#1
I dive in darkness,
sink down to the deep sea bed
to find pearls of light.
Joanna Tilsley [UK]
I’m a poet, not a science pro, but I immerse myself thoroughly in science fact and ongoing research, and this informs my creativity. Read more.
Jury’s Grand Prize
#2
As matter of fact
In most concerns and matters
Location matters
Håkan Karlsson [SE]
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (KTH, Stockholm)
My entry is based on my 16 years of working with geographical data and analysis. Read more.
#3
Geometrical
continuum mechanics
and topology
provides physics with
all-embracing descriptions
by de Rham currents.
Johan Hamberg [SE]
#4
Human enamel
Growing slower and thinner
Milk and fish to blame
Christopher Aris [UK]
University of Kent
Bioarchaeology Ph.D. student working with modern human teeth.
#5
Activity probe
LOX is trapped with the probe, boom!
Enzyme detected
Dea Gogishvili [NL]
Research intern, University of Groningen
#6
A sleepness lab night
the petri dish infected
by the crumbs of KFC
George Zochios
Biology Student
#7
The lab stinks
and the field bites;
embrace the bioinformatics
Marios Gabrielatos [GR]
Biology student at National and Kapodistrian University οf Athens
#8
The Avengers Civil war but full of shit.
Who’s the good guy, who’s the bad?
It takes guts to find out!
Panagiota Mamareli [GR]
Universitätsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
PhD student in Immunology, focused on mucosal inflammation. Read more.
#9
Wiping the dark cloth
aside on the glass over
the Silver Book page
Horst Ludvig [DE/US]
Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, US
Codex Argenteus [Silverbibeln / ’The Silver Book’] at Uppsala University Library: What does a young student from a foreign country do on a sunny afternoon in a country of the midnight sun? Read more.
#10
At the forest foot
welling, flickering light
of purest water
Horst Ludvig [DE/US]
Gustavus Adolphus College (see #9).
#11
Hazards and humans
Emergency Management
Needs evidence base
Jeff Rubin [US]
I work at the intersection of geoscience, emergency management, and public policy. For me it’s all about basing what we do on evidence rather than anecdote and the dreaded “best practices”.
#12
Reviewer two wrote:
“Not a cutting-edge research”
Seems efforts don’t count
Egle Bukarte [LT/SE]
Lund university
PhD student in Chemical physics and photosynthesis. Here is a poem from personal experience, which I think many of us can relate to.
#13
Cancer is clever,
Immune system is smarter,
Let’s boost this killer
Cyrielle [FR]
Master student in molecular and cellular biology
#14
Toads are missing ears??
Lost and found over again
Evolving next door
Leorah Brooke McGinnis [US]
lab manager, Department of Biology, Colorado State University link
… one thing our lab studies is how some closely related toads lost ears and then regained them in some cases, and we can’t tell why.
#15
Climate change is here
Towards carbon storage we steer
Will it be enough, I fear
Yash Verma [IN]
I’m doing my Ph.D. in geomechanics of carbon storage.
#16
Arsenic in the Andes hides
Can human natives thrive?
Adapted they surely are!
Jessica De Loma
Ph.D. candidate studying arsenic in the South American Andes from a geneticist perspective.
#17
Found any gold yet?
And then his sheepdog steals
the humerus
A thousand and two hundred years old
still the scapulas
of a little child
Deborah Karl-Brandt [DE]
PhD from University Bonn, at Department of Scandinavian languages and literature
#18
Cells stuck in young state
Mature them to wrap neurons
Regrow myelin
Elizabeth Thomason [US]
PhD student in Richmond, Virginia
#19
Prenatal mosaic
Each cell unique together
Develop their fates
Heather Etchevers [FR]
My group and I study how small genetic changes starting in one cell after fertilization can lead to congenital malformations. When cells have a slightly divergent genetic makeup from one another in the same organism, we call that “mosaic”. Read more
#20
Ecology has
rules; who lives where and why, that
microbes may defy
Heather Olins [US]
Microbial ecologist, Assistant Prof. of the Practice, Boston College link
#21
Microbes in small ponds
produce and consume methane
but which dominates?
Heather Olins [US]
Microbial ecologist, Assistant Prof. of the Practice, Boston College link
#22
on a mountain top
against odds of random drift
plant adaptation
Tuomas Hämälä [US]
population geneticist; Post-Doctoral Associate, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota
Runner up alpha, The Jury’s Grand Prize
#23
A microbe’s defense
In ultraviolet presence?
Floral fluorescence.
Rebecca Hayes [US]
I am a technician at the university of Pittsburgh. I study petal bacterial UV tolerance in relation to UV patterns in flowers.
#24
A bat flaps away.
Where are you, tagged animal?
Radio-silence.
Isabella Mandl [AT]
I’m studying flying fox movements for conservation in the tropics.
