Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻
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sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻
@sarahbearchell.bsky.social
3.1K followers 1.8K following 150 posts
Science Writer, Presenter & Trainer. Oxfordshire, UK. Making multi-sensory interactive science accessible for all! Lapsed botanist
#Inclusive #SciComm #Nature #Agriculture #Autistic

childrens-science.co.uk

Photo: making clouds for delighted children
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sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Glorious afternoon at the limestone pavement at @plantlifeuk.bsky.social Winskill Stones Reserve #Yorkshire #SciComm
A view along the gryke (channel) of a limestone pavement. You can see some very dry moss, the soft leaves of a Yorkshire fog grass seedling and a patch of herb Robert. In the distance is a hill called Ingleborough (I think!). It's gloriously sunny.
August 2, 2025 at 4:13 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Delighted to be included in Jonathan Powell's article on the use of signing in astronomy teaching. One of the cover stories in the current issue of @senmagazine.co.uk
#BSL #Makaton #SciComm
The cover of SEN Magazine featuring a smiling white child with curly blonde hair. There is also a close up of the article with the words "I love it when audience members teach me new signs" and pictures showing how to sign moon: hold your dominant hand at head height with thumb and forefinger pinched together, then move them apart as you move your hand down, and back together again - it's like making a crescent moon.
July 29, 2025 at 12:17 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
A nectar thief! This buff-tailed #bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, landed on a Salvia flower, nibbled a hole in the flower tube, drank the nectar and flew to the next. Skipping pollination altogether. You can see identical holes in all the flowers. Cheeky!
@bumblebeetrust.bsky.social
#SciComm
#Nature
A nice fluffy bumblebee with a buff coloured abdomen end is resting on the underside of a scarlet flowered ornamental Salvia flower. A white circle is drawn around one of the scarlet Salvia flowers. It highlights where a hole has been nibbled in the petals. Closer inspection shows this same hole is present on all the open or old flowers in the inflorescence of about 10 flowers.
June 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
New magnetic material discovered. Better tell the #GCSE and #ALevel examiners about this one!

#SciComm
Care instructions on cotton polyester sheet packaging. The highlighted text says "Due to the magnetic nature of polyester when in contact with fibres such as nylon, pilling may occur"
June 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
The #fasciation on this Veronica spicata has left me with an #earworm.

Sing it with me...MahNahMahNah!

#Muppets
Veronica spicata is a perennial plant. It has spikes of tiny bright purple flowers. The tip of each inflorescence is almost neon green/yellow. Fascination has caused some to form with a flat end but the one in focus has an o-shape. It looks like a moth on top of a purple Muppet! The Muppets who sang MahNahMaNah. The central one is beardy but is not the one I remember most. The Muppets on either side have fluffy pink bodies, pink horns, googly eyes on top of their heads and bright neon green/yellow mouths. They look like the top of the Veronica inflorescence!
June 12, 2025 at 9:46 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
My first Great Exhibition Road Festival - and what an audience!

Can you see the expressions on joy, awe & wonder on children & adults alike? Look even closer and you'll see an array of stickers and make-and-takes from the research activities provided by @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social #GERF
A backstage view of a packed audience at an outdoor festival. You can see a woman in a tartan dress and black cardigan from behind. She is making large bubbles. The audience facing her appear at first to be entirely children between toddlers and ten years old, but look closely and there are supportive adults in there too. The audience's faces are a mixture of awe, anticipation, delight and joy.
June 10, 2025 at 1:15 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Popped in to see you...look at all those wonderful visitors!
A stall at Great Exhibition Road Festval. A large yellow banner has the words "invisible warrior" on it. You can barely see it above the throng of people busy reading materials and chatting with the hosts.
June 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Oooh! How exciting! A pyramidal orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, has taken up residence in my front garden! #WildflowerHour #Botany #SciComm #Nature #UK
A species rich "lawn" including a singular bright pink-purple orchid. The individual tiny flowers (about 0.5cm diameter) are arranged in a pyramid shape
June 4, 2025 at 11:57 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
The #Goth #Moth, as it's known in my house!

