Remember when you were a kid and you went to the aquarium on a school trip and you were like ‘Right. That whale is so freaking cool – that’s what I want to be. A marine biologist.’ And then you kind of forgot about it and ended up doing something else? This week’s guest actually became a marine biologist – meet Amy Kirke. She is a shark scientist studying a PhD at Charle’s Darwin Uni and is well on her way to being an expert in Australian Blackspot Sharks and Milk Sharks. It takes an extraordinary amount of discipline to study any kind of biology but it’s even harder when it’s in the water, moves around a lot and might potentially kill you.
People who do in-depth study in the sciences are fascinating for two reasons.
1. They have the focus and drive to spend years (often decades) trying to prove a theory that often isn’t provable
2. They are (usually) very happy to be wrong
When it comes to discipline and delayed gratification, we have a lot to learn from those who are scientifically inclined.
In this episode, Amy and I chat about the hierarchy of coolness in the marine biology world, charismatic megafauna (mynew favourite phrase), why sharks so awesome and how Amy is targeting kids to teach them about the importance of ethical fishing practices.
In this episode, we talk about
* Sharks and how they’re not necessarily the ‘cool’ thing to study in marine biology
* The importance of discipline
* Morning exercise and how pivotal that habit is to her productivity
* The very painful and aggressive mating rituals of sharks
* Ethical fishing practices
* They psychology behind which animals attract sympathy and financial support
* How writing everything down helps Amy remember important things
* Busyness and how it’s not always such a terrible thing
If you want to learn about the next level discipline of a marine biologist and get a serious injection of inspiration, this episode is for you.
Links mention in this episode
* Des show on Stan (for the serial killer fans!)
* WFF
The best bits from Amy?
‘You can’t go into marine biology thinking you’re going to spend all day swimming with dolphins.’
‘On no, I’m going to be a shark person which is one step down from a dolphin person.’
‘We’re interested in what we fear.’
Want more from Amy?
You can find her on Instagram @therealamyshark and twitter @ScienceTotally and @therealamyshark.
Love it?
Reviews and ratings make the podcasting world go around – I’d absolutely love it if you could review the podcast here.
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve started sending weekly newsletters again and they’re full of useful things!