thecurlybiochemist-blog

[thecurlybiochemist-blog]

Simple ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce

I’m extremely happy to see that people are becoming gradually more environmentally-conscious, but there’s still a long way to go. As most of you probably know, I’m very passionate about reducing the amount of waste we produce and the zero/less waste movement. I’ve noticed that a lot of people generally support the idea, but think it takes too much effort to produce less waste. Today, I want to show you a couple of easy ways in which you can reduce your environmental footprint!

1. Use a reusable water bottle

This first one is such an obvious one, but I don’t think most people realise that tap water is perfectly safe to drink in most places and research has shown that bottled water can even be more harmful than tap water. Additionally, buying a reusable water bottle isn’t expensive at all and will save you lots of money! Actually, you don’t even have to buy a reusable bottle – look in your kitchen cupboards, you might even have one at home already. You might be thinking ‘come on, it’s only a couple of plastic bottles, it’s not like I will make any difference’, but if you think about how many bottles you would throw away in a week or a year, you’ll realise that the number isn’t so insignificant after all. Bur bottled water isn't just bad for the planet, it’s not good for you, either. Many bottles contain BPA, but laced into plastic bottles are other chemicals that can seep out if bottles are exposed to heat or sit around for a long time.

Just take a reusable bottle with you wherever you go and fill it up with water either from the tap or from a filter jug if you don’t like the taste of the tap water at your house and the Earth will thank you!

Here’s my stainless steel water bottle that I got at Kaufland for really cheap:

2. Have a fabric bag with you at all times

There have been many incidents when I went for some unplanned shopping and I had to either put all of my things in my backpack only to then have massive backache for the next week or had to get the plastic bag only to then feel like this:

Moral of the story is, if you get your fabric bag (I’m sure you have some at home, don’t buy – just look around!) and put it in your bag or backpack, you won’t have to produce unnecessary waste when you go for unplanned shopping!

3. Make your coffee/tee at home or carry a reusable cup

Those of you who, like me, live in smaller cities may not do it on a regular basis, but every time I go to a bigger city I notice how many people get takeaway drinks in cafés in disposable cups. It produces so much waste if you think about it! I’d recommend that you either make your coffee/tea/any other drink of choice at home (it will also save you lots of money!), but if you’re just craving that Starbucks latte, just take a cup with you! Like with other things – you might have one at home already, but if you don’t, I’d recommend looking for one at Tk Maxx (they have some really cool designs for decent prices, I bought my thermal mug there and it’s the best thing ever!), online or at your favourite coffee shop (I know Starbucks has some cheap reusable cups, they are plastic though). They aren’t very expensive and some cafés will even give you a small discount for bringing your own cup!

You can see my cactus bamboo cup from Tk Maxx here (it’s honestly my favourite thing ever)

4. Use a fountain pen instead of a disposable, ballpoint pen

When we leave primary school, I think we forget about how great fountain pens are. Seriously, they’re awesome! They write so smoothly and make your handwriting look way better than normal pens. When it comes to the zero waste side, of course you don’t produce nearly as much waste as you would throwing away a pen every week or so. What I do (and I really recommend!) is I buy ink in a glass bottle and fill my pen with it using a cartridge every 1-2 days or so. It’s cheaper, more convenient and way more environmentally-friendly!

(I have the Parker Urban Core in the colour vibrant blue and here you can see the ink and cartridge)

Hopefully this post made you think about some areas of your life that you can improve slightly in order to produce less waste. Of course, you don’t have to make all these changes at once – even small steps that matter. Remember that what you do has an impact even if you’re just one person and I’ll see you soon!

[thecurlybiochemist-blog]

My note-taking method

Note-taking is definitely one of the most popular studying methods, but is it the most effective? In my opinion, no, but it certainly can be extremely beneficial if you use it properly. Today I’m going to show you mu unique note-taking method that works best for me.

The system that I developed is largely inspired by the Cornell note-taking method, but it’s more of an interpretation of the method than using the method itself – that’s why I called it my own. If you don’t know what the Cornell method is, you can read a short article about it here and then go back to my post.  I developed it over the last couple of months and I will still surely keep changing some things up a bit and advancing them, but I don’t think there will be any major changes.

(Also, sorry to any of my non-Polish followers for the fact that my notes are in Polish! I hope you can see what I mean just by looking at the structure without understanding the information itself)

Why do I even make notes?

This is an important point that I want to make in the beginning: making notes is not studying! I only makes notes in a couple of subjects and I use them as a way for me to organise the information from a couple of sources (in biology) or to organise things that is clearer and more understandable for me than it is presented in the book (in history).

What I use to take notes:

I always write with a fountain pen with black ink, because blue is really distracting to me. I usually use plain printer paper because it is quite thick and there are no distracting lines, but depending on the type of notes, I sometimes might use squared paper.

Now, I’m going to show you example pages of my notes and explain each element of them so you can see what I mean in practice!

1. Example notes in biology

2. Example notes in physics

3. Example notes in history

Preparation

I take my piece of paper, hole-punch it and draw a 5 cm margin on the left side, as you do in the Cornell method. However, contrary to the method, I don’t draw the bottom and top boxes – I just don’t find them very useful.

