Laura De Paoli

In year six, I stuffed rotting vegetables into empty bottles and left them in our back shed till they made enough smelly gas to inflate the balloons I had stretched over the top of them.
That was one of the first times I thought science is really awesome… and even I can do it!

Before discovering science, I was a kid who loved drawing, animals and the colour blue. Now, I’m an adult who still loves those things but also loves that anyone can be a scientist.

The main thing scientists need to do is ask questions and I bet you’re already very good at that. Our other, slightly harder job is to find the answers to our questions. But guess what, even wrong answers can help contribute to scientific discoveries, how cool is that?

These days I’m not spending as much time with rotting vegetables, instead you can find me in the laboratory asking questions about brains. I’m currently working on the question; how can we see if our brains are healthy if they’re safely tucked away in our skull inside our heads? Hint… the answer may be in our blood.

So, what does a scientist do when they’re not asking questions about brains? I love to run and volunteer at my local Parkrun here in Hobart because it keeps my own brain happy. I also love to visit beautiful places in Tasmania, walk through the bush and try to spot as much native wildlife as I can. So really, I’m just your average Tasmanian, who also studies brains!