Top 10 Trending Articles for Life Scientists
This month, we’re celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Hello Bio blog! Five years ago we began creating and posting articles on our website that we hoped would interest, educate and entertain our growing online community of life scientists and researchers.
Today our blog is more popular than ever, featuring guest articles from eminent professors, valuable advice in the form of our Life Scientists’ Guides, and fascinating interviews with researchers working in labs all around the world. We feature science podcasts, share fun recommendations through our Top Ten lists, and do our very best to celebrate and amplify the voices of life scientists who deserve to be heard.
To celebrate our first five years of blogging, we’ve taken a look back at the ten blogs which have received the most online views over the years - over 1.4 million of them! From fun science memes to grant application advice, motivational quotes to PhD productivity, these are the ten most viewed articles on the Hello Bio blog...
1. What Are The Greatest Scientific Discoveries of All Time?
With over half a million views on our website, our article on scientific discoveries is by far the most viewed article we’ve ever published! We asked our previous interviewees and online community for their favourite science discoveries and collated their answers to produce this great article. Featuring penicillin, genome editing, CRISPR, vaccines and more, these discoveries were the most admired among our contributors.
Read the full article here: https://hellobio.com/blog/what-are-the-greatest-scientific-discoveries-of-all-time.html
2. 25 of the Best Motivational Quotes from Scientists
We love sharing motivational quotes from scientists, and three years ago we gathered together 25 of the best to create this inspirational blog post! With over 425,000 views it’s still one of our most popular posts, featuring quotes from some of the giants of science including Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur and many many more!
Check out all 25 motivational quotes here: https://hellobio.com/blog/25-of-the-best-motivational-quotes-from-scientists.html
3. Ten of Our Favourite Science Memes
One of our fun ‘Top Ten’ blogs takes third place in our list of most popular posts, and with nearly 100,000 views to date, our collection of hilarious science memes still makes us chuckle! We come across a lot of science-themed jokes, memes and gifs through our social media channels, and four years ago we created this great collection of our favourites! Featuring an acid with attitude, a chemistry cat, Samuel L Jackson (?) and plenty more, we guarantee there’s something funny here for every scientist!
Take a look at these ten funny science memes: https://hellobio.com/blog/ten-of-our-favourite-science-memes.html
4. The Life Scientists’ Guide For New PhD Students
Our blog has always been packed full of helpful resources and advice pieces for life scientists, and we’re particularly proud of our Life Scientists’ Guide series. These valuable resources are put together with the help of our research community who are kind enough to contribute their real-life experiences and advice. The guide that has been viewed the most is our guide for new PhD students, which features inspiring advice and words of wisdom for those about to start their PhD journey. With guidance on preparation, networking, wellbeing, mindset and more, this guide is a must-read for any new PhD student.
Read our Life Scientists’ Guide For New PhD Students: https://hellobio.com/blog/the-life-scientists-guide-for-new-phd-students.html
5. Gender Bias From A Woman In Science
Back in 2019 we were lucky enough to collaborate with Kay M. Tye, the prominent American neuroscientist and professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. She wrote a fantastic blog for us on the theme of gender bias in science which quickly racked up thousands of views and remains the most-read guest article on our website. Viewed nearly 80,000 times, this article provides an honest and thought-provoking look at gender bias in science from a woman’s perspective.
Read the full article by Kay M. Tye here: https://hellobio.com/blog/gender-bias-from-a-woman-in-science.html
6. Maintaining PhD Productivity: Tips for Mindset and Organisation
Another PhD advice piece takes sixth spot in our list of most-viewed articles! Written by student Britt Berning, this guide to mindset, organisation and productivity offers valuable tips and tactics direct from the PhD frontline. With over 65,000 views online, Britt’s article seems to be the go-to piece for PhD students in need of a productivity boost!
