Guest Post: A Study of Termites and Biofuel

I am a first year PhD student from UWA. I have recently handed in my project proposal so it's a great time to share my plans with you. In a sentence, my project is about studying the gut flora of local termite species to find cellulase enzymes useful for the production of bioethanol in Western Australia. 

Let me give you a bit of background...

As you all probably know, fossil fuels are a finite resource and their use contributes to climate change. There is a lot of research going into cleaner, renewable sources of energy. I think this is not an easy problem to solve and that in the end it is probably a combination of solutions that will come into play. Anyway, biofuels are one way to tackle this issue. Bioethanol is a type of biofuel. It is ethanol made from biomass (recently dead or living biological material).

Camp NaNoWriMo

Coming to a close in a few days is the first Camp NaNoWriMo of 2014. Don’t fret, it comes back in July for another chance to make writers cry. But I suppose you’re not really fretting if you’re sitting there, reading this, going, “Sarah, what on earth is Camp NaNoWriMo?”

Camp NaNoWrMo, which I will just call Camp from now on, is sort of the laid back sibling of NaNoWriMo.

“Wait! What’s that!?!”

NaNoWriMo? It’s a challenge that takes place every November to write a novel (50,000 words) in just 30 days. Its open to anyone with a story to tell. Or even a collection of stories if you like. The rules are pretty loose and open to interpretation. Just sit down and write 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s about 1,667 words a day, which is a far less daunting way to break it down. There are a lot of different breakdowns and if you have the time and dedication to write 50K in one day you can totally do that. Actually if you do that, I will worship you. You will officially be entered in my Big Book of Deities. 

My Creative Process in Writing "Always"

I've recently self-published a short story written in 2012 for one of my classes at uni. We were required to write a piece that "held a conversation" with a poem or short story from our readings, and to write an accompanying essay about the techniques we used and our creative process. This is a little baby bit a promotion of the story (here is a link to the download page if anyone is interested in the final product; it's totally free) but it's also an excuse for more writing theory!

Anyway, on to the essay (spoilers follow)...

Review: Warm Bodies

To be honest, a movie was released that I never thought would actually happen. For a few people that know me well, I stated that zombie romances would never be a thing because they are nasty and gross. I also had faith in humanity that a line would be drawn somewhere. Apparently I was wrong.

Follow after the break for a spoilery review of a thing that actually happened:

My First Week of (It'sNot)OKCupid

A few of my friends have forged into online dating in the last few years; one is currently chatting with a bunch of guys who all sound really cool, another has met a guy in person and had him be as great there as he was online, and another two are now in serious relationships with guys they met on RSVP—one around six months and the other over a year now. I’ve always been pretty reluctant about the idea of online dating though, even if I’m more than happy to meet new friends in the same way. Honestly, I’m still not sure I’m ready to give up on the possible Meet Cutes that happen in real life, that make telling your future children how you met their father a cool story, but in a moment of curiosity and, ok, plain nosiness on Monday, I decided to make an online dating profile. I figured I wouldn’t actually use it; I could just have a bit of a look around and see what online dating was about and maybe come back once the horror set in of hitting 25 single when, at seventeen, I was so confident I’d be getting married, if not already building a family.