About

Yorkshire lass living in Scotland, starting a new adventure as a trainee patent attorney. Previously I was doing physics research (specialising in materials for gravitational wave detectors, and more recently for MEMS gravimeters, if you’re nerdy enough to want to know). I love reading, food, exploring, trying new things and sharing science with anyone who’ll listen.

I blog about whatever pops into my head, hence the title of my blog. I tend to post book reviews on Sunday, beauty stuff on Tuesdays and whatever I feel like in between. Sometimes it’s about travel or about science or my research. Sometimes it’s about feminism or plans to try new things or recipes I’ve been cooking. So it couldn’t be more true when I say the blog doesn’t really have a theme.

I hope you enjoy reading anyway. Please feel free to get in touch, to post comments or ask questions. I’d love to hear from you!

55 thoughts on “About”

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    1. It’s a big question but in broad strokes gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime. Einstein said that heavy stuff like stars would curve the fabric of spacetime and that we would experience this curvature as gravity. If heavy stuff can curve space then huge events like colliding black holes can create shock waves in it – the are the gravitational waves.

      Unfortunately they’re really, really small. So detecting them took ages – we finally did it in September with the LIGO detectors in the US, but that was 100 years after Einstein predicted them. We use lasers to really accurately monitor the position of mirrors in a device called an interferometer. If the interferometer is sensitive enough and a gravitational wave comes by, it will wobble the mirrors and we’ll detect that.

      I hope this helps a bit!

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      1. That did help, thanks for the summary! I saw the headlines back in September when gravity waves were first detected, but never really read up on them. So thank you for satisfying my curiosity…temporarily 🙂

        But if mirrors in an interferometer wobble, how can one be certain gravitational waves are to blame? Could seismic activity also be responsible? Although I guess you could always check to see if any seismic activity was recorded at the time the mirrors wobbled.

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      2. That’s part of why it’s so hard to detect the waves – almost anything could make the mirrors move. The LIGO scientific collaboration has spent the last 25 years trying to work out how to isolate them and how to avoid getting any false signals mixed up with the real ones.

        As for seismic activity we use multiple stage pendulum systems to get rid of the worst of it, and we know the frequencies of the rest so we can just ignore anything that shows up at those frequencies.

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  14. Hello Becky! First thing, let me thank you for following my Blog & giving me encouragement through your kind comments on my posts. I greatly appreciate it.
    Thank you for your time. I wanted you to know that I am really glad that you are in my circle.
    Your personality is so interesting, like a good book that you couldn’t just put down.

    I know that time is the most precious in all our lives, but I wanted to nominate you for a 7-Days Nature Photo Challenge. I would be glad if you try to take on this challenge. But even without this challenge, I still want you to know that you are an inspiration to many..
    Thank you and I hope you have fun doing this challenge!

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  15. Hi Becky, nice to meet you 🙂 PhD in physics!!! Awesome..I often wish I were better at physics. Over time, my inclination towards biology prevailed and I am now a Research Associate in Bangalore, India. However, I will be pursuing my PhD in Biology in Edinburgh soon. From one nerd to another…have a wonderful time with the PhD (we all know the ups and downs of the journey!) and keep writing. Do stop by my blog for some interesting reads inspired by everyday moments of my life. Cheers 🙂

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      1. Thanks for the follow! 🙂 I am a Cell and Molecular Biologist by training and my project will involve expertise from the same fields to some extent and add to it because I plan to explore as much as I can! Cheers. And yes, I love Edinburgh too 😀

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  18. Hi ya Becky, I’ve just been looking up your about page. I’m an engineer, what you’re doing is way above my head but I’m really interested in your gravitational wave detector materials 🙂

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  31. Nice to meet you, Becky! I like food, exploring and especially trying new things as well. And, I was recently called a lass by a British blogging friend. 🙂 Like you, I enjoy writing about everything that comes into my head, but people who “know” keep saying that, to have a successful blog, you need a niche. I guess mine will never be successful. 🙂

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  32. Pingback: Liebster Award – Live Pulchritudinously

  33. Greetings, I love your blog! I’m glad you like reviewing scientific books. I’m Mike, author of The Aqueous Transmission, a dark, esoteric tale of lore. I tell you, it’s exciting! You can visit my blog @ darkesoterika.com to bone up on details of my story, its world, and its characters to decide you would like to read and review my book. I would love to hear (or rather read) from you! -MIKE EYE

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    1. Hi Mike
      Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad that you like the blog and my book reviews. As usual, my to-read list is slightly longer than I am tall at the moment, but I’ll definitely check out your blog and will keep your work in mind 🙂

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