#25
These pickup artists
Think sex is a marketplace
They keep suffering
Sarah Martin
My research interests are gender, sexuality, and, specifically, masculinities and masculine internet subcultures.
#26
You can not buy love
It is an experience
Not a transaction
Sarah Martin
My research interests are gender, sexuality, and, specifically, masculinities and masculine internet subcultures.
#27
Global warming leading to climate change!
Save the planet with ocean microbes,
Agulhas Current hard at work.
Kolisa Yola Sinyanya [ZA]
Ph.D. candidate specializing in Marine Biogeochemistry, using nitrogen isotopes to explore how a surface oceanic current enhances carbon export potential.
#28
Leaves fall like manna
Intercepted and held in
Secret compost piles
Scott Zona
This haiku highlights litter-trapping plants, funnel-shaped plants that trap leaf litter and extract nutrients from it.
#29
Salvia’s small seeds
Blown by wind or washed by rain
Disperse to new sites
Scott Zona
I do work with seed dispersal of Salvia.
#30
Large seeds germinate
Small seeds stay dormant longer
Heterocarpy
Scott Zona
I work with Salvia roemeriana, which produces two kinds of fruits that differ in size, dormancy, and dispersal ability.
#31
Wandering T cell
Redirected to attack
Finds a new purpose
Belinda Kramer [AU]
I’m a cancer researcher developing immune therapies to target childhood cancers.
#32
Light shines on the heart
Photons trigger the muscle
Human heart beats on
Silke Kramprich [DE]
I am a science and technology communicator focusing on photonics.
The people’s poet
#33
Twelve false shooting stars
Record reflections of light
But how right are they?
—
Uncertainties combined
Untangled through more equations
The errors come to light.
James Mollard [UK]
In my research we are analysing the uncertainty of climate data records from satellite Earth observations.
#34
In stench of sulphur
microbes can exhale methane.
“Is there life on Mars?”
Mario Toubes-Rodrigo [UK]
The aim of my research is investigating gas production in Martian analogues on Earth, growing microorganisms in Martian simulated brine.
#35
Blood sugar rising,
My lifeline begins changing,
I’m growing, but why?
Katy Walsh [UK]
I’m researching the effect of temporal glucose fluctuations on placental and fetal growth in pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes.
First runner-up, The People’s Poet
#36
Smartphone in every hand
Apps for every ailment
None ever so helpful
Oyuka Byambasuren
I’m a Ph.D. candidate researching the effectiveness of smartphone health apps and their potential to be used in clinical practice.
#37
fragmented
in A T C G
your laughter
Fulldome Festival
thoughts feel out
the event horizon
between two cells
the connection
I’m looking for
Claudia Brefeld [DE]
biological technical assistant at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Theoretical and Applied Biodiversity
#38
Excruciating
Pain. Blot clot. Inflammation.
Stem cells sense, repair.
Wound inflammation
Maybe more than pain, does it
help regenerate?
Smash! Injury. Pain.
Needs fast regeneration
Who tells the stem cells?
Noemi Linden [DE]
Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
I’m an undergraduate student investigating the mechanisms and effects of immune-cell-stem-cell-communication in wound repair and tissue regeneration.
#39
ceasefire agreement –
honeybees returning home
loaded with pollen
Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă [RO]
I am a teacher and writer from Botosani, Romania.
Runner up beta, The Jury’s Grand Prize
Second runner-up, The People’s Poet
#40
sunflower field
shedding light
on dark matter
Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă [RO]
I am a teacher and writer from Botosani, Romania.
#41
Humans drink antibiotics like cups of tea,
Bacteria flush it out like a bad memory,
The key to this resistance is to burst open their Outer membrane protein treasury.
Farha Sayeed [IN/SE]
Umeå University, Sweden
I am a Master Student in Molecular biology and work on proteins that regulate outer membrane lipopolysaccharide in Vibrio cholerae.
# …
you should really
be a contestant
next time we organize this
- Claire Price of Crastina receives outreach award from Royal Society of Biology - October 25, 2020
- Agile Science student project at Brussels Engineering School ECAM: “We can’t wait to try it again!” - August 28, 2020
- Create an infographic in the Lifeology SciArt Infographic Challenge - June 16, 2020
- Adam Ruben – The scientist that teaches undergraduate students comedy - March 27, 2020
- Sam Gregson, Bad Boy of Science: “Comedy helps to bridge the gap” - March 10, 2020
- The Coolest Science Merchandise of 2019 - December 16, 2019
- Science Media Centre (UK) offers guide on dealing with online harassment in academia - November 26, 2019
- Agile project management taught to students and researchers at Karolinska Institutet - September 20, 2019
- Stefan Jansson: Improve your credibility! (Crastina Column, September 2019) - September 6, 2019
- The People’s Poet: Silke Kramprich, tech communicator - August 31, 2019