by Imraan Dixon There’s a cognitive bias called the Dunning-Kruger effect first described by two aptly named researchers, David Dunning and Justin Kruger (funny how things always line up like that, huh?). Essentially, it causes people with limited knowledge to overestimate the extent of that knowledge. Regardless of how true to life the Dunning-Kruger effect…

by Caylin Mc Farlane I realized I needed to pace myself when it comes to how much I put into my studies. People had told me Honours was going to be difficult, but this is much more difficult than what I expected. The course I chose is Clinical Anatomy and we had our first techniques…

by Gomolemo Molope Hey, I am Gomolemo. A young individual from Gauteng who is aspiring to be a scientist. I cannot share a whole lot more about myself right now, but I will share something in particular. The final semester of my undergraduate studies was the most nerve-wracking time of my life. I would try…

by Thando Kubheka With this piece, I am going to take you back to the very beginning and set the scene, it’s 2021, I am in my room preparing for the final exams of my undergraduate studies and I received an email that had me smiling for the rest of the day, it read: “Congratulations!…

by Bianca Rijkmans Patience. That is what the past couple of months have been teaching me. Patience. Waiting over 6 weeks for equipment to arrive in order to start your experiments for your thesis tends to do that, I think. In the meantime, I have thrown myself into learning as much as I can with…

by May Krause I was born and schooled in Johannesburg. Big, bad, crazy wonderful Joburg, I was a Jozi girl through and through. When I moved to the quaint and historically beautiful town of Stellenbosch for university, I happily donned my Matie shirt and threw myself into my own independence. Last year, after graduating I…

by Husnaa Bux The amalgamation of twenty-twenty and twenty-twenty-one can only be separated by levels oflockdown, like waves of an unexpected tsunami – isolated, estranged, remote, and restrained.Entering twenty-twenty-two, the anchors were loosened, masks were lifted, and we were ableto come up for air. Life returned, or rather resumed, to (a new) normal – yet…

by Anna Jellema-Butler I entered this Honours program expecting to walk away with the field-specific knowledge and technical skills required to become an excellent scientist. However, as I have come to realize over the past six months, the primary outcome of our Honours year has little to do with a degree in science. The real…

by Pearly Joubert An unexpected stormWild and unpredictableSuch an unusual formBut undeniable Wind, hale and rainIncreasing world-wide painHelp! The children are cryingScientists and doctors were tryingBut Covid couldn’t care less; did its best,And put people to rest Hospitals overcrowdingMade the beds limitedBusinesses drowningHumans became intimidated So, we created lockdownsMorning, afternoon and evening, we stayed in…

by Keegan Mills Transitioning from medicine to science this year has been interesting. I have found that science has involved more thinking, understanding and application as opposed to the memorization that is required in medicine. I have been tasked with analysing and interpreting data this year and learning about and figuring out how different experiments…