Little Red Riding Hood in her Stripey Dress

I am still loving this cape I made the other day. If I get the time after my exams before I head off overseas, I will try and make a tutorial for it! Yep, that's something I have totally forgotten to mention - I'm travelling to Italy for a month in my uni break! I am probably the luckiest lady in the world, getting to travel overseas twice in one year. I am going to Italy because Luciano (who is Italian - could you have guessed from his name?) is going with his family, to meet with their 80+ relatives for the first time ever... and they are taking me along with them! dress - c/o Cichic (and similar) cape - DIY tights - c/o OASAP necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy I am currently into day 3 of the hardcore-studying-regime that I've implemented on myself, so that I will (hopefully) do well in my uni exams next week! So this video (via ASAPscience) seemed quite apt - the Science of Procrastination. And in case you guys were wondering, this blogging that I'm doing now isn't my procrastination - it's my reward. I've been studying for 3 hours straight and doing a little bit of dopamine-releasing blogging is the reward for me finally wrapping my head around eukaryotic transcription regulation (woo hoo!) Hope you're all having a more interesting day than me, Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Lilac Stripes and Recording Your Dreams

Would it ruin these last few posts if I told you the main reason I took the photos all knees-up is because I fell down some stairs, hurt my ankle, and couldn't wear anything but giant comfy socks? Haha. Just *imagine* that I'm wearing some super cool lace-up creepers here, not fluffy pink bed socks.  I'm particularly in love with anything zebra-like lately, so these shorts from Sheinside are a welcome new addition to my wardrobe. They look great paired with a cropped shirt or cropped sweater of any kind. I can't wait to wear them together with some highly impractical shoes ;) blouse - c/o Romwe shorts - c/o Sheinside tights - c/o OASAP Enjoy this amazing video from ASAP science! Even though I'd already been introduced to most of the concepts in it, it still blew my mind! I hope you're all very very well! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Stripes and Mosaics

What an adorable pinafore dress I received in the mail this morning! Simple and stripey, all it needed to be dressed up (in my opinion) was this vintage Mickey Mouse club badge and a simple cropped top. And I'm totally embracing the last day of "non-winter" by sitting in the sunshine while studying and (sneakily) blogging. I am pretty jealous of all of you in the Northern Hemisphere who are going to be starting summer tomorrow :'( Just to let you know, my posts are going to become a little bit less frequent over the next month as I head into my final university exams for the semester, but I'll endeavour to keep posting at least 2 or 3 times a week! Having something else to focus on other than studying keeps me somewhat sane, so I'm not going to do what I did last year and abandon you guys while my exams are going. It was good for my grades, but not so much for my sanity. striped pinafore dress - c/o She Likes | socks - c/o Oasap | shoes - Bodyline | shirt - c/o Sheinside | badge - gift from my friend (thrifted) Continuing on this little genetics theme I've got going on... I'm going to talk about something quite related to genetic chimerism, which is known as mosaicism. In chimeras (which I talked about last week), the organism ends up with two different sets of DNA within their body because of the fusion of two zygotes (the stage before becoming an embryo) in the womb. This means that a chimera's non-identical twin is alive inside them. Pretty sci-fi stuff, right?  Well, organisms with mosaicism came from a single zygote (meaning they didn't absorb their own twin), but still have more than one set of DNA within the cells in their bodies. How does this happen? Similar to chimeras, the process begins very early in development while the baby is still in the womb. When dividing (as cells do very rapidly at the beginning of development), some cells get confused and don't replicate their DNA correctly. A mutation occurs in one of the cells which goes unnoticed, and continues to happily divide. Cells with different sets of DNA continue to grow within the baby, and if the mutation isn't really serious, the baby will be born with a mutant trait which is seen in some cells, but not others. Mosaicism can affect any type of cell, including skin cells (see above). Do you have a tortiseshell cat? This is a really great (and easy to see) example of mosaicism! I hope you're all having a great last day of autumn or spring, depending on where you are! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Sunshine & Selfies in the Park / Chimera

Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful, I couldn't miss the opportunity to take some photos. Unfortunately, I spent the whole day all alone and had no one to take photos of me. So I ventured out into a public park with my bike, camera, tripod and self-timer and tried to ignore/avoid making contact with all the dog-walkers and teenagers who wandered by my little shoot. Pretty scary stuff if you're a little bit shy and self-conscious when it comes to strangers. But it was well worth the mild embarrassment because I got some really nice photos out of it (seriously, my new EOS 60Dwith thislens is soooooooooooo good. I can't recommend it enough). dress - Thrifted hat - Hat Stall in Japan shoes - Asos necklace - Claire's (Japan) tights - c/o Oasap A reader brought up genetic chimeras the other day, something that I find really fascinating, so I'm going to talk about that today! So, the DNA in each and every one of your cells is totally identical (apart from germ cells - that's sperm and egg cells). What makes a brain cell different to a skin cell is the genes that cell chooses to express and the proteins they subsequently make. However, if you're a chimera, it means that you have parts of you which are technically from a different being - so a certain organ, or your arms, or some of your blood cells have different DNA in them to the rest of your body. A way in which a chimera can form is when fertilisation occurs between two separate sperm and two separate eggs. This would normally lead to dizygotic (non-identical) twins, but sometimes the two can fuse together. So basically, chimeras are formed when one twin EATS the other twin (in a way. Kind of not really. It just sounded dramatic). Then, as the organism develops into a fish, cat or even a human, different parts of them are technically formed from two different people. (Image source) Yes, you heard me right, it does happen in humans, and has often only been discovered when a genetic test is done between a mother and child, who that mother knows she has given birth to, but the DNA says that it's not her own child - leading to a whole bunch of fun lawsuits (read more here!) Chimeras often wouldn't show such distinctive markings as this horse above though - this would only happen if the different sets of DNA are expressed in the skin cells (although it does happen!) Anyway, I hope that you learnt something new today ;) Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Pastel Unicorns and Crying in Space