Tyria jacobaeae, the cinnabar moth. Specific name from main host plant, ragwort, Jacobaeae vulgaris (syn. Senecio jacobaeae). Common name from red mercury ore, cinnabar. Hoping to see yellow and black caterpillars in a few weeks! #Nature #SciComm
A moth rests on broad grass leaves in the morning sun. Its wings are part-folded and are black with bright scarlet patches.
May 13, 2025 at 10:27 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Is this a tiny bee on this beautiful Geum? Less than a centimetre long!
#UK #Bee
Beautiful five petalled, bright orange Geum flower, packed with pollen covered anthers at the centre. What looks (to me) like a tiny black bee is just taking off from it.
May 2, 2025 at 12:04 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
The elytra of this pill bug (Byrrhus sp.) flashed gold in the sun! It's heading for the damp shade of some grass & leaf litter. When disturbed, they stop still, and tuck everything in so they look like inconspicuous rabbit poop.
#Oxfordshire #Colepotera #Beetle #SciComm
ALT not working, see thread.
May 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I just discovered ALL my academic papers are in the LibGen database, used to train Meta's AI. Years of learning & expertise, funded by #BBSRC @ukri.org, taken for profit.

Please sign the @societyofauthors.bsky.social petition.

Link to @theatlanticpr.bsky.social search tool in AltText.
A screenshot from The Atlantic's search of the LibGen database. It shows three extremely exciting journal articles about wheat diseases with SJ Bearchell as one of the authors. Check your material here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/
April 3, 2025 at 9:46 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Thanks to Lyra and the team @ouhospitals.bsky.social #JohnRadcliffe #NHS. You made my return to donating so much easier!
Red sticker in the shape of a drop of blood, stuck on a yellow notebook. The text says: I gave blood and helped save up to 3 lives #ThisIsAmazing..it also has the UK Blood Service logo of two hearts (not anatomical!) entwined with a circle at each heart dent to depict a human head and the words: Give Blood
March 6, 2025 at 10:54 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Slightly awkward photo of me posing with my 2024 Beetlestone Award for leadership and legacy in informal science learning. Nominations open soon for the 2025 award, so get thinking about someone you know who deserves it. I promise they'll get a huge boost just from being nominated! #SciComm UK only
A white woman with green eyes and long straight greying-brown hair. She's wearing round, silver framed spectacles which accentuate the lovely wrinkles round her eyes. She has a Mona Lisa-like smile. In front of her is a transparent cuboid-shaped award and inside it are etched The Impossibe Triangle illusion and the words "Beetlestone Award 2024, Sarah Bearchell, for leadership and legacy"
February 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Science meets Street Theatre! @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social #Swindon 17-20 Feb (half term), students will work with myself & stars from @primetheatre.bsky.social to create, rehearse & perform a brand new piece of #ScienceBusking #StreetTheatre! Its FREE!
www.festivaloftomorrow.com/the-festival...
Two young teens wearing labcoats both have coloured sunglasses perched on top of their heads. The teen on the right is smiling, while holding an inflated balloon with the tips of their fingers. The teen on the left is looking at the balloon and you can see them is talking. In the background are two more people out of focus but you can see they are also wearing labcoats and coloured sunglasses.
January 22, 2025 at 10:41 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
December's Aquila Magazine! Theme = #Vikings inc my article about #BogBodies #Peat, shows you how to make Queen Gunnhildr's Pickled (Pota)Toes. Also articles from @taskmaster.tv and thisyear's @ri-science.bsky.social Xmas Lecturer Dr Chris van Tulleken.
International shipping available! aquila.co.uk
Shows a close-up of a panel in Aquila Magazine. Text contains a pun about toes made out of potatoes which your text reader might not cope with. Sorry. Text reads: What happened there then? During pickling, water moves out of the (pota)toes by osmosis and the pickling liquid diffuses in to replace it, preserving the spuds. Vinegar makes the pickling liquid acidic, and the teabag releases tannins - conditions a bit like a peat bog! There is a picture of five toes, sculpted from potato (complete with potato skin nails), which are slightly wrinkly and brown stained. The caption below the picture says 1 week later - brown and wrinkly - and stinky! The edge of the next panel is included as a teaser, it says: Taking it further: Horrify your family.
December 10, 2024 at 7:18 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
December's Aquila Magazine! Theme = #Vikings has my article about #BogBodies #Peat, shows you how to make Queen Gunnhildr's Pickled (Pota)Toes. Also articles from @taskmaster.tv and this year's @ri-science.bsky.social Xmas Lecturer Dr Chris van Tulleken.
International shipping available aquila.co.uk
Shows a close-up of a panel in Aquila Magazine. Text contains a pun about toes made out of potatoes which your text reader might not cope with. Sorry. Text reads: What happened there then? During pickling, water moves out of the (pota)toes by osmosis and the pickling liquid diffuses in to replace it, preserving the spuds. Vinegar makes the pickling liquid acidic, and the teabag releases tannins - conditions a bit like a peat bog! There is a picture of five toes, sculpted from potato (complete with potato skin nails), which are slightly wrinkly and brown stained. The caption below the picture says 1 week later - brown and wrinkly - and stinky! The edge of the next panel is included as a teaser, it says: Taking it further: Horrify your family.
December 10, 2024 at 9:32 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I've worked on this so much, I can no longer see the errors! Draft one of book one submitted.

