It’s Valentine’s Day, in case you hadn’t noticed, and red roses are the order of the day. To celebrate, we thought we’d run a competition to help you declare your love for science.
The prizes are suitably science-y (not to mention romantic). We’ve got a pendant to give away, with an anatomically-correct heart – four chambers, mammalian, complete with major blood vessels. And for those more into genetics, there’s a pair of his-and-hers chromosome towels monogrammed XY and XX respectively. Plus a DNA pendant – simple but elegant.
What do you have to do to get your hands on these prizes? Just declare your love of science through a poem. You might choose to woo us through a sonnet, ballad, haiku or even a limerick – whatever warms your heart. Here are some examples to get you inspired:
Roses are red, violets are blue,
We study petal gene expression in situ
The features we can barely see,
Are vital in taxonomy,
And horse fly species, though we swat ‘em,
Are featured with a popstar’s bottom.
Roses are red, Violets are blue,
And you have 10 times more bacteria in your gut
than cells in your body – true.
You have until the end of tomorrow, Friday 15 Feb, to post your poem in the comments field below. Winners will be announced on Monday, once the red roses have wilted.
If you need more inspiration, read about some of the research we’re doing that has real heart.
Update Friday 15 February 5pm AEDT: Alas, our poetry competition is now closed. Thanks for all the fantastic entries, it’s clear you truly do love science. Keep an eye out for our post on Monday, where we’ll be announcing our winners.
Everyone wants to get their hands on these prizes. Be quick and get your poems in!
15th February 2013 at 11:19 am
If I did not love you, perhaps I’d love Astrology
But I’d rather kiss and cuddle with Epidemiology.
If I loved you less, perhaps I’d find diverting
Homeopathy’s claims or Palmistry’s flirting.
But I have always loved you, Science and I will always know
That when I seek the truth, you are the only way to go.
15th February 2013 at 10:21 am
The luck of the draw and random chance,
The living world, evolutions dance,
The eyeball complex evolves time and again,
And sharks with umbilical cords so like those mammalian,
The bird on the wing, the bat follows suit,
Do the winged insects laugh, at these new recruits?
A wasp courting an orchid, ultra violet landing strips for bees,
And so many other bonds, just as marvelous as these!
The wonder of nature, the beauty it holds,
It’s story to me, through science is told
My wonder, my joy, mind seeking answers not merely compliance,
All because of the love that I have for that thing we call science
15th February 2013 at 9:53 am
Love for my science, is not easy.
It is the field of Microbiology.
The details can make you quite queasy.
So why does it still so attract me?
If you look at some of the products,
beyond the ones people call “yucks”.
It becomes quite clear,
Where would we be without wine, cheese and beer?
15th February 2013 at 9:39 am
I’m a little Neuron
Short and stout
Here is my Dendrite
Here is my Axon Terminal
15th February 2013 at 9:14 am
We are all connected
dispite all our toys
without ipads or andoids
or screens with white noise
our hearts all bleed red
with myocytes a plenty
whole or half hearts still beating
in healthy or sick kids a many
so never feel rejected
if someone says no
love, just like research
may need 99 failures to grow