When people are asked to think of a quintessential female scientists icon, many would probably mention Rosalind Franklin. However, I beg to differ. I make it no secret that Barbara McClintock is my favourite scientist EVER.

It was with great pleasure that I borrowed (from the NIE library - this book is only available in hardcopy) and read this book. Unfortunately this book is currently no available for loan or reference by NLB.

This book is an autobiography of Barbara McClintock and chronicles her growing up years and her struggles as a female scientist and her eventual recognition which culminated with her being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983.

This is an inspiring book for all female science students, whether you are an aspiring scientist or just simply studying science because it is part of the curriculum.

Definitely not a book, but this documentary that I recently watched on Netflix is recommended.

In this documentary, various leading female scientists discuss the inequalities they have faced in the STEM industry.

One account mentioned how when she was working in James Watson's lab, Francis Crick visited the lab and molested her. FYI: both of these men were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1953 for the discovery of DNA. I was so disgusted when I watched her account the story in the documentary.

Another story that really stayed with me was how David Marchant, an ex-staff of Boston University would harass his female students while they were on field trips. On one occasion, besides calling Jane Willenbring degrading names (which I shall not repeat), he would throw rocks at her while she was urinating out in the field. It came to a point where she would drink as little water as possible to avoid having to go to the toilet and ended up with bladder problems. He has since been fired after many more came forward to report him.

This show really made me feel strong feelings and I am still feeling a little upset and angry after watching it.

I originally borrowed the hardcopy of this book, but I realised that NLB as a softcopy available for loan too.

This book contains many beautiful images of cells, taken using different kinds of microscopy techniques. It showcases unicellular organisms all the way to multicellular organisms.

Additionally, the book is also well written and factually correct to accompany these photos.

I would recommend this book to all secondary school students and up to enjoy!

This was the book that kick started my interest in reading about how history has shaped science. This is a pro-science book! The author shares similar views as me.

As stated on the cover, the book covers seven different case studies on how (although with good intentions) science has gone wrong. Chapter 1 to 7 each copers one case study, chapter 8 summarises the book.

This book is available as an e-book on the NLB website or various reading applications. Paul Offit has other books he published available on NLB too, and they are all good reads.

If you have not noticed, Paul Offit is one of my favourite authors. This book "Overkill" is his latest book.

The title itself makes it sound like an alternative medicine book, but it is not.

The book is subdivided into 6 parts:

1. Infections

2. Supplements and Drugs

3. Food and over the counter products

4. Cancer screen

5. Surgery

6. Common Beliefs

The book revolves around the theme of how sometimes modern medicines fail to change and keep up with the times even when scientific studies have conclusively proven certain practices as ill advised.

One case study that particularly stuck with me is the common idea of how antibiotics course should be finished. He argues that science has shown this is not true (and I agree). The process in which one continues to complete the antibiotic course even when symptoms have subsided functions as a selection pressure for bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotics to flourish. Ultimately this results in the increased probability of the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains.

Feeling mind blown? Yes, I recommend reading this book for other highly interesting and eye opening case studies.

This book was quite a long read, and took me multiple renewals and almost forever to complete.

The first half of the book was quite enjoyable and eye opening where the author first discussed how viruses influenced evolution and the genome of organisms that they infected.

As the chapters progressed, the language and terminology used in the book got more and more complicated, that even I myself started to lose track and get slightly confused.

Starting around the second half of the book, the author moved away from viruses and focused on epigenetics. I do enjoy reading about epigenetics and how there is increased interest in research in this field.

A quick internet search showed that the author specially went over to goodreads.com to leave himself a five star review. I am not sure how to feel about that! >_<

This is the second forensic science book that I have read in recent times. The first one was a 1000+ page textbook titled "Essential Forensic Biology" by Wiley (publisher), textbook author Alan Gunn. The book was highly comprehensive, going into details like measuring the angle of blood splatters and the type of blood droplet would make depending on the velocity and angle it hits a surface etc. It was not the most assessible book on forensic science for the average reader.

This book by Jay Siegel, is a lot more readable and digestible for most. It consists of 11 chapters, including a final chapter on "ethics and forensic science". It is important to note that the book covers not only forensic biology (which involves serology, DNA and blood splatter) and pattern evidence (like fingerprints and ballistic analysis).