I am one happy and very lucky, spoilt lady - I'm turning 21 in just a couple of days time, and my parents bought me a Canon EOS 60D! (I may have gotten it a little early, hehe). Needless to say I've been spending all my time playing around with the new camera and not studying. One thing that I'm really happy about is that the 60D is incredibly useful if you take your own photos (i.e. if you're a blogger who needs to take multiple outfit shots in a day and you don't have a super patient photographer friend who will take photos whenever you need them). The best feature of the 60D is that has a flip-out, twisty screen which you can use to look at and position yourself right in front of the camera. Buy a self-timer remote, and it's super easy to take outfit photos. A package from Oasap containing this new dress and sweater also arrived in the mail the morning while I was playing with my new camera, so I decided to take some pictures of them! I'm super in love with this sweater - it's basically the softest, most cuddly thing in the world and the print on the front and back just make it that little bit sweeter. I'm fairly sure I am going to live in it throughout the winter here. sweater - c/o Oasap dress - c/o Oasap hat - c/o Wholesale bow - DIY For the last few days I've been obsessed with watching the Canadian Space Agency's youtube channel (after this video went viral - the first music video recorded in space! And it's a David Bowie song!). Astronaut Chris Hadfield is not only my new hero for doing that, but he's also done a bunch of videos while onboard the International Space Station explaining how everyday things work when the physics is completely different: including brushing your teeth, making a sandwich, getting a haircut and crying. Of my life-goals, living up in the ISS for a few months is probably one of the most unrealistic, but gosh I want to be an astronaut, so badly. Does anyone else ever get that feeling?? Anway, this video from Chris Hadfield shows what happens if you cry in space. Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

I Love My Thrift Shop / People Who Don't Perceive Pain

I know I keep going on about it, but I managed to find the best stuff at my local thrift shop the other day, this baby blue sweater and orange blazer included. I really like pairing light blue and orange together, it's one of my favourite colour combinations (after lilac + orange). sweater - Thrifted blazer - Thrifted skirt - c/o Sheinside shoes - Chicory tights - c/o Oasap necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy In psychology the other day, I learnt about a really interesting (and somewhat terrifying) super rare condition called "congenital analgesia". People with the condition, like Ashlyn Blocker, don't ever feel physical pain. Congenital insensitivity to pain is usually caused by a mutation in DNA on what is known as the "SCN9A" gene. The normal function of the gene is to assist in sending signals from nerve cells to the brain. An essential part of one type of nerve cells is to detect and transmit pain signals (so you know to draw your hand back when you touch something hot, for example). The mutation in this gene inhibits the sensation of pain, and so people with this particular mutation don't ever feel physical pain. This is chromosome number 2 (out of 23), and this is the location of the gene on that chromosome. We all have this gene, but in people with congenital analgesia, it has become mutated (image source) At first, not feeling pain might sound like a gift or some kind of superpower, until you consider how important pain really is for our survival. For example, Ashlyn could happily plunge her hands into boiling water, and the first hint she might get that something is wrong  (apart from now having learnt from experience that putting body parts in boiling water is not a good thing to do) is when her hands are totally cooked and melted away. Or, you might know that you're sick and have to go to the doctor when you get really bad stomach pains - but if you have congenital analgesia, you wouldn't get this warning signal that something is wrong. This article tells of a woman with the condition who gave birth, and didn't realise her pelvis had been totally shattered in labour and was bleeding internally until she was physically unable to walk a few weeks later. Although life without pain is actually a lot tougher than you would think, Ashlyn Blocker and other people with congenital analgesia have helped science greatly by providing clues as to what can cause pain signals to go the other way - being over-sensitive and causing chronic pain for no reason, for example - and may be able to help with treatments of these conditions in the future. Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Winter Owl

Goodness! It is almost winter and finally cold enough to wear this wicked new blazer I thrifted (when I'm in the shade, at least). This blazer required a cute little dress to pair with it, and this owl-print one sent to me by Cichic worked perfectly. I've also been living in white tights lately. They are perfect for this kind of weather and  I really like how they look with little black Mary Jane or ballet strap style shoes (cute, is how). dress - c/o Cichic tights - c/o Oasap shoes - Chicory blazer - Thrifted bag - Thrifted belt - Thrifted hat - c/o Wholesale Who had cheese on toast this morning? I did! And one of my favourite science bloggers Katie from the Molecular Circus just wrote a really cool post on how cheese works (which may also have been why I chose to eat cheese this morning). She explains why cheese goes all gooey when you melt it, and why different types of cheese turn either stringey or become liquefied when you heat them up (hint: it's got to do with cheese proteins and chemical reactions). Have a little read with your morning tea! ;) p.s. check out this super amazing drawing Cass from Undercover Dress-Up Lover did of me! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr