So, today is our first day of lectures, lots of the usual disorganisation, handing out of pieces of paper, passwords, links to various things etc. etc. etc. In some ways pretty reassuring to see that hardcore tekkie people face the same standard tekkie issues of us mortals, drained computer batteries and getting kicked off WiFi. It's a thing people. 

In a moment of computational confusion, where Mr. Wolfram himself is contemplating the complexity of Mathematica I'm stealing a moment to write and share the beauty of the classroom. 

We've had some introductions to Mathematica and the Wolfram language. Looked a little bit at some things that are coming in the future (with Wolfram and offshoot companies) and then heard about our homework, choosing and analysing a pet Cellular Automaton (CA). Who wouldn't want their own pet CA? Personally I'd love to have one knitted into a scarf, subtle geek all the way, and yes, that is a mission for later in this class. 

But for the time being we're learning about what is possible with Mathematica, and once again been exposed to the importance of talking with colleagues to work through problems, something Mr. Wolfram has been doing for the last hour, taking suggestions from the audience as to the appropriate pieces of code to use. As a novice coder, I'm pretty stoked to see this, you are allowed to ask for help! 

The most interesting thing I've found today, was that they're looking into education, particularly coding education, and how that can be achieved. It's always exciting to see people thinking beyond their comfort zone of the theoretical. So I'll be looking to track down an ear to chew about that.. definitely an exciting element of the whole thing. But now, we're at the end of 11 hours of lectures.. 

For those of you who are wondering, or thinking about a bit of science communication, you might be a bit curious about this blog. Possibly why it was done and how, and also maybe a little bit of my own thoughts about the process.

For starters it wasn’t easy. I’m here (in Svalbard) as a student to be studying, blogging isn’t part of the remit. As you may have gathered we were working late on the ship, sometimes 16 hour days. So to fit this in I generally woke up about 45 minutes earlier than my colleagues to write this out the morning after. Occasionally I got a little bit of time during the day to process some photos. I took about 150 photos a day which on average was about 146 photos/day more than everyone else.

Why did I do it? Why did I forgo lovely sleep? Because I think this is important. The chance that someone reading this might learn something new, might have a slightly greater respect for and understanding of science. That a kid might be inspired to go out and find something new or that a parent will want their child to grow up and be an explorer in this day and age where is seems everything is known and understood. I still remember one of my friends, we were 15, telling me that science was boring now, it was exciting 100 years ago when there were new inventions and such, but why do it now? There isn’t anything new to find. I’ve been told a lot of incorrect things in my life, but that sits right up near the top. There are new things found every day, new experiences, new systems to understand. It’s not just small critters that live at the bottom of the sea, but how these things all fit together. There are billions of things yet to find out, and we shouldn’t think all the cool stuff has been invented. (I’d also like to note that since then smart phones have become ubiquitous, the iPod is everywhere, my camera has a touch screen and we have satellite internet on ships below 80 degrees, technology hasn’t stopped).

So in part it’s inspiration and the wonder of science. But as a scientist this has also been a really really good revision tool. I’m going to have to memorise the names of all the creatures you’ve seen here. I’ll have to describe interactions and collection methods, all kinds of things. By having done this blog I’ve reflected as I’ve gone, I’ve got really detailed notes, and by having to explain things to other people I’ve developed a better understanding of the things I’m studying.

Whilst this isn’t for everyone, and most people can’t write as fast as I can (if it was more time consuming it would be a lot harder) personally I’d recommend the experience to everyone. Don’t let awesome things get lost because you were tired when you learnt them, because you wanted to watch TV rather than fill in your diary or worst, because you don’t think people would be interested in science.

Of course now the challenge is finding the next thing. 

Its been less than 24 hours on Svalbard. So far I’ve navigated the shops and purchased some postcards. Whilst these activities are less than scientific they are vital life skills.

However, as they say in the burbs (suburbs for the non-natives out there), shit just got real. Today we have a safety course. What does this mean?

We had an hour or so lecture on the various ways you can die on the island (did I hear someone say Academia is an ivory tower..?). These ways include: avalanches, rock falls, falling into a crevasse (60% of Svalbard is Glaciers, that’s a lot of crevasses), getting a virus from mice (though that won’t kill you for 15 years), being bitten by a rabid fox or, as is traditional, mauled by polar bear. Then there’s the usual exposure issues, falling off boats etc.

The good news? No spiders, no snakes, no polar bears in town.

The “adventurous” news? Now we’re off to the range to learn how to shoot a high powered rifle at a bear.

I’d never seen a real gun before, never heard a gun shot let alone fired one of the bloody things. In that way I’m a fairly typical white bread aussie. I have, what I believe to be, a perfectly reasonable fear of guns. They are an astonishing way of extinguishing life with minimal human effort. That said, my natural pacifist tendencies when competing with the thought of a massively pissed polar bear.. well, survival wins out there. The day the bears learn how to load a gun we’re all 100% buggered.

However, in the name of science I, along with my colleagues, learnt from a wonderfully thorough Finnish fellow. We were taught gun basics, this is a trigger, this is a barrel etc. We learnt how to load and half load the guns. We were taught never to walk through town with a loaded gun. We were reminded that there’d be kick back and how to stand to maintain balance. Etc. etc. As introductions to a killing machine go, it was pretty friendly. I was also impressed with all the PI books I’ve read over the years. They were actually pretty helpful, particularly those written about people who were freaked out about shooting stuff. 

That said, the shock of hearing someone’s gun go off the first time.. bloody oath. 7 of us shooting at the one time made quite an impression. I have to say, I was pretty stoked with my first shots, though they went rapidly downhill from there due to excess adrenalin. As for shooting standing up.. I’m pretty sure I entirely missed the target on at least one occasion. 

Now, for all of you greenies out there, you’re probably a little worried. What are they doing teaching kiddies to shoot an endangered species for? Well, I’ll tell you.

Polar bears are deadly. They hunt and eat people. This is just how it is, Svalbard is their home and we barge in looking for coal, fish etc. So, in the first instance all effort is made to avoid bears entirely. This is done through knowledge of the bears, where they like to be at certain times of year etc. However, sometimes the bears surprise us. They’re curious creatures and like to have a wander too. For the most part the bears won’t be hunting people and if they are considered too close a flare gun is shot which scares off the bear. In most instances that works. It’s only in instances where the bear is actively hunting the people involved that there are issues. In this case, if the bear isn’t scared off by flares and loud noises and continues to approach, well then you might have to shoot. Believe you me, the description of an instance where a bear might have to be shot sent shivers down my spine. Let alone the thought of having to try and shoot a moving, rather angry/hungry creature who you know is endangered. That takes some guts. 

There have been two bear shootings this year on Svalbard. One was two skiiers and a dog out of town and in the other instance the bear was climbing into a hut (note, people were inside the hut).

For all people say Australia is a dangerous country, at least nothing is ever going to come barrelling into your tent to eat you. The worst that’s likely is a rather enthusiastic wombat, and even then.. unlikely.

So after the adrenalin and cold shivers brought on by bears, we headed back to uni to be kitted out with a cold water survival suit. The next thing that can kill you, and did kill a woman this year, falling into the water and dying of shock. Basically these suits are water proof, slightly lined, look like a giant caterpillar and will help you survive if a zodiac over turns.

This part of the day was pretty silly, nothing like climbing into a onsie to feel like a dag, and we got to float in the sea whilst gazing up at glaciers. It was awesome.

Tomorrow the real work starts. But let it never be said that I didn’t sing for my supper!

After 4 schools, 7 talks, I was pretty much too tired to write. It took me a while to get back into the swing of talking in front of people. Like most people I'm fairly petrified about presenting and it takes a bit for me to warm up. But after a few talks it becomes impossible for your body to keep freaking out and I started to remember what I actually wanted to say. 
For the most part the talks went really well
the kids were good and asked questions, figured I was onto a winner when the teachers were so curious they were taking notes and interrupting. Mostly the kids asked pretty good questions, the only silly one was from a kid asking how they choose which chicken to roast... Like in supermarkets... this is not something I know, nor is it something I have any intention of finding out. But other than that the kids got pretty interested in the idea of people who live on floating houses, and if there's any doubt about the excitement of science generally showing a video of a rocket launch sets everyone straight (and gets a lovely and appreciative oooooohhh).
What else? Not much really, the tricky bit was presenting my research to a bunch of prep kids. They did pretty well I think, it was possibly the most challenging time in my short time as a science communicator and whilst I could feel grey hairs growing I also learnt a lot about watching the audience and how to compare complicated international issues with day to day things kids experience everywhere (I avoided the word geopolitical and have since deleted it from the presentation). One of the issues I find most challenging to communicate is how decisions made about water use in China have direct impacts for communities in Cambodia. Whilst the analogy of water at the top of a mountain being clean and water at the bottom of a river being less clean is an ok way to tell the story it still seems to lack something. One of the many concepts I'm working on for communication. 
Stayed at a slightly creepy b&b where they tried to feed us fruitcake. 
Being Australian scientists it is essential to appreciate the local pub, we did this with enthusiasm.