I Really, Really, Really Very Much Do Love Science…..

Facebook. Keeping us connected in the age of social media….or a good way of wasting time, posting pictures of your dinner, letting people know that you are hungry / bored / tired / drunk (delete as appropriate) and hey, if you’re reading this there is a good chance you got to it through a link on Facebook.

It is also the home to a number of community type pages, which vary from notices from village halls to tennis players posting pictures of their amazingly cute dogs (hello Andy Murray!). A rather popular page is one entitled “I [insert sweary word staring with F] Love Science”, it’s a great page populated by geektatsic jokes, updates on the latest scientific discoveries and some awesome facts and pictures. Now I’m going to come out and say it, I love this page because I too [insert sweary word starting with F] love science.

Who else would grow a real human brain the size of a pea in a lab if not a scientist?!!! Who would grow a nose on a man’s forehead or figure out that from his remains found under a car park that Richard III had worms ? !

This last one is particularly exciting to me (yes I know, geek much) because, in a previous life, before I was a Jumpstart Technical Analyst, I was a parasitologist (in case that isn’t clear – I studied parasites….small animals that live on or in other animals. They. Are. Awesome.).

I am constantly fascinated by these amazing creatures (as some of Jumpstart’s poor directors found at the company BBQ after I had a few beers and regaled them with some of the most disgusting - but fascinating – stories I have about parasites). Did you know that there is a 64ft tapeworm that can live in the human intestine? Or that blood flukes pair up and stay together for life with the female living in a groove in the male’s body (is it just me or is that just adorable?! Just me…ok) or that when Toxoplasma gets into the brain of a mouse it changes the mouse’s behaviour so that it is no longer frightened of cats….making it more likely to get eaten so the parasite ends up in the cat, which is where is always really wanted to be ? !

Well you do now…and we wouldn’t know any of this without science. Doesn’t that just fill you with at least a little awe at the greatness of science?

Author - Charlie Burgess