January 1, 2014

Happy New Year – the blog retrospective

Last year, my New Year’s Resolution was to try for a child with my husband. As I’m currently typing while trying to entertain a three month old baby I think I can safely claim that as one of the most successful New Year’s Resolutions I’ve ever made.

By S.E. Gould

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Last year, my New Year's Resolution was to try for a child with my husband. As I'm currently typing while trying to entertain a three month old baby I think I can safely claim that as one of the most successful New Year's Resolutions I've ever made.

I've been blogging at Scientific American for well over a year now and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. Although this year might have been slightly less bloggy due to my pregnancy, I've managed to build up some nice little series of posts which I thought I'd share for the new year.

1 - The chemistry series

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This started off with ChemDay; a SciAm blog wide event to celebrate the discipline of chemistry which seemed a little under-represented on the blogs. My first post, on the science of water, was quickly followed by a little rush of other chemistry posts as I remembered how much I secretly loved the chemical side of biochemistry

2 - Bacteria in the body

I write a fair amount about dangerous and pathogenic bacteria but I also enjoy writing about 'good' bacteria, the microbes that live inside and on our body without causing too many problems. In many cases these bacteria are even beneficial, keeping away more dangerous micro-organisms and even helping to provide nutrients for our cells.

Bacteria in the mouth

Bacteria in the vagina

Bacteria in the gut

Bacteria in the lungs

Bacteria in breast milk

3 - The butterfly posts

And finally, I've recently become rather mysteriously smitten with butterflies - their lives, their survival, their habitats and habits. When summer comes around I'll be grabbing my butterfly book and binoculars and there certainly will be the odd butterfly post emerging on the blog.

Becoming obsessed with butterflies

The wall butterfly

Four legs vs. six legs

Multigenerational migrations

So what will 2014 bring? It'll be a very exciting time for my new little family; we've got all sorts of things coming up. It should be an exciting time for the blog as well, I'll be going back to a four-per-month schedule which means more bacteria, more biochemistry, and the occasional butterfly.

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