions about: the way people use science to define themselves & communities, how "scientists" function as this monolithic voice of authority ++ when that breaks down, and how that interacts with the legal system ([epi]genetic testing, psychological diagnoses vs biological, parentage, embodiment of social constructions into epigenetic mechanisms). Do I post about any of that? Not that often, but I have Big Ambitions about it all!

[sasha_feather]

I am out of the science game due to disability, but I trained as an epidemiologist. Part of me is still a public health nerd, and I know more about microbiology than I need to. As a teen and young adult I went on a deep dive learning about prion diseases. Nature is amazing.

[melannen]

Hi! I am a librarian with a degree in geography with a geology emphasis. I like science! And science-y things. Probably what I am most likely to start talking about spontaneously is anything involving non-mesozoic palaeontology but my tastes are very broad. And I have a sister who does North Atlantic archaeology and follow her work as much as I can. I am also into scientific skepticism in both the 'I will debunk UFO stories on command" way and the "reads retractionwatchblog_feed way". I will occasionally just post on my journal about a paper I recently read or a topic I've been studying up on. I am also passionate about science communication/outreach and STEM education, particularly as it applies to my job.

I am always in the market for new podcasts of the format "working scientists get drunk, talk about recent research in their field" (or similar.)

I don't do real science personally though, because having to cite my sources and do my own stats is too much work. :P

[writerkit]

Autistic librarian with an undergrad psych degree; my psych expertise tends more towards the "personal experience" flavor than the "professionally studied" flavor. Mostly I talk about autism a lot and read about autism a lot and learn about autism a lot. (Or would if I had more of a community on here.)

[sciatrix]

Belatedly, I thought I should mention what it is I do: by training, I do... uh... well, fuck.

Okay, I'm an integrative biologist, which means that what I'm really interested in right now is sexual selection as driven by models that come out of evolutionary biology, but my actual research plays a lot in behavioral ecology, hormonal signaling, and energy balance. I'm generally interested in things that touch on how individuals respond to context, so I've been dabbling in reading the human trauma literature (which is not my background) and epigenetics as well as the plasticity stuff that is my real background. I play around a lot with a hormone called leptin, which is mostly thought about as a satiety hormone but actually affects a bunch of things up to and including social/sexual behavior.

But I'm interested in all of it! The "people are doing things and it's fascinating" segment is of course very much what I'm in here for, and I wanted to hear what everyone else is into because--*flails hands* you all have wide varieties of interesting backgrounds and expertise and that includes both formal credentials and informal areas of expertise and I find I learn so many things from so many people here.

[dancing_crow]

I finished a BA in Geology with a strong affection for sedimentology and paleontology, so I got some bio through following evolution and fossils. I like reading about people being excited about things.

[sebenikela]

I am... I do agriculture stuff?

Currently in a postdoc helping a big human-earth system model (usually used for climate impact assessment) better model agricultural technology change, which in practice is mostly data analysis and coding (and fighting with proprietary data formats and badly-designed "web portals")

Research for my PhD, which I am defending April 15 *knocks on wood*, was working with smallholder farmers in Southern Mali, and covered everything from testing new crop varieties to biomass sampling and species ID in rangelands to remote sensing image analysis to economic analysis to participatory modeling of farming system and land use change scenarios. I have Opinions about ag-related international development and associated research.

Before that, I studied agronomy for my masters, before that I was working on a small scale irrigation project for Peace Corps in Ecuador, before THAT I did my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering.

........yes, I do have ADHD, it's a mystery how nobody noticed that until I was in my 30s.

I usually have some kind of science-related something I'm semi-obsessively into but I am very low on Brain right now so... maybe in a few months?

[hellofriendsiminthedark]

Hello hello! I'm big on sociology--especially where it intersects with queer theory. My background is that I really wanted to major in sociology but my parents wouldn't let me, so I majored in some bullshit Spanish instead and minored in sociology, then got spit out of school with a degree I have no intention of using and a continued passion for sociology which was not brutally slaughtered, unlike my interest in Spanish. Also I'm hella queer.

