Introduction

As a researcher, I am often asked to ‘write a brief introduction about myself’. This can be for a website, a conference, a poster or whatever. This is something that I do not enjoy doing. However, I have just started this blog and it is forcing me into writing something straight away. Therefore, here is an intro about me and my blog (Wish me luck).

Lets start with the facts. My name is Sam Bennett and I am PhD researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London and the Natural History Museum in London. My research is on ichthyosaurs, an extinct group of marine reptiles alive during the Mesozoic when the dinosaurs were doing their thing on land. I am researching their ontogeny (physical changes with age) and sexual dimorphism (physical differences between males and females). I am in my 3rd year and can usually be found writing my thesis, or drinking coffee/beer while worrying about writing my thesis. The basics, check!

OK, now that is out the way, lets follow the what with the why! Why am I doing this blog? Admittedly, it is partly procrastination. However, the main reason is to help fulfill my desire to share palaeontology based science with a wider audience. I feel that it is a shame if advances in science stay within the scientific community, or are portrayed in a way that makes it difficult to comprehend etc. Therefore, this blog is my attempt to share my interests and passion to anyone that is interested enough to read all of this. I hope to talk about my own research as well as the research of others and whatever else tickles my fancy.

If you’ve read this far, thanks. Please keep and eye out for an actual post about fossils and what not, coming to an internet near you.

Me at my desk. I am smiling because I have coffee