Scientists under Quarantine

Curator‘s comment: This is a strange time to be living in… For us scientists too! Our research happens outside in nature or in a laboratory; both of which we are now banned from. So what do we do?? Well, we look after ourselves and come up with inventive ways to use our home time. Stay safe and healthy people! X

For Carolina, staying at home meant focusing on ever more work: “Luckily I managed to bring some microscopes from the lab into my dining room and am able to keep on processing all the data collected on Nerine laticoma during our field trip to the Kalahari. Lots of pollen grain counting during my lock down!”

Carolina‘s home lab and office set up.

Marco: “Here are my main challenges during this lockdown and how I overcome them. I live by myself and, even for an introvert like myself, it can become a little too much. Luckily I have nice neighbours and their two dogs, which provide enough contact with other living creatures to keep me from talking to the walls. That said, I still spend most hours of the day on my own. This means plenty of time to do whatever I want when I want it: work, hobbies, recreation… This is generally a perk but sometimes it can paradoxically hinder productivity and happiness: what to do with all this time? What to prioritise? Days can fly by just by trying to decide what to do.

Here are my tricks:

• HAVE A STRUCTURE. I am bad at it, so I am happy enough with a loose one. For example, I’m not an early bird so I embraced it by devoting the mornings to recreation and the afternoon and evenings to work. This way, even if I wake up late it does not cut into my ‘productivity hours’.
• EXERCISE DAILY. Here are plenty of ideas that require minimum space and equipment. I do it in the morning while sipping my first cup of coffee. It gets both my blood and my mind going.
• GET STARTED. For me this is often the hardest part. Someone taught me a little trick: in order to get started, force yourself to spend a half hour doing a task while staying off the internet and your smartphone. Thirty minutes are enough for reading the abstract and the introduction of a paper relevant to your research and to summarise it in a couple of sentences. This rule does magic for me.
• SET MINIMUM GOALS. Here is another trick: don’t wake up saying “today I am going to write all the introduction”. You’re setting yourself up to failure with overwhelming expectations. Rather say: “today I am going to write at least 100 words”. It doesn’t matter how good they are. You can polish them later. Disconnect the internet and get going. One hundred words are the length of a conference abstract. It’s five to seven sentences. In the best case scenario it will get you going. Worst case scenario, you still accomplished something.
• AIM FOR A “NON-ZERO DAY”. This is my third and last trick. On a bad day I might get to 5 pm to realise that I dragged my feet all day and accomplished nothing. It’s fine. It happens. You still have time to do one rep of push-ups, one rep of crunches, pick an article to read and fight your way through it. Or half of it. Or its abstract. Then you can summarise it in one sentence. All this will take you less than one hour and it will have already turned your day into a non-zero day.

That’s about it. Be proud of what you accomplished rather than bashing yourself up for what you could have done but didn’t. Some days will be zero days… That’s okay too. But don’t normalise it: if you are struggling, ask for help.”

Marco using his tips and doing some fun exercising.

Jamie‘s Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 115 g butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup (150 grams) raisins

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, bicarb, and salt. Set aside.
• Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
• Slowly mix in the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined, then mix in the oats and raisins until fully combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Cover the cookie dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180⁰C. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
• Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the refrigerator. Roll the cookie dough into balls and very gently press down with your hand to flatten each ball of cookie dough slightly (make sure not to flatten them completely, just slightly). Make sure to leave a little room between each ball of cookie dough as they will spread a little while they bake.
• Bake in separate batches for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden brown and the top is set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Jamie‘s been working on her potted garden.

Annemarie: “Of course I analyze data, work on manuscripts and figures but that’s something I would have done without lockdown anyways. But, for a long time already, I wanted to get into South African birds and learning to identify at least the most frequent ones is among the top things on my bucket list. Whenever out in the field though, I was fully engaged with my study plants and I never took the time to really look at birds, watch them being busy in their own idyllic little world and learn how to distinguish them. But now I do have the time. Thus, I started a list of birds that visit my garden. I was surprised, how I could have missed out on these beautiful things being so close to me every single day? I found a perfect spot next to one of my windows and I sit there every day for some time to check what birds are visiting. I discovered that Speckled Mousebirds go nuts for ripe chillis hanging on the little trees planted in the garden. And two Southern Black Flycatcher come every evening around the same time to feast on the insects buzzing around. Several Thick-billed Weavers are part of the club as well. And a White-breasted Sunbird hits the crowd every now and then.

As a consequence of staring through my window every day now for more than just checking the weather, I was finally convinced that they were unacceptably dirty. It bothered me for a while but I never really had motivation to clean them. Now, I had a good reason as watching birds through clean windows is definitely much nicer. So I cleaned all the many windows in my cottage…. finally. And once you start with chores it is a never ending story. Thus, I started realizing some changes in my cottage which I wanted to make for a long time. With every change I more and more personalized my living space and when I look around now I have this satisfying feeling of being at home. I am also making plans to change things in the garden. There is a reasonable big patch which calls for being planted with indigenous flora and I can hardly wait to start.”

Hannah: There is life everywhere! From the bathroom to the garden.