Okay, I guess I should mention I'm like half-competent in bio because my mom's a molecular biologist, but the other half of me is beyond incompetent about anything science (took AP chem, forgot everything), and zero part of me understands the computer stuff the rest of my family does (even though I'm internet/tech savvy) so I average out to being a fairly boring non-sciency person. I'm the liberal science black sheep of my family.

[to_do_list]

Most of my background is in social and counselling psychology, as in undergraduate and a Masters degree. In the process, I read a bunch of sociological and social work papers as well. I have an interest in both qualitative and quantitative sides, but my personal experience is more quantitative. I had a particular interest in the issues of research reproducibility in psychology several years ago when writing my thesis - but I haven't stayed on top of recent updates since graduation, so I didn't feel comfortable commenting specifically on your post on reproducibility.

I had an interest in biology since early age. I was going through a diagram of animal cells in an atlas around age 7 or 8 or something. I hated classifications but I loved learning things about biological and behavioural mechanisms. Growing up in post-Perestroika Russia, nobody knew how to make a living doing science any more, so I was shipped off to study business instead. I switched to psychology a number of years later. I took one additional class each in psychopharmacology and human physiology while doing it.

My partner and I have also currently stumbled into involvement with some conservation organizations in Costa Rica: not field work by any means, more of a general/strategic involvement.

[siderea]

I don't usually participate in friending memes, because I'm not generally looking for more friends just to have more friends, and also because it feels a big gauche for me to do so? What with me blogging on DW professionally.

But I thought I'd introduce myself, for people who have seen me around here commenting. I'm a psychotherapist. More specifically, I'm what's called a clinical mental health counselor. I am a medical professional, and not a scientist. However, I am a consumer of medical research, a critic of medical research, and on occasion have professionally consulted to research projects in a variety of domains. Also, a very, very long time ago, I went to college to become a scientist, but then transferred into engineering, then dropped out of school to program computers for a living for about a decade.

I have a passionate interest in the history and anthropology of everything Western society all professional fields medicine, particularly psychiatry and mental health. I am also Full Of Thoughts And Feels about psychiatric nosology, and maybe all nosology.

I have a specialty in the history of homosexuality as a psychiatric pathology.

I am very political and often rant about the intersections of social justice, mental health, public policy, and healthcare. My healthcare tag is a good place to see some of that.

Also of potential interests to biologists: (1) I would also like to get around to posting more about climate change, but that's both not in my lane and something that will have to wait until I have a few more spoons. (2) I am more critical of biological engineering than I have gotten around to explaining, and may at some point post about that.

[rydra_wong]

May I signal-boost?

Also, I think I'm on the periphery of this, but: amateur but enthusiastic interest in anatomy geeking, sports science (especially as related to rock climbing), motor control. Also, psychopharmacology.

[nyctanthes]

Hello! Came across your blog via dirty_diana I just added you.

I'm a political scientist by training, but my dissertation had a lot of anthro and sociology mixed in. I then moved into work at the intersection of public education and public health.

[minxy]

Hiya. Here via rydra_wong's signal boost, but I'll probably see dirty_diana's as well in a minute.

I'm a biochemist (structural biologist) and I teach chemistry at the college level. I am super interested in applied chemistry in general, and deeply need to learn how to process crystallography data in new programs soon. And I need to get a paper submitted. Oy.

[copperfyre]

Hello! Here and now following via rydra_wong's signal boost, and super down for finding fun internet biology friends!

I'm, um, unfocused at the moment, but I'm mostly an ecologist, and currently working in a bird lab. I'm really interested in species interactions, behavioural ecology, and I think maybe my heart lies with plants, and then periodically I get tempted over to the 'WTF we know so little!' side of phycology and mycology. (Common conversation I have: Someone else: 'So I hear you want to go to grad school, what do you want to research?' Me: 'I don't know! Everything is so interesting! There's so many cool questions out there! This is why I'm trying to get jobs in different fields and places to see what I like!')

I'm also eternally fascinated by cross-discplinary work; I love hearing the different perspectives people bring to things. Also the human and historical side of science; one of my best jobs was working in a herbarium and getting to find out how/why we had certain specimens and the people that were behind collecting, naming, and studying them. So, yeah, I'm kind of all over the place, interest-wise!