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Science Wanders

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Tag: Invasive alien species

The Ugly Side of Malta’s Kaffir Figs

These pretty flowers have an ugly side. Carpobrotus edulis is one of Europe’s top 100 invasive alien species.

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💉There’s a vaccine race going on, but it’s

💉There’s a vaccine race going on, but it’s not the first one.

💊One good that may come out of this pandemic is a harsh reminder of the importance of vaccines. Pre-2020 these lifesavers were pretty much taken for granted. Fast forward to today and we’re all on tenterhooks, awaiting each vaccine milestone. (And thankfully so far so good! Vaccines showing up to 95% efficacy, full safety results still to come)
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📚This book was published pre Covid-19 and follows the history of the vaccines that came before. The fights that have allowed us to forget about rubella, polio, tetanus, and more, and also paved the way for the Covid vaccines being made today.
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An engrossing read, which should be mandatory reading for vaccine skeptics. 😆
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🦠We owe a lot to a handful of people and just one cell line. I wonder if Meredith Wadman will write an updated edition.
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#vaccines #vaccinerace #amreading #amreadingscience #bookstagram #bookworm #sciencewriting #sciencebook #scienceblogger #stemsquad #instascience #cellculture #womeninscience #womeninstem

Seek and you shall find! 🍂 . One of the things

Seek and you shall find! 🍂
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One of the things I’m missing most about not traveling at the moment is dramatic Autumn foliage. Thanks to Malta’s mild Mediterranean climate, abundant sunshine, and general tree poorness, leaf colour changes are barely visible across the island. 😞
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But I couldn’t spend a year without seeing this, so I went on a foliage hunt. And where better to find this than Buskett - Malta’s largest woodland?
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And in a small, secluded corner I found these 🧡
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Leaf colour chemistry below 👇
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A leaf’s normal green colour is due to chlorophyll, which is a group of green chemicals that allow a leaf to photosynthesize. 🍃
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In autumn, chlorophyll is broken down in each leaf. This allows deciduous trees to reabsorb and repurpose important building blocks of chlorophyll, before leaves fall off for winter.🍂
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The removal of chlorophyll unmasks other previously hidden chemicals. These include xantophylls (yellow pigments) and carotenoids (orange). The colder temperatures also stimulate the production of protective anthocyanins (red to purple). It’s the proportion of each of these chemicals within a leaf that leads to its particular colour.🍁 .
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#buskett #autumn #autumnfoliage #autumninmalta #maltagram #scicomm #sciencetravel #maltesescience #colourchemistry #instachemistry #outdoorchemistry #staycation #whatawonderfulworld #scientistsofinstagram #thegreatoutdoors #hiketheworld #travelgram #stemsquad #seekandyoushallfind #malta #mediterranean #mediterraneanclimate #fall #fallfoliage #treelover #biophilia #forestbathing

Nature’s reclaiming this one. I wonder what happ

Nature’s reclaiming this one.
I wonder what happened to the owners 🎃 🦇
Swipe to see the beautiful second doorway.
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#reclaimedbynature #abandonedplaces #urbangem #maltesebalcony #happyhalloween
#beautifulfacades #maltesefacades #secretgarden #spookyseason #naturelover #overgrown #maltagram

A great week for #womeninstem ! 🍾 . Nobel priz

A great week for #womeninstem ! 🍾
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Nobel prize laureates in both physics and chemistry. Congratulations to:
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🌟 Andrea Ghez, joint winner of The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020, for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy

🌟Emmanuelle Charpentier, joint winner of The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020⁠, for discovering CRISPR gene editing technology
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🌟Jennifer A. Doudna, joint winner of The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020⁠, for discovering CRISPR gene editing technology

May they inspire future generations of female scientists 🙂
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Celebratory firework photo taken a while back at Malta’s annual fireworks festival. 🥂
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#womeninscience #steminist #nobelprize #nobelprize2020 #fireworks #instascience #thefutureisfemale #scienceblogger
⁠#maltagram

Last in my multicoloured beach series: pink! 💕

Up next in my multicoloured beach series: red! 🖍
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Gozo has two main red sand beaches: Ramla l-Hamra (this pic) and San Blas (swipe to see).
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Depending on the time of day and sand wetness, their colour can vary between a burnt orange to a muddy red. And somewhat ironically, this colour comes from greensand.🧤
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Greensand is one of Gozo’s five rock types, rich in iron and normally found sandwiched between other rock layers. But when exposed to the air, the iron reacts with oxygen, forming red iron oxides. (The same chemical family as rust.) 🌡
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Find out more in my blog post 👇
bit.ly/MulticolouredBeaches
(Link also in bio)
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Next up: pink! 💕 Stay tuned 🙂
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#maltagram #redsand #redsandbeach #beachesofinstagram #sandybeaches #travelgram #ironoxide #chemicalreaction #ramla #ramlalhamra #sanblas #gozo #visitgozo #sciencetravel #maltesescience #geologyrocks #instascience #staycurious #traveldeeper #scicomm #scicommer

