You know you're seriously into science when

Nature Talk
1

Spin off of the incredibly successful “You know you’re seriously into iNat when” topic. I’m sure this one will be nowhere near as successful but a lot of us are citizen scientists so I figured it might be a bit of fun.

You know you’re seriously into science when…

  • You have 2 second hand microscopes sitting on your desk to look at slime moulds.
  • You spend ~$2000 AUD building a home tissue culture lab for carnivorous plants.
  • You use geological data to look for plants.
2

have a geologist on your @mention list

https://www.inaturalist.org/people/raylantalbot

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Botany is just the tip of the iceberg.

Biology, chemistry, physics, math, political science, etc. It’s all so interesting and it never ends!

4

…when you read your partner’s Biochem textbook (and Mathematical Biology journals) for fun.

…when you, the non-scientist of the household, can talk at a meet-n-greet with sufficient knowledge about a project that your partner worked on, that people ask you which part of said project you were responsible for.

(Then, you get to enjoy the expression on the questioner’s face when you point out the actual Ph.D., and describe yourself as the arm candy. Good times.) :smirking_face:

5

You have almost 50 vials of specimens on your desk. You tell yourself you’ll get through them in a few months, but in reality it’s gonna take a lot longer.

When said desk is truly a sight to behold - one whopping haul of trash, vials, and everything else.

6

Your life choices can best be filed under, “You can take the girl out of the lab, but…”

7

You can justify a subscription of Nature - International Weekly Journal of Science as ‘pleasure reading’ and willing to sacrifice coffee (almost) and some subscription (streaming) channels to fit that into your budget.

8

You’re excited about your Saturday night plans, which consist of walking around in a swamp alone with a UV flashlight.

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Who wouldn’t be excited about that!

11

…you’ve been wanting to study it as a career since you were 9!

…your ideal vacation well spent includes at least 2 nature related sessions or seminars!

…you’re the only one in your class interested in taxidermy :')

12

I remember when I was in middle/high school, they had us do this quiz to help us determine what career suited us. Somehow, they programmed it to say that if you liked animals, a good career option was taxidermist.