When you start looking for a PhD position in the big wide world, nobody tells you how complex it's going to be. There's no one size fits all - every country has a slightly different system, expectations, funding models, etc.
I'm continuing to collect data of my process applying!

Woooohooo it's out! 🥳 I'm happy to share my first scientific paper with you!
"Non-Invasive Underwater DNA Sampling Illuminates Red Sea Echinoderm Diversity" presents a sampling method that is cheap, robust, and easy to use. Best of all: non-invasive!

Enjoy!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Submitted revisions for my first paper!
Me trying to be casual about it for the next however long:

I'm looking for some good resources to discuss AI and how it meets us grad students/researchers in the biological sciences, including the good, the bad, and the ugly - ethics, useful tools, considerations, etc.
Please share if you've come across anything good!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR56...

Officially having this on during all work hours. Beautiful feed! 🦅

This fantastic scientific group, the Transnational Red Sea Center, attempts to stimulate Red Sea reef research and promotes regional cooperation. I love what these guys do and have had the pleasure of working with them a bit!

Great new video of their work in Aqaba, Jordan:
vimeo.com/1110945817

A few weeks ago I went on a whale watching tour from Gloucester and we came across this beautiful male, Satula 🐋
He has a unique trait where he “purrs” before taking a dive - he is the only whale they’ve heard do it, and they don’t know why! Guesses?

Volume up to hear the purr (and excitement lol)

Preparing to apply to PhDs in the US as an international student is… confusing. 😵‍💫

If anybody wants to share their academic CV or take a look at mine, let me know!

Sex on the reef! 😛 Video I captured a couple of weeks ago in the Red Sea.

Every year, masses of these brown surgeonfish get together to spawn for a few weeks at sunset. Other fish love to join the party, like the Seargant Major fish here that immediately go for the egg and sperm.

Me waiting for my first (!!) paper that's under review

We love a marine mammal trend!
Sponges are IN baby 🧽

www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

(and let me know if you hear of anything good)

Starting my search for a marine bio/eco/conservation/molecular PhD! 🫣

I'm planning to track how many emails/apps I send in, how many responses I get, how many interviews, etc., and see what the stats are like at the end. Obviously it's person-dependent, but fun to see.

Let's gooooooo!

🎧 Podcast recommendation!

The Outlaw Ocean is an independent investigative journalism project dedicated to exposing the myriad of crimes happening today in the ocean.

I can recommend it as one of the most fascinating and harrowing investigative series I’ve listened to.

theoutlawocean.com/podcast

This documentary was such a difficult watch - but important!

Bottom trawling doesn't just catch fish for consumption, it completely uplifts, disrupts, and destroys the local seafloor habitat and its benthic community, often catching much more than the intended catch.

I will forever be haunted by this footage.

Trawling has only been filmed underwater a few times in documentary history, and never with such clarity.

What’s so heart-rending about these shots is watching how the animals don’t just get swept up — they swim for their lives.
🌎🦑🧪

Hello world! 🌞