The margin

On the margin I write the main points of my notes, which I underline in the colour that the notes are going to be in, but I also add other useful things there, depending on the subject. In biology (picture 1), in pencil, I write additional information that maybe aren’t necessary for the test, but they are connected with the subject. In physics (picture 2), you can see little drawings that I used to help me remember some laws. In history (picture 3), I also write additional information in pencil and write the letter ‘S’ next to things that my teacher said are going to come up on the test.

The main body

This is where I just write my notes! I always use one colour for highlighting information and I usually bullet-point information instead of writing in full sentences. In the top right corner I write either the date of the lesson that the notes are from (picture 1) or in subjects where we strictly follow a book, I write the number of the lesson (pictures 2 and 3). When it comes to the way that I organise the information, you can just see for yourself in the pictures.

That would be it! I hope this post helped some of you and hopefully you got some inspiration out of it. Like I said, this method is what works for me, it doesn’t have to work for everyone, but I suggest you try it or some elements of it out. See you!

[thecurlybiochemist-blog]

My 4 best reads of 2018

I read 36 books last year. It’s definitely not the number of books that makes people go ‘Wow!’, but considering that I had my final exams this year and only really started to read a lot when I went to high school, I’m quite proud of myself. However, there were 4 books that especially impacted me in one way or another and that I enjoyed the most, which is what I want to tell you about today!

Let’s start with a book that was, in a way, life-changing for me, as it began my fascination with neuroscience!

1. ‘The Brain: The Story of You’ by David Eagleman

Locked in the silence and darkness of your skull, your brain fashions the rich narratives of your reality and your identity. Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the mysterious heart of our existence. What is reality? Who are “you”? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human? In the course of his investigations, Eagleman guides us through the world of extreme sports, criminal justice, facial expressions, genocide, brain surgery, gut feelings, robotics, and the search for immortality. 

Like I said, the book is absolutely fascinating. I read it in about 2 days (school days!), because I just couldn’t stop reading. It explains some basic neuroscientific concepts as well as talks about some recent breakthroughs in neuroscience. I really recommend it to anyone who is curious about what the part of us that makes us us really does. Now, however, after reading a few more books about neuroscience I can see that the book is kind of vague and doesn’t really get into the hard science behind a lot of the concept, but that is a good thing. It is meant for people without a scientific background and it is supposed to interest you in neuroscience – I can assure you that it does that really well!

2. ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’ by Carl Dweck

This is another life-changing book, but in a different way. It really impacted the way I think about life, my achievements, school and my future.

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavour can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

I really recommend this book to anyone interested in self-development, but also anyone who feels that there’s something holding them back in achieving what they dream of. I’m going to share with you a quote from the book that I find really inspiring and that I implement in my life:

Think of times other people outdid you and you just assumed they were smarter or more talented. Now consider the idea that they just used better strategies, taught themselves more, practiced harder, and worked their way through obstacles. You can do that too, if you want to.

3. ‘Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking’ by Susan Cain

I’ve always debated where I truly lie on the introvert-extrovert scale. There used to be a time when I thought that I was an extrovert (the thought is now hilarious and surreal to me!). As I realised that I was, indeed, an introvert, there were times when I thought of my introversion as something undesired, something to be ashamed of, even.

This book helped me realise that it is not true at all. I’ve learnt to accept, and even love, my introverted nature! I recommend it to any of my fellow introverts, but also anyone who is interested in psychology!

Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not.

4. ‘Origin’ by Dan Brown

You may or may not know that I am a HUGE fan of Dan Bown’s books. Unfortunately, there’s one thing that I really hate about them now – I’ve read them all! ‘Origin’ was the last book that I had left and I hugely enjoyed it! It’s the only fiction book here, but I just had to include it.

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon’s first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough... one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

This book is for everyone, really. It’s extremely interesting and again, makes you never want to stop reading it!

And these are my 4 favourite books that I read in 2018! If you have already read any of these, feel free to share your thoughts with me. See you soon!

[thecurlybiochemist-blog]

New Year’s resolutions: why you might have failed at fulfilling them

We’re at this magical time of year right now where most of us are making resolutions for the new year. All around, we hear ‘I’m going to exercise more!’, or ‘I’m going to spend less time on social media!’. Now, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with setting goals and wanting to develop in a certain area of life – it’s a great thing, but think back to last year. Did you actually fulfil your resolutions? If you did – congrats! However, if you didn’t – do you know why?

I recently came across this video on YouTube and it encouraged me to think a bit more deeply about some of the New Year’s resolutions that I made last year, but then didn’t actually follow though on them. Only about 8% of people who make resolutions actually fulfil them. I, myself, had resolutions that I failed at, so today I’m going to explore some of the reasons why that might have happened and hopefully not make these mistakes again this year.