Check out Britt’s guide to PhD productivity here: https://hellobio.com/blog/maintaining-phd-productivity-tips-for-mindset-and-organisation.html
7. Undertaking a PhD in an International Lab
The next in our list of most popular blogs is this thoughtful piece by Sonia Sanz Muñoz on the topic of undertaking a PhDs overseas. Sonia shares her honest experiences of moving from Spain to Australia to pursue her PhD research into Alzheimer’s disease, and the highs and lows she faced along the way. From language barriers to missing family and friends, Sonia shares her own story in this wonderful guest blog!
Read the story of Sonia’s PhD journey here: https://hellobio.com/blog/undertaking-a-phd-in-an-international-lab.html
8. The Importance of Science Communication
This brilliant article from Dr Chinmaya Sadangi of the University of Toronto has clocked up an impressive 55,000 views since publication. Chinmaya is passionate about science communication and is the founder of The Addictive Brain, an online platform with a mission to bridge the gap between science, scientists and the public. In this guest blog he shares his thoughts on the importance of scicomm and offers advice for scientists wanting to raise their online profiles and build on their existing scicomm skills.
Check out the full article here: https://hellobio.com/blog/the-importance-of-science-communication.html
9. Public Engagement: Why Bother as a Scientist?
Getting involved in public engagement can really push a scientist out of their comfort zone! In this article, guest blogger Soraya Meftah of the University of Edinburgh shines a light on the huge benefits of sharing your research with public audiences and offers advice on the funding and platforms that can help you do it effectively. Another brilliant advice piece which has been viewed nearly 55,000 times and might just be the kick-start you need to get out there and share your research with the world!
Read Soraya’s useful advice here: https://hellobio.com/blog/public-engagement-why-bother-as-a-scientist.html
10. Writing a Winning Travel Grant Application
Travel options may have been limited for the last couple of years, but 2022 is finally welcoming the return of in-person conferences to the global science diary. Writing a successful travel grant application might now be top of your to-do list, and this fantastic article from Kate Secombe could be just what you need! With over 50,000 views online, this guest blog offers some valuable tips and tricks to help you secure the funding you need for overseas research trips this year.
Check out the full article here: https://hellobio.com/blog/writing-a-winning-travel-grant-application.html
_________________________________________________
More from the Hello Bio blog archive
Check out these and many more fantastic articles on the Hello Bio blog!
- Interviews with Scientists
- Life Scientists’ Guides
- Support, advice and other resources
- Guest blogs from the experts
- Podcasts by Scientists
- ‘Top Ten’ recommendations
Would you like to write a guest post for us?
If so we'd love to hear from you! Our blog reaches a global community of fantastic life scientists, and we're always looking for new voices to share personal stories, insight, career advice, and more. If you're a life scientist who would like to be interviewed about your research or write a blog post about a topic you're passionate about, DM us or email hello@hellobio.com!
_________________________________________________
If you enjoyed this article, why not check out the other resources available on our blog. We are passionate about supporting life scientists including early career life scientists and PhD students - with really low-priced reagents and biochemicals, early career scientist grants, and resources to help with both personal and professional development. We know how tough it is - so we hope you find these helpful!
More General Support for Life Scientists
For advice on writing papers, dissertations, presenting at conferences, wellbeing, PhD support, networking and lots more, we have a huge range of articles to help - just click below:
Save up to 50% on our high purity reagents...
When you get to the stage of planning your experiments, don't forget that we offer a range of low-cost, high-purity agonists, antagonists, inhibitors, activators, antibodies and fluorescent tools (yes - they really are around half the price of other suppliers!) You can use our Quick Multi-Search Tool to search for lots of products in one go, and the range includes:
- Enzyme inhibitors and activators
- Chemogenetic ligands
- Ion channel modulators
- GPCR & ionotropic receptor ligands
- Cell biology reagents & biochemicals
Technical resources
Try our Molarity Calculator: a quick and easy way to calculate the mass, volume or concentration required for making a solution.
Try our Dilution Calculator: an easy way to work out how to dilute stock solutions of known concentrations
And finally, don't forget to check back in with our blog regularly for our latest articles. If there’s something you’d love to contribute to the community, whether that’s an interview or article, drop us a line at hello@hellobio.com
---