Forensic science is actually a much broader endeavour that involves many disciplines, not limited to science. The book covers topics including but not limited to evidence collecting, forensic science and the law and various aspects of forensic chemistry and biology.

I actually read the hardcopy of this book I borrowed from NLB. "The extended selfish gene" is a special 40th anniversary edition of the original "the selfish gene" that was first published in the 1970s by Richard Dawkins.

Yes, I know that Richard Dawkins is a polarising author and scientist. No, I do not agree with all his means when he tries to strongly put a point across. However, I personally feel that he has mellowed over the years as compared to the early to mid 2000s (when he published "the god delusion").

The first time I ever heard of the book titled "the selfish gene" was while I was studying for my evolution module in NUS (also mid 2000s).

The key idea behind this book is that genes are the main unit of inheritance and they are the ones that are selected for during the selection process. In this book, Richard Dawkins argues that the physical body is just the "vehicle" that houses the genes, and it is ultimately the genes that are immortal and transmitted to future generations.

Many of the ideas discussed in the book mirrored what my professor discussed while I was in NUS, so I assume that he was also a fan of his and read his books.

A quick internet search has informed me that the author Elizabeth Kolbert won a Pulitzer prize in 2015 for this book. I can definitely understand why.

The book was a surprisingly enjoyable read - I did not know that it won awards when I was reading it. Amazingly, the author has a degree in literature (Yale University), yet she was able to communicate the scientific concepts in a very engaging and factually correct way.

As part of her research for this book, she travelled all around the world, speaking and interviewing geologists, botanists and marine biologists.

Every chapter features a specific geographical location and specific organism, which the writing revolves around. The earth has been through 5 major extinction events, she covers the potential causes of each of these events and with evidence that is presented by the scientists.

The book is titled "the sixth extinction" as it references the idea that man is likely to be responsible for the current and sixth mass extinction event that the earth is likely undergoing right now.

Although I visited Port Lincoln with the intention of cage diving with Great White Sharks in December 2019, I was unlucky enough during the 3 day (live on board) boat trip to not have encountered any of them.

Thus, I just borrowed this book to make and tried to fantasise and imagine that I had an encounter with a Great White Shark.

This book is a quick and easy read that contacts nice photographs and interesting facts about Great White Sharks. The reality of it is that Great White Sharks are still considered relatively mysterious and not everything about them (and their breeding and life cycles) is known to scientists.

The NLB has almost the full (?) selection of comic books by the author of Awkward Yeti, Nick Seluk. Among all the Awkward Yeti comic books I have borrowed, this was my absolute favourite.

This comic book features true medical stories that are incredibly bizarre and funny at the same time. If you are up for some Biology or medical related stories that are told through (hilarious) illustrations, this is the book for you!

This is a book that I have borrowed and read a few times. Very fascinating to me. It tells the story of Tyler Hamilton, an ex-top racer of Tour De France who was caught for doping.

Besides detailing how he came about starting his doping journey, he also went into great detail about how blood doping was carried out.

Earlier in his career, he would simply use EPO (erythropoietin) injections; EPO is a hormone produced by the kidneys and signals the bone marrow to increase red blood cell production. Normally EPO is used in the medical settings for patients who are anemic due to cancer treatments. In the sport world, EPO abuse will enhance an athlete's endurance level as it increases the number of red blood cells, thus oxygen carrying capacity of that person.

Initially, the earlier drug tests were unable to detect for the presence of EPO in urine samples. However, as drug testing methods improve, EPO use was no longer a viable method without getting caught. This is where athlete performance was then enhanced by a more extreme method - blood doping.

Blood doping involves an athlete making a blood donation; a blood bag is removed from the athlete. After that, the athlete's bone marrow will replace the lost red blood cells. During the race itself, the previously donated blood bag will now be used in a blood transfusion back into the same athlete. This increases number of red blood cells in the body of the athlete again, ultimately increases their oxygen carrying capacity.

Tyler Hamilton eventually got caught as the doctor that was responsible for his blood doping mixed up the blood bags (of other athletes who were also involved in blood doping) and gave him a blood transfusion of blood cells that did not below to him. This was ultimately detected by the authorities, resulting in him being caught for doping.