A thank you letter

One year old! Science Calling became more than a http:// address and wordpress dashboard. It is a website that became my passion. A passion driven by everyone who has visited over the past year, everyone who has shared and encouraged. After such a hectic year, today I am taking a breather to stop and reflect.

On 3rd June 2011, I nervously posted ‘Why don’t we get cancer everyday?‘ and I haven’t had time to look back since. Giving myself of a target of an article every Friday turned out to be a lot harder than I had imagined. Research, interviews, photos and pulling them all together in a post takes time. To my delight you all visited my site. It’s brilliant to know that people are willing to take time out of their busy schedules and read about something that I find fascinating.

Twitter has been amazing and I’ve mentioned this in a number of posts over the past year. Interacting with the Irish and international science community is so easy through this medium. I have not only met fellow science enthusiasts this way but have made great friends.

Ten wonderful people have contributed 13 guest posts to Science Calling over the past year. Thanks to each of you for taking the time to write such interesting posts!

You may think I am exaggerating when I say that Science Calling has changed my life… but it has. I have had a pretty tough year but writing about science, meeting members of the science community and being involved in exciting projects has brightened up so many otherwise darkened days. It has made me reevaluate what is important to me and reignited my infatuation with science.

Thank you so much for every view, retweet and encouraging word. The past year has been unbelievable!

Some Highlights (Jun 2011 – May 2012):

• Finding science everywhere… even on holidays!
• Writing for the Guardian Bike Blog
• Getting the Irish Presidential candidates to think for a moment about science
• Shortlisted for eircom Spiders Big Mouth Award
• Judging the SciFest Finals & meeting such amazing scientists
• Blogging at the Falling Walls International Science Conference in Berlin
• Meeting Dara O Briain… not once, but twice
• Speaking (very rapidly!) about prions at Ignite Dublin
• Spending hours playing science crowdsourcing games in aid of research
• Being part of the excitement of ESOF (book your tickets now!)
• Member of the Science 140 team… it just keeps getting better
• Gender Stereotypes & Science +1 series (thanks to brilliant guest bloggers)