• Question: have you only ever studied one topic in science?

    Asked by anon-242661 to Zahra, Peter, Mairi, Elliott, Danica, Ane on 19 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Ane Valera

      Ane Valera answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      Not really, I have made some projects in the past and each one has nothing to do with the one before.
      In the past I tried to discover some medicines to treat malaria, I worked with human cells to see if they survive to some toxic medicines… And during my degree I learnt about chemistry, genetics, microorganisms, diseases and how to treat them…and much more!
      If you only study a topic, you will be the best at that topic, but if you learnt more than one, you will have a broad knowledge and you could see the connections between the topics, which is fun!

    • Photo: Mairi

      Mairi answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      Hi- I’ve always studied chemistry and specifically organic chemistry. Within that there are many different topics and I’ve worked in both process chemistry (making chemical reactions work really well so we can make medicines on a large scale) and medicinal chemistry (making molecules that could potentially become new drugs). I’ve also worked in natural product chemistry- where we try to find a way to make a molecule in the lab that is found in nature and could be used as a medicine. The molecule I was making was a herbicide so chemists are needed for farmers and crop protection too!

    • Photo: Danica Pinto

      Danica Pinto answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      Hi jump393ear,

      Most sciences are interconnected. In school and college I studied physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. During my masters degree I studied various branches of chemistry such as organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry,biochemistry, physical chemistry, medicinal, analytical, nuclear, quantum, polymer and so on. All these needed some background knowledge in physics, biology and mathematics too to understand the topics better. In my masters project I had to make polymer membranes to use in desalinating water (to remove salts from water) which required me to use my knowledge in polymer chemistry, synthesis and physical chemistry as well. During my PhD I studied the interaction of light with molecules (spectroscopy) where I had to put my knowledge in chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics into use. My project work also needed electronics, mechanical and optical knowledge which I managed to learn as and when I worked on the project. So you see here that almost all sciences are linked to one another in someway or the other. Sometimes you get to learn some of them on the job.

    • Photo: Zahra Rattray

      Zahra Rattray answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      Hi There!

      Not really- and that is what makes science so cool! you can pick to specialize in something very narrow, or like me, move across the boundaries of chemistry, biology and physics.

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