Michael was voted the winner of the Nihonium Zone in March 2020! He’s a writer and editor who brings science to life, helping everyone to understand and get involved. Michael adapted to make use of digital platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, putting his prize money towards online presentations and sharing at-home experiments.

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Without I’m a Scientist, we would never have been able to connect with each other or keep doing science together during lockdown

My original plan was to use the prize money to develop a science comic to hand out at conventions, activity days, and other events where I was invited to speak about science (or comics!). But that was in March 2020 – and when the lockdowns and shielding letters starting to arrive, I had to shift gears because I wasn’t going to be attending any more events for a long time.

It quickly became obvious that people were still eager to learn about science – in fact, maybe more than ever. I needed to find ways to share science from a distance, so I began to adapt my in-person presentations so that I could give them online.

With the prize money, I bought the equipment I needed to give presentations on realistic monsters and aliens, teach experiments like building makeshift bridges and racing rafts in the bathtub, and even kitchen chemistry like homemade toothpaste and creative baking.

Even though we were all staying safe in our own homes, everyone had a lot of fun together – and some students used their experiments to earn CREST awards or took them back to school later on to share with their classmates!

Without I’m a Scientist, we would never have been able to connect with each other or keep doing science together during lockdown, so it made a big difference to people of all ages. It also sparked my interest in doing more online science – so now I’m doing science podcasts and I’m hoping to do videos in the future!