We live in a world where everyone shares a lot of their life, so naturally, we feel that our goals are something worth sharing. Surely, if we tell people about our goals, they will be holding us accountable and we will be more likely to succeed? Well, not really. Here’s why you shouldn’t share your goals with others:

When you tell somebody about your goals, they pat you on the back and give you a feeling of validation. Talking about your goal just makes you feel good, gives you a feeling of satisfaction and gives your brain that sweet dopamine that it craves. And then... you never actually do it, because why do it when you already feel accomplished?

There have been multiple psychological studies done on the topic, but the conclusion is simple: telling people about your goals makes you less likely to commit to them, because your brain mistakes the talking fot the doing! Now, I know that it’s a bit hypocritical coming from me, who a couple of days ago posted a picture of my homemade plant milk, saying how one of my New Year’s resolution is to eat more healthy and vegan food. What can I say? Oops, but I’m not going to do it again!

However, maybe it’s not the case. Maybe you didn’t tell anyone about your goal and still didn’t manage to fulfil it. Here’s the second reason why you might have failed: your goals were not detailed enough.

The most popular resolutions have to be ‘I’m going exercise more’ and ‘I’m going to eat more healthily’, but the truth is, they aren’t precise goals. When you make a goal like that, it just ends up floating around like a cloud, never having a set place in your day, week or month. You’re unlikely to commit to it because it is not specific and you can always just say ‘I’ll just start tomorrow’. I’ve tested this on myself. One of my resolutions for last year was exactly that – exercising more. Take a wild guess: did I actually do it? Unsurprisingly, no.

Your goal will probably be much more effective if you make it detailed from the beginning. Don’t think ‘I’m going to read more books’ – instead, make it ‘I’m going to read for 30 minutes before sleep every day’. I guarantee you that it it will be much harder to put this kind of goal off because it is set around a specific time in your day and you can’t just say ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ without feeling guilty about it.

In conclusion, don’t talk about your goals, because your brain mistakes the talking for the doing and make sure your goals are specific and realistic!

I hope this post encouraged you to evaluate some your New Year’s resolutions from this and last year, because it definitely did so for me. I wish you all a great and successful 2019!

[thecurlybiochemist-blog]

Why the change?

To be honest, I’ve been thinking about moving my blog to another platform ever since I set it up. Don’t even get me started on Blogger – it just didn’t want to cooperate with me. Recently, however, I really wasn’t satisfied with the way that my instagram and blog looked and with what I was creating, so I wasn’t motivated to create anything at all. That just lead to my blog looking like a desert and me on and off taking breaks. 

Like I mentioned before, this is something that’s always been on my mind and I’ve been going back and forth about whether to do it for such a long time. It was really difficult to make that final push to do it and believe me, I almost backed out at the last moment. I know that many of you might not be convinced, you might even be angry at me, but that’s what I decided would be best and I’ll be super happy if you respect my decision!

When it comes to the language, it’s always been a real dilemma for me. On one hand, I knew that me having my blog and instagram account in Polish was a bit limiting when it comes to the potential audience, but on the other I was in the Polish school system, so I wanted to be a part of the Polish studygram community. What motivated me to switch to English in the end is that, multiple times, I’ve had people from abroad message me that they really like my pictures, but can’t really enjoy the all of my posts because it’s only as much as instagram automatic translation allows. I first started to translate my posts on instagram, but my blog posts, instastories, livestreams – they were all in Polish.

Now, however, as my blog and instagram have become less only about studying, I hope to reach a more diverse, international audience. But, to my fellow Polish followers – I still love you! Remember that my DMs are always open both in Polish and English (and German, if you’d like that!).

Lastly, it’s a change. And I’ve already said how much I like those.

[thecurlybiochemist-blog]

Hi!

New year, new me – right?

In all honesty, 2019 is going to bring me a lot of changes. I absolutely love change. I quickly get used to the way things are, in all aspects of life, and I strive for the freshness of something new. I thought it is finally time to implement a change that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

If you came here from my old blog, which I used to write in Polish – welcome back! I’ll explain the reasons behind the change soon, but for now I hope you like the new, English version and I promise that there are a lot of things to come.

However, if you have no clue who I am and have never seen my face before – I’m so glad you’re here! Let me take a moment to introduce myself:

My name is Marta and I’m a 16-year-old girl with so many ideas running through my head that I feel the need to share them with strangers on the internet. I currently live in Poland, but in August I’m moving to Germany to join the UWC Robert Bosch College in Freiburg. I love science, especially biochemistry, neuroscience and microbiology and that’s what I want to pursue as a career in the future. However, I also sing, play the guitar and the ukulele and I absolutely love musical theatre, with ‘Hamilton’ holding the most special special place in my heart. I’m a huge bookworm and I drink gallons of green tea with lemon and honey.

What’s my blog going to be about? Like I said, I have many ideas, but sometimes not enough time to realise them all. The topics that I’m going to be covering on here will range anywhere from studying and productivity to self-development and zero/less waste living, but you can also expect posts containing my random reflections on various topics. I have a couple of ideas in mind, but otherwise we’ll go with the flow.

To end this on a positive note, I wish you all a happy and successful new year and I hope you stay here for longer to see what 2019 has in stock for me!

You can also find me on my instagram account - it’s where I share (hopefully) nice pictures and can interact with you more personally!