More unicorns! / Space sleep

I now have two pieces of unicorn-themed clothing in my wardrobe (see my unicorn sweater here) and I'm hoping to build up a small collection! Lashes of London sent me this unicorn patterned dress to try out, and I have to say that it's pretty incredible! Unfortunately for me, it's more of a summer dress as it has a gorgeous open-back thing going on, but it's now a bit too cold to wear it backless! So I paired it with this new cropped purple blouse from Romwe, added some heart-shaped collar clips, and got a whole pastel-themed thing going on.  dress - c/o Lashes of London | belt - Thrifted | shirt - c/o Romwe | hat - c/o Wholesale | collar clips - DIY I've mentioned before how much I admire Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. If you haven't done so already, go and check out his videos about how everyday things are done in microgravity. They're endlessly fascinating. From brushing your teeth, to crying, to eating, to going to the toilet and cutting your hair, everything has to be done a little differently when the physics of your world change, and you have to adapt to a new kind of world. In this video, Chris Hadfield shows how you sleep in space - and what a bedroom looks like on board the International Space Station. How are you all today? Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Dollfaces / Alien Life in the Solar System (part 1)

Today's outfit is nothing special - just what I wore around and about on Monday. I totally have a brand new trick with my tights though - layering patterned fishnet tights over opaque tights. I bought heaps of these fishnet-style tights about two years ago, then got a bit sick of them after over-wearing them, so this is a great way of refreshing them and pretending I have a whole lot of new tights. dress - c/o Romwe necklace - Claire's cardigan - c/o Sheinside white tights - c/o Oasap patterned tights - Ebay shoes - Asos So, Europa is awesome. One of Jupiter's moons, Europa is a really interesting place. Firstly because it has an atmosphere made up of oxygen, secondly because although the surface is a solid sheet of ice, it probably has a huge ocean made of liquid water underneath the layer of ice, and thirdly, it is one of the best candidates for alien life in our solar system. (Image credit) The subsurface ocean Scientists think that Europa has a layer of liquid water underneath its outer icy surface. While the surface is frozen, the water can remain liquid underneath because of something called "tidal flexing". This is due to Europa's orbit around the giant and very dense Jupiter - gravitational pull from Jupiter, and another moon Io, keeps the interior water moving about, creating enough energy to keep it warm and in a liquid state. And the ocean is huge - estimates put the volume of the ocean at about twice that of Earth's ocean. Alien Life Warm, liquid, moving water is a good place for life to start up. But if the water is sterile, no amount of sloshing around will produce life. However, just recently more evidence for the moon being a good place for life has emerged. The surface was just found to have salt on it, which indicates a possible ocean of sodium chloride - yep - that's salt water just like in our own oceans on Earth! And very recent research also suggests that hydrogen peroxide - an important energy supply that could be used to support life - exists on the surface of Europa as well. If the hydrogen peroxide is also in the oceans, this would provide a great way for life to start up, if it hasn't already. Research done in the 1970s found that life doesn't need sunlight to develop - using chemosynthesis, life is able to exist at the very depths of our own oceans, using thermal vents to produce their own food-cycle which doesn't require any photosynthesis at all. So life could very well use a similar mechanism to develop and survive in pitch-black water underneath the icy exterior of Europa as well. Ships and robotic probes that are scheduled for Europa in the '20s and '30s will be able to tell us a lot more. I can't wait! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

