Profile
Alice Pullen
My CV
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Education:
I went to school in London (Primary School: St George’s, Hanover Square. Secondary School: Francis Holland, Clarence Gate and later Westminster School for sixth form). I applied for medicine and didn’t get in anywhere for university (because it wasn’t right for me)! After a gap year I went to the University of Cambridge to do Natural Sciences. I started in general biology, but focused on Evolution and Palaeontology in my Masters project. Now I’m doing an MPhil (like a PhD, but smaller) in marine biology.
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Qualifications:
GCSEs – Triple Sciences, English literature, English Language, Maths, History, Geography, Philosophy and Ethics, Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian.
A Levels – Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Ancient Greek.
BA (Bachelor of Arts Degree) in Natural sciences.
M.Sci. (Masters of Science) in Earth Sciences (Palaeontology) -
Work History:
In my gap year, before university, I was a teaching assistant at a school. I helped a lot with biology and drama, and also volunteered as the stage manager for their school play.
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Current Job:
Now, I work as an MPhil Researcher looking at anemones and starfish in the UK and in Antarctica!
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About Me:
I’m into science and stories and art, and I get very excited about these things. My favourite things are superhero movies and scary stories!
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I live in Cambridge with my boyfriend and way too many books in a tiny flat. At this time of year, I like to go outside (when it’s allowed) and walk around the fields near my home, as there are lots of baby bunnies there and sometimes small deer.
I love animals – fluffy animals, but also animals that other people often think are gross and creepy, like snakes and woodlice and other creepy-crawlies. I have realised that almost everything is interesting if you are patient enough to look closely at it.
I like reading spooky stories and watching spooky films, which not everyone understands! But I also love Thor: Ragnarok (because I love superheroes and Norse mythology).
My pronouns are she/her.
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Read more
Predators are animals, like lions and sharks, that kill and eat other animals. We call the animals they eat ‘prey’ (lion eat antelope, sharks eat seals). We know that predators are important in their environment, but it’s difficult to measure that in numbers. For example, how do we know if a Great White Shark eats more seals than a Killer Whale? It’s hard to tell.
I want to find a way to measure how much predators eat. This will tell us how important they are in their environment. This is important because at the moment, because of climate change raising temperatures in the sea, some predators might go extinct, and some might move to other places. If we know how much they eat, we can try to work out what might happen next.
How do you work out how much a predator eats?
One way is to collect their poop. As you will know, how much you eat affects how much you poo. If you don’t eat any food, you stop pooing after a few days (I hope!). So collecting an animal’s poop (scientists call it ‘stool’ or ‘faeces’) can tell us how much they eat!
Another way is to measure a predator’s respiration. This is how much oxygen they absorb when they breathe. When we ‘respire’ we take in oxygen and food, and use this to create energy to power our bodies. Usually we need BOTH to create the energy. So the amount of oxygen we take in is linked to the amount of food we take in – which, remember, is the thing we want to know.
Measuring oxygen is a bit more difficult than collecting poop. Check out ‘My typical day’ for how I do it.
Both of these measurements are difficult with sharks because they’re pretty fast! Instead I use smaller predators that live in rockpools or on the seashore. Mostly I work with starfish and sea anemones. You might not think of these as predators, but they are!
Starfish have their mouths on the underside of their bodies, in the middle of the star shape. They crawl around on hundreds of tiny sucker-like feet. Some starfish can eat animals bigger than themselves, because they can push their stomachs out through their mouths!
Sea anemones don’t move around as much as starfish. They tend to stick to rocks and wait for small animals to get stung by their tentacles. Their tentacles are covered in lots of poison sacs like stinging nettles. If an animal brushes against them, the sac launches a tiny harpoon of poison. If the animal is small enough (like a small fish or a shrimp), it will get stuck on the tentacle, and the anemone will eat it. Anemones are related to jellyfish. In the UK, beadlet anemones look like shiny red blobs in crevices in rocks (right hand picture). Underwater, they get out their tentacles (left hand picture).
You can find both of these animals on most sea shores, especially in rockpools. Remember that if you go looking in rockpools you can find a lot of cool stuff just by watching carefully! But you should always put animals back where you find them. If you turn over rocks to search for animals, you should also put them back the right side down. Treat animals as you wish to be treated.
I do these experiments in the lab, on animals from the UK and animals from Antarctica, near the south pole. Another thing I’m interested in is comparing results between the two!
As well as anemones and starfish, I also work on big worms! The worms I worked on in Plymouth were about as long as my arm (don’t worry, they live under the mud and won’t bother you on the beach!). The worms in the Antarctic aquarium are even bigger, two metres long and as thick as a person’s wrist. They smell REALLY bad.
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My Typical Day:
I head into work at the British Antarctic Survey. Our aquarium needs to be cold so the animals feel at home – I wrap up warm, and spend the day taking measurements and collecting poo in the lab (taking a lot of breaks to stay warm).
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9am – I get into work and wrap up warm! It doesn’t matter if it’s summer outside: the Antarctic Aquarium is -3 degrees, so I always wear a hat and about 3 jumpers.
9.30 – I check on the animals I’m using to measure poop. I might have 30 anemones and a few starfish too! Every animal gets its own little jar in the tank, to keep separate of the others, because I have to keep track of whose poop is whose. Here’s a picture:
Sometimes this is a problem because some animals like to escape. Starfish are very good at escaping because they can change shape by pumping water into different parts of their body.
10am – I measure the oxygen animals are taking out of the water. I do this by sealing animals in airtight jars. That way, as they take in oxygen, the amount of oxygen in the water goes down. I can measure how it changes over time. Here’s a picture of an Antarctic starfish (about as big as my hand) and another one of a giant Antarctic worm (about as big as a snake!).
Before I seal the animals in their jars, I have to get rid of any bubbles on the inside of the jar. I do this with a toothbrush! I have to keep the jar underwater the whole time, so this is where I usually get a bit cold. Remember the water is colder than freezing! Gloves don’t help for long…
By the time I’ve done all this, it’s time for lunch!
Lunchtime – I eat a lot while I’m working in the cold. For warm-blooded animals like us, staying warm in the cold burns a lot of energy. I’m allowed as many biscuits as I like.
Afternoon – I take my afternoon oxygen measurements. Now I can see how fast these animals absorb oxygen. Afterwards I need to work out how much space the animals took up in the jar (this is called the volume). You know how when you get in the bath the water level rises? It’s a bit like that, but instead of the bath it’s a tub of seawater, and instead of you it’s a slimy Antarctic worm. This can be dangerous. The giant Antarctic worms have a spiky tongue (called a proboscis). When they get angry, they try to stab me with it! They are also covered in slime, which can burn you if it touches your skin. So I wear gloves. Lastly, they smell very bad… (like a mixture of rotten cabbage and snails)
At the end of the day, I put new animals in my jars, ready for work the next day. This means they can get used to their new homes overnight. I also check on my ‘poop’ experiment.
Usually I have made the lab and the aquarium floor very wet by this point, so I go round with a mop!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I’d use it to produce an illustrated comic about how to stop the spread of invasive species!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Short, Excitable, Morbid
What did you want to be after you left school?
A vet or a scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Yes! I was really annoying
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Lots, but I love Fleetwood Mac and Prince
What's your favourite food?
Vietnamese gyoza (dumplings)
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1. I wish to be happy in my life. 2. I wish for a cat. 3. I wish I could be a beloved fantasy author.
Tell us a joke.
What do vegetarian cannibals eat? Answer: Swedes. (sorry)
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