twig reposted this
I have been looking after the twig branch managers (Stick Insects 🐜) for about 6 months. Here is what I have learnt and how it relates to science: 1️⃣ Embrace the failures. Sometimes things go wrong and that is ok! We had some challenges with our branch manager populations falling in the winter, however, we learnt from it and the population has doubled in the past month! Science is hard and I often learn more from failures than successes. 📈 2️⃣ Don't be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes there are a lot of stick insects or brambles to handle, just as there are new and complicated experiments. 🙋♂️ 3️⃣ Look for innovations. Spraying water and a bag of eggs massively improved survival of the stick insects. We have many top secret lab innovations too 🤫 4️⃣ Patience is key. 🕰️ It takes about 6 weeks for a stick insect egg to hatch, science can take a bit longer than that... 5️⃣ Hit the literature. It turns out learning about how to look after stick insects is useful! I was once told that you can often make more progress by spending an hour in the library than an hour in the lab. 📖