The Best Dress / Science Art from Etsy

This dress is the best combination of colours, prints and cutouts that I've come across in a long time. I am such a lucky lady to be the owner of so many incredible statement dresses! This particular one is perfect with a boater hat and some knee-high socks - it doesn't need much dressing up because it's already got a lot going on in it. dress - c/o Romwe socks - c/o Sock Dreams shoes - Chicory For today's science post, I've compiled a little list of awesome science art and gifts. Every time I look, more and more science geekery seems to appear online (especially on etsy). From the point of view of an aspiring science communicator, and collector of geeky novelty things, this makes me very happy. Also, if any friends/family happen to be reading this... remember that my 21st is in a month ;) Anatomical heart pendant from Rainnua  Red blood cells pendant from Outpost 8  Wooden pi brooch from Kate Rowland Illustration  DNA double helix pendant from Theresa Pytell Handmade (I love this, although it doesn't show the major and minor grooves of DNA - but I'm being pedantic)  Anatomical Heart Necklace from Blue Bayer Design  Vintage anatomical poster from Curious Prints  Voyager golden record pendant necklace from The Pendant Garden Periodic table chopping board from Elysium Woodworks Brain anatomy bracelet from Missing Pieces I hope you're all having/will have a lovely Monday! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Stripes, 3D Flowers & The Possibilities of 3D Printing

Alright. I know I say this a lot (but I always mean it!). So here goes. This is my new favourite dress. It features super eye-catching stripes and is, in general, spectacular. I love items of clothing with an element of novelty and this one did not fail to deliver - I was surprised when I opened the package containing the dress, and noticed that many of the flowers are actually three-dimensional! dress - c/o Romwe sweater - Vintage & DIY (cropped) tights - Yoshida (Japan) collar clips - c/o Merrin & Gussy shoes - Body Line belt - Vintage hairband - Claire's (Japan) Speaking of three-dimensional, I was just reminded that 3D printers exist and I've never even talked about them on the blog before! They've got to be one of the coolest inventions and sciencey things ever, I think. But first, if you haven't really heard of 3D printing before, then this is what it's all about: Think of a normal two-dimensional paper-and-ink printer. You send a file to it from your computer, and it prints out ink onto a sheet of paper. 3D printers, instead of using ink, use various materials (like plastics) and layer by layer, using cross-sections of a 3D file that you send to it via your computer, the printer creates your three-dimensional object in real life. For example, this is a citrus juicer that you can download and then print out at home from Thingyverse: But it isn't all plastic homewares. Just recently, scientists from the University of Edinburgh have created a cell printer that can print living tissue. We are getting to the stage where printing out organs from your own cells, that will fit you perfectly and remove the worry of transplant rejection if you are ever in need of an organ transplant, is a feasible technology. And there are some other applications of 3D printing which - while not as revolutionary as that - are still pretty awesome. If you're serious about chocolate, you can order a 3D printer designed specifically for chocolate making, for around $4000. Layer by delicious, chocolatey layer, the printers can make intricate shapes like faces and letters using chocolate as its material. If you're in love with your minecraft creations, it may make you happy to know that you can have your whole little world printed out for you at Mine Craft Print. And I've been happy to see that the fashion industry has also gotten onto the 3D printing bandwagon (images from 3D Printing Industry). You're even able to create your own fashion items, and upload them for people to print out at home at places like Cubify and Thingyverse! (Although personally, I think 3D fashion may be in need of a serious overhaul by some slightly more stylish folk...) So maybe in a few years time, you'll see a blog post from me saying "Oh hey guys, I designed and uploaded this dress last night and you can download it and print it out at home via this link here". And then you'll all switch on your 3D printers, print out the dress I uploaded, and be wearing it that same day. How freaking cool would that be? With the advances we've seen in 3D printing in the last 5 years, surely more comfortable dress fabrics aren't too far away! Are you guys starting to understand why I get so excited about science??? A whole lotta love to you all,

