Well, somehow I have done it. After two weeks of what can only be described as chaotic, mind-bending euphoria, I have somehow managed to reach the final of I’m a Scientist. How I have managed to do this is one of those questions that I guess I shall never know the answer to, much like why do we all manage to lose at least one sock, and why do we have knees.

In July last year I did the Oxfam Trailwalker – here you have to walk 100km in just one day. This was a test of your endurance, your mental metal and how well you coped under pressure… when I finished that walk, I honestly thought that it would be the biggest challenge I would ever undertake. I was wrong.  Like one of the computer games you played as a child, I feel like I have completed all of the levels and now reached the boss.  I have reached the doorway to success, and guarding it is Dr Keith Brain.

With comments as witty as they are insightful, Keith well deserves this victory. For that matter, all of the other contestants did.  Alastair – the latest casualty of the project – fought hard until the bitter end, teaching me and everyone else lots about bone biology and how bones repair themselves.  Keith though has remained consistent and charming in his replies, and has rigorously questioned anything that he does not initially comprehend.  A man with 5 degrees is not to be messed with.

But wait there just one second.  You don’t get to work on the fastest car in the world if you are willing to give up just because the seas ahead are a little rough.  I say, let the challenge commence!  Like any good movie, I shall not go down without a fight.  I feel like David vs. Goliath, pitting my intimate knowledge of supersonic cars against the heights and depths of Neuropharmacology.

It is me versus the Brain.

Tomorrow the struggle begins, but I shall relent…  I shall answer with a new found enthusiasm all that can be answered, and when the day is done I shall leave with my head held high, no matter whether I have won or lost.  My small ship of knowledge may be no match in size for the good Doctor, but it is fast upon the high seas of the keyboard.  As we enter our last Live Chat at 14.10 tomorrow I shall defend my little battleship to the end.

So… man the cannons!

May the best Brain win.

Tags: i'm a scientist, ias2010, keith brain, neuropharmacology

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