ZQ28

A Tiny World Julie Laurin

very few biologists, chemists, geologists, etc). The livestreaming world, whether it’s Twitch or YouTube, offers huge opportunities for scientists to connect with average people. While Twitch is primarily frequented by the gaming community, I have found that my audience is older, more mature, and generally curious about science. Even younger gamers have taken an interest! Twitch also has a great community aspect to it, including monetization options that allow your fans and audience to support you and your project. I’d love to see more scientists using this platform to connect with the wider public.

Who/what inspires you creatively? What do you ‘feed’ on the most? Everything. Everything is interesting to me. Sidewalks, leaves, watches, planets, pens, feet, how motors work, how birds fly, how people sweat. I can spend hours examining a rock, wondering “why”, and “how come”. It’s interesting because when I was a fine art photographer, all of my inspiration came from pain and love. Now that I’m inspired by nature (including the things we’ve created from nature), I find inspiration outside of myself. As in, my feelings about anything are irrelevant. The only thing I pay attention to now is my curiosity, and the curiosity of others. What’s great about livestreaming is that there are moments when I’m not excited about a topic, but if my audience is excited, that feeling becomes contagious. And nothing thrills me more than to fulfill their curiosities. And that’s what feeds me the most: a shared sense of exploration and open-mindedness with others. Because, in this day and age, it is rebellious to be happy. And this kind of work fulfills me so much. You mentioned art photography - can you tell us a bit more about that? I picked up a camera about ten years ago. I didn't know much about how it worked,

Nematode (https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=fsr0sctBqLA)

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