I'm expecting corrections and copies notes!
#SciComm
Photo of a laptop screen, MS Word. You can see the bottom left corner, where it says "Page 1 of 98. 37807 words". There is also a little sunshine and clouds weather icon.
November 22, 2024 at 3:04 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Inspired by Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser's talk at #ASDC24, I'd like to suggest COMMUNITY SHOW-AND-TELL TABLES tables for Science Centres & Shopping Malls. Anyone can bring something they find interesting. Ideally these should be tactile objects with someone in charge to ensure accessibility.
A panel of people in front of a large projected slide saying "Transforming tomorrow together"
November 18, 2024 at 2:33 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Ginkgo biloba or Maidenhair Tree in St. James' Park, London. This is the last living species in the Ginkgoales, which first appeared in the Permian, 270 MYA. This is a female and was covered in fruit, with a few on the ground already. #Botany #Nature #SciComm
A branch with fan shaped leaves where the veins branch in equal halves as they fan out. Leaves are almost luminous yellow but they grey London day is not helping! Fantastic shaped leaves on grass. Among them is a pale orange round fruit about 2cm.in diameter.
November 18, 2024 at 12:37 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Tomorrow, I'm off to the Association of Science and Discovery Centres (UK) Conference at The Royal Society in London.

I'll be there to learn new stuff and explain about The Josh Award and The Beetlestone Award. If you are in UK #SciComm, you should consider applying! #ASDC #ASDC24
Sparkly photo of a transparent acrylic cuboid award. Cleverly etched inside are an image of The Impossible Triangle and the words "Beetlestone Award 2024. Sarah Bearchell. For Leadership and Legacy"
November 17, 2024 at 6:38 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Yesterday I went to the Institute of Physics Communicators Conference. I heard inspiring talks about amazing #physics and met some really interesting people. I checked my phone on the way home and have zero selfies or pictures of humans, just these signs...this says a lot about me.
A photo taken on the westbound platform of the Metropolitan Line on the London Underground (Tube). From the foreground to the background: tiled floor, dot textured floor, painted yellow danger line, weird ribbed textured floor that you can only feel through Converse, then white line and edge of platform. On the other side of the tracks is an iconic tube sign saying Kings Cross Saint Pancras. A photo of a cream brick built Georgian corner building (think Flatiron in NYC). On the ground floor is a generic Five Guys shop. A red phone box and red double decker bus have managed to sneak in, just to prove it's London. The building has a sign saying "Pentonville Road" like in Monopoly.
November 15, 2024 at 4:45 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
New to #SciComm? BIG's #online Little Event is on 16 & 18 Jan 2025. Includes practical skills, networking & amazing people!
Well-worth joining BIG (UK's #STEM Communicator's Network) for online resources, prizes & The BIG Event - my one unmissable event of the year!
www.big.uk.com/latest-news/...
A canva-type image for "The Little Event 2025", hosted by BIG, the STEM Communicators Network, 16 and 18 January on Zoom. It says: Our popular introductory training sessions for people new to STEM communication. Members £50, Non-members £85, which includes one year of membership. Quote from attendee "This was the first SciComm event I ever attended, and it was so useful! Highly recommend to anyone getting started, and wanting to know more!" Applications are now open for The Little Event Bursary. Apply today for a free place at this year's Little Event. If you are in the first 5 years of your career in STEM and haven't attended one of BIG's events before, you can apply. The bursary is worth £85 and includes a year's membership to BIG. Deadline for applications is 9 December. www.big.uk.com
November 13, 2024 at 9:37 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I'd like to be this comfortable, please.

She's even snoring.
A small black dog with a red tartan collar is sleeping in total abandonment on a pale greyish brown fluffy blanket. She just looks incredibly content. The dog is a Patterdale Terrier crossed with other terrier types. She has a ribcage like a whippet, spindly yet muscular legs and short hair.
November 12, 2024 at 7:19 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I feel your pain, it reminds me of when I was delighted to find I'd already started a chapter, only to find it contained precisely 5 words.
Photo of a laptop with an MS Word document which reads "Chapter 5 Innovation in Cultivation" and then a big page of nothingness.
November 10, 2024 at 3:27 PM