A Scientist without a Lab

Somehow, over the course of my education and the start of my professional career, I have ended up as a desk jockey. A veritable IT person masquerading as a Marine Biologist.

I had hoped to find my niche in the cushy and ever-present world of federal employment. Instead, I find myself sitting in a cubicle, looking at a computer screen, and fondly remembering my college jobs conducting messy field work and doing the ever-tedious lab work, I even miss the six months I spent throwing up for a living on a fishing boat. Now I just stare at the computer all day.

A monkey could do my job.

Well, no, maybe not a monkey... but certainly any high school computer team member with even the slightest knowledge of code.


After hitting my snooze button no less than six times, I roll out of bed in the morning. I connect to millions of people around the world before I even bother to brush my teeth.

Thanks to the internet, I can easily catch up on any and all important affairs that took place during the five hours I pass off as a good night’s sleep. I brew my morning coffee and where past generations would have sat at the kitchen table and opened their local newspaper; I sprawl back onto my couch in my tiny apartment and open my laptop.

I have pretty much convinced myself that my Google homepage houses every headline I could possibly need. CNN, BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery News all show up first thing in the morning.

My caffeine deprived mind skims over the celebrity death notices and marriage announcements that somehow pass as international news and I skim articles, chastising myself for not taking the time to read them properly. On most mornings, I make do with scanning articles, mentally flagging the ones to revisit at work when I need a break from the monotony of my day or to stop myself from jumping out my third floor office window. I head to the office confident, at the very least, that the President was not shot, a miracle cure for cancer had not been discovered, and World War III did not break out while I was sleeping.


Inevitably, besides concise updates on world affairs, the articles I always read are the ones in National Geographic, Discovery, Scientific American... Reading science news articles throughout my day is as ingrained in my routine as my 10am cup of coffee. Even when I'm actually doing work at work, I usually listen to science podcasts on my ipod.


I'm not trying to deny how dorky this all sounds. I am a self-proclaimed geek in almost everything I do. No one can read actual scientific study articles (not just science news articles) for fun and not be a nerd. I just like to share my nerddom.

That, good readers, is the purpose of this blog.

Someone who reads as much science news as me should have a place to post it. SciEm.Blogspot.com will be the happy home to any and all science news or breakthroughs that I find interesting.

I hope you enjoy it.

-Emily