• Question: what things are you working on at the moment?

    Asked by 263nveg45 to Michael, Marisol, Lauren on 16 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Marisol Collins

      Marisol Collins answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      Hi there! Thank you for asking!

      At the moment, in my research work, I am working on investigating a nasty little parasite tapeworm that dogs get, called Echinococcus, which also spreads to farm animals and people. I am investigating this by collecting lots of samples of dog poo from around the country and testing for this parasite by looking at samples under the microscope, and using different techniques to search for the DNA of the parasite in the poo. Once I find a positive sample, I can put on a map where it came from. After doing this many, many times, I can build up a map of where the parasite is in the UK, and this can help us to see where we need to control it better!

      Marisol 🙂

    • Photo: Lauren Burt

      Lauren Burt answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      Hi!

      So apart from going to different beaches to collect information (my normal job) I am actually still learning at university! I was chosen to do something called a ‘Masters’ course and it is all about coastal engineering (building structures to look after people living near the sea from storms) and coastal science (how the waves in the sea are made and how they damage the coastline). I have been doing that at the same time as work! Really difficult! But I have learnt so much, like how a wave is made!

      For the last bit of my Masters I have to write a really long book on a topic that I have chosen. It has to be 20,000 words long! So many words! I am working on looking at how squishy the mud is that we find at some parts of the coastline, and if we can build on it! If we can build on it, it might cause the mud to squish down, and that is a problem. People who manage the coastline want to know as they might put a beach on some mud near where I live!

      Interesting!

      Lauren 😀

    • Photo: Michael Rivera

      Michael Rivera answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      At the moment, I am looking at people who live on the coast and rely on resources from rivers, lake and seas. I want to see how activities like fishing, swimming and rowing change our bodies in terms of how strong our bones are, and whether food like fish made people in the past healthier.

      To do this study, I am traveling to countries in East Europe called Estonia and Latvia. There were many people who lived in these places around 5,000 years ago, and the places they lived in are relatively flat, and relatively close to rivers and oceans. I hope to see a lot of signs of healthy diets, because they’re eating a lot of fish and getting a lot of protein! I also want to see from my results they had stronger bones from all the fishing and swimming!

      What do you think? Interesting?

      Michael 🙂

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