I wanna model for Zipper / The Science of Hairdye

So I got my little brother to take these shots (his first time ever using an SLR - didn't he do a good job?! He's a natural!) the afternoon that I got home from my overnight, overseas flight, and I am pretty surprised that I don't look entirely exhausted - Japanese concealer/foundation does WONDERS. I spent the afternoon in bed reading the many Zipper magazines I bought, blubbering over the fact that I wasn't still in Japan, so for my own sanity I had to dress up in a Zipper-inspired outfit and pretend I was back there. I actually think I was scratching my nose in this shot but it also looks like I'm crying so let's pretend this is me being distraught about no longer being in Japan, haha. A fantasy plan that I've concocted over the last few days is that I'm going to go back and live there for a year, in a few years time, and model for Zipper magazine as my job. It's totally  do-able!(...) wearing sweater - c/o Romwe skirt - ICE mint green tights - Tutuanna climbing man tights - Ebay socks - Tutuanna shoes - Bodyline necklace - Claire's Remember when I had real pastel pink hair? I realised that I never learnt exactly how bleaching and dying changes your hair colour. Today I came across a cool experiment for kids that teaches you how hair dye and bleaching works, and I decided to do a little research ;) Firstly, important in hair dying are two types of (dead) cells in the hair: cortical cells and cuticle cells. When you bleach your hair, you're permanently changing the melanin in the cortical cells. Melanin is a protein in the cortical cells that exists in two types - Eumelanin in darker hair and Pheomelanin in lighter hair. Melanins vary in the ability to reflect or absorb light, which affects the colour you see when you look at someone's hair. Bleach (H202) oxidises melanin - which doesn't remove it from the hair, but makes it colourless. That annoying, lingering yellow-tinge when you bleach your hair is due to the keratin (structural proteins) in the cortical cells, which are yellow in colour. Semi-permanent hair colour tends to just coat the outer layers of the hair with acidic dyes, rather than going inside the hair to the cortical cells. However when you dye your hair permanently, the hair dye first "opens up" the cuticle cells (often by using ammonia, a basic solution). In permanent dyes, bleach is often used to remove colour from natural melanin, before dyes (there are various numbers of these, made in various ways, depending on the colour that you want) are deposited. The dyes bond with the cortical cells. Conditioners are acidic, and you use it after bleaching or dying to replace the lipids that you destroyed opening up the cuticle cells. This also "seals in" the deposited dyes. And that's a quick crash-course in how hair colour works. Now I want to experiment on my own hair again, which I know is probably most likely a very bad idea... but... for science! Right? Much love!

Giveaway: 2 Pairs of Romwe Leggings! (CLOSED)

Romwe are very kindly giving away a pair of galaxy-style leggings to two of my readers! Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter (you will need a facebook account as well). The more entries you complete, the more chance you have of winning! The winners will be randomly sent one of the above three designs, in their size. The competition ends on the 24th of January! Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baby darling doll-face honey

Happy 2013 guys! I hope all your New Years celebrations were marvellous! This dress that Romwe sent me is pretty damn amazing. It's also quilted and really thick, and completely not appropriate for wearing in summer - hence I am going to be taking it with me on my trip to Japan (which is happening in just 25 days, oh my goooooosh!) I LOVE the creepy doll-face appliqué, so I attempted to look a little bit like a creepy doll myself. wearing dress - c/o Romwe socks - Vintage lace sock cuffs - The Little Pineneedle shoes - Label Shoes c/o Chictopia hat - c/o Wholesale Rita Levi-Montalcini was an amazing, fiery and bad-ass neuroscientist, who sadly passed away a couple of days ago, aged 103 years old. As a future neuroscientist/cell biologist,  wannabe science communicator and feminist, Rita is someone who seriously inspires me. I wanted to write a short post about her amazing life. Image source and article Italian-born, she pursued a career in science at university despite both her father and 1930s society being generally against women in higher education. Then, she had to go into hiding when Mussolini came into power, as she was Jewish and thrown out of her university. To continue studying science, she built a secret research laboratory. Despite this, in 1986 she won a Nobel Prize for discovering something called "nerve growth factor", which greatly advanced our understanding of how neurons (nerve cells) work. Being at this point 77 years of age, she never slowed down - she went on to found the European Brain Research Institute in Rome, and a foundation encouraging the education of young women in Africa. She gave lectures and spoke out about promoting equality for women in science. And she turned up to work every day super well-dressed, with perfectly manicured hands and coiffured hair, even after turning 100. Basically, I want to be Rita. The world will miss her. Read more about her here.