Purple sand! 💜 . Continuing my series of multic

Purple sand! 💜
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Continuing my series of multicoloured sandy beaches, this is Pfeiffer Beach in California. This beach is like ice cream ripple - golden sand interrupted by unexpected swirls of purple.
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The purple sand comes from the cliffs above, which contain a group of purple minerals called manganese garnets.
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Find out more in my blog post 👇
bit.ly/MulticolouredBeaches
(Link also in bio)
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And stay tuned for my next beach! This one’s red 🖍
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#purplesand #purplesandbeach #pfeifferbeach #california #californiaroadtrip #offthebeatenpath #geologyrocks #whatawonderfulworld #atlasobscura #scicomm #sciencecommunicator #purplelovers #beachesofinstagram #manganese #manganesegarnet #erosion #travelgram #sciencetravel #instascience #sandybeaches #traveldeeper #seetheworld #staycurious #bythesea #bigsur #bigsurcalifornia #route1

Not a black and white filter❗️This is Reynisfj

Not a black and white filter❗️This is Reynisfjara, Iceland’s most famous black sand beach. Visit on an overcast day and all colour can bleed away.
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🌋Iceland’s coast is full of black sand beaches, which all formed similarly. Hot lava pouring out of one of Iceland’s many volcanoes met the Atlantic Ocean, cooling instantaneously and shattering into basalt pebbles. These have been slowly weathered over time into smaller and smaller pieces, forming sand.
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Find out more in my latest blog post 👇
bit.ly/MulticolouredBeaches
(Link also in bio)
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And stay tuned for the next coloured beach on my list. Coming up: purple! 💜
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#reynisfjara #reynisfjarabeach #blacksand #blacksandbeach #iceland #icelandtravel #travelgram #whatawonderfulworld #naturegram #geologyrocks #naturallyblackandwhite #sciencetravel #scicomm #sciencecommunicator #beachingit #beachesofinstagram #bythesea #atlanticocean #seastacks #basalt #icelandringroad #icelandroadtrip #icelandscape #🇮🇸

What gives a sandy beach its colour? 🎨 . I’m

What gives a sandy beach its colour? 🎨
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I’m going to be sharing some of my favourite multicoloured beaches from around the world in my next few posts, together with the story behind their hue.
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Stay tuned for black,red, purple, pink and white beaches! Or skip ahead to my blog post here👇
bit.ly/MulticolouredBeaches
(Link also in bio)
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#sand #sandybeaches #beachesofinstagram #beachesoftheworld #geologyrocks #haheibeach #sciencetravel #travelgram #scicomm #beachbum #beachlife #bythesea #outdoorclassroom #erosion #womeninstem

☠️ Show stopper! ☠️ . Not only beautiful -

☠️ Show stopper! ☠️
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Not only beautiful - the passion flower can stop you in your tracks thanks to another reason. Its leaves contain cyanide, a chemical that’s poisonous to much of the animal and insect world.
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It’s part of a brilliant evolutionary strategy that stops it from being eaten.
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Read more about in my blog post here 👇
bit.ly/PoisonousPassion
(Link also in bio)
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Spotted growing wild in Pembroke
Scientific name: Passiflora caerulea

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#passionflower #poisonousplants #cyanide #flowergram #passiflora #passifloracaerulea #maltagram #maltesescience #botany #scicomm #naturalchemistry #outdoorscience #phytochemicals #womeninstem #whatawonderfulworld #evolution #defensemechanism #pembroke #staycurious #donteatthis

Gold mining step 4️⃣ - the final products! . 1

Gold mining step 4️⃣ - the final products!
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1st pic: Geology on a chain 🙂 - this is a gold nugget, left in its natural form after being mined.

2nd pic: Arrowtown, one of the villages that grew around mining. Many who didn’t strike it rich still carved out a life from the related economy (hotels, restaurants, banking, prostitution) and this mass immigration and thriving economy shaped modern New Zealand. 💰
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3rd pic: Unfortunately racism was alive and well. Chinese miners were ostracized, living on the periphery in each mining village in much worse conditions. 🏚
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Swipe to see each picture, and find out more on New Zealand’s gold rush in my blog post 👇
bit.ly/GoldRushNZ
(Link also in bio)
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#gold #goldmining #goldprospecting #goldrush #goldrushhistory #goldnugget #goldjewellery #sciencejewelry #womeninstem #scicomm #sciencetravel #instascience #newzealand #newzealandroadtrip #traveldeeper #travelgram #geologyrocks #arrowtown #racism

Gold mining step 3️⃣ . Here’s where the chem

Gold mining step 3️⃣
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Here’s where the chemistry comes in ⚗️
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This apparatus was used to extract any gold out of crushed quartz rocks. ⚜️
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Cyanide and water were added in. The basic chemistry behind this is that cyanide in a water solution draws the gold out from the rest of the rock, as this solution takes electrons from the gold atoms. 🤝
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This loss of electrons makes the solid gold dissolve in the water, leaving other rock components stuck behind.💦
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Addition of zinc metal to the separated liquid then causes an inverse process. Gold takes electrons from the zinc, re-becoming a solid and depositing out of solution, ready for the taking. (The zinc dissolves in its place.)💰
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For more on New Zealand’s gold rush follow along with my posts, or visit my blog 👇
bit.ly/GoldRushNZ
(Link also in bio)
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#goldmining #goldmininghistory #goldrush #goldrushhistory #chemistry #gold #scicomm #sciencecommunicator #travelgram #traveldeeper #newzealand #newzealandroadtrip #southislandnz #cyanide #sciencetravel #learnsomethingnew #staycurious #ionicreactions #instascience

Gold mining step 2️⃣ . This is a stamper batte

Gold mining step 2️⃣
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This is a stamper battery from the 1860s. Used to crush the mined rock into smaller pieces, so that gold could then be extracted more easily.💰
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All that water splashing out of the bottom is thanks to the whole setup being powered by water, pumped up from the gorge nearby. 🚿
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For more on New Zealand’s gold rush follow along with my next posts, or visit my blog 👇
bit.ly/GoldRushNZ
(Link also in bio)
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#goldmining #goldrush #goldmininghistory #goldprospecting #gold #stamperbattery #antiques #historyofchemistry #scicomm #sciencecommunicator #travelgram #sciencegram #outdoorscience #getrichordietrying #newzealand #newzealandroadtrip #southislandnz #goldfieldsminingcentre #learnsomethingnew #staycurious #atlasobscura #offthebeatenpath #engineering

Gold mining, step 1️⃣ . The first step to gett

Gold mining, step 1️⃣
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The first step to getting to gold in hard quartz rock was tunneling. ⛏💣
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This is part of the tunnel in Karangahake, accessible as part of a hiking route in the area. Pitch black and claustrophobic, I was happy to eventually find myself on the other side.🔦
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Would you work here day after day in the hope of striking it rich? In its heyday, this was New Zealand’s third largest mine, with 2000 people living directly on site.💰💰
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For more on New Zealand’s gold rush follow my upcoming posts or visit my blog 👇
bit.ly/GoldRushNZ
(Link also in bio)
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#gold #goldmining #goldprospecting #karangahake #coromandel #newzealand #newzealandroadtrip #scicomm #sciencecommunicator #travelgram #mining #offthebeatenpath #atlasobscura #hiketheworld #newzealandhikes #outdoorclassroom #learnsomethingnew #goldrush #goldrushhistory #geologyrocks #sciencetravel #tunneling

What would you do to own this rock❓ . This is qu

What would you do to own this rock❓
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This is quartz naturally dripping with shimmering gold. A sight that would have greeted many prospectors at the height of New Zealand’s gold rush. 💰 💰 .
There were two ways of striking it lucky during the gold rush:
1️⃣ finding gold in the veins of hard quartz rock
2️⃣ finding it loose in the river bed.
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Getting to gold trapped in hard rock like this required a simple blend of physics and chemistry.
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I’ll cover this in my next posts so stay tuned for more, or read more info up on my blog 👇
bit.ly/GoldRushNZ
(Link also in bio) .
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#gold #goldmining #goldprospecting #goldrush #atlasobscura #scicomm #sciencetravel #midastouch #newzealand #newzealandroadtrip #geology #geologyrocks #sciencegram #travelgram #science #sciencecommunicator #instascience #goldore #chemistry #outdoorclassroom #staycurious #learnsomethingnew

What’s your daily commute❓ . This used to be g

What’s your daily commute❓
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This used to be gold miners’ daily commute in New Zealand, back in the 19th century.
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Thanks to COVID-19, mine is still rolling out of bed and onto my desk. Altogether less treacherous, but then there isn’t a potential gold nugget waiting at the end of it!
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For more on New Zealand’s gold rush, stay tuned for my next posts or read my new blog post here:
bit.ly/GoldRushNZ
(Link also in bio)
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#goldrush #goldrushnewzealand #goldmining #goldfieldsminingcentre #newzealand #newzealandroadtrip #southislandnz #sciencetravel #scicomm #scienceblog #travelgram #dailycommute #staycurious #learnsomethingnew

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