Hi guys,
It has been months since I last updated, which I'm going to chalk up to stress of exams etc.
This is just a quick post to let you all know where I am/what I'm up to.
I finished my exams in June, having studied for them as hard as I honestly believe I could have. After that there was nothing to do except wait.
I also went on a school trip abroad (again!) totally self funded, to the Malay area of Borneo. It was an amazing experience and one which I will treasure forever. My favourite part was the timewe spent in a Field Centre on the Kinabatangan river called Danau Girang. This field centre is what made this trip so much more interesting than some of the others.
Danau Girang is run by Cardiff University, and as a result has a mix of undergrad and post grad students, all of whom are undertaking projects of their own. As a result we got to tag along and actually see the practical side to biology - some groups got to watch blood being taken from a monitor lizard, and we all got to have a go at doing blood smears to screen for parasites.
It was this practical side of the science, this combination of doing new things in an exotic location whcih made the whole trip such a fantastic experience.
Then I came home and about a week later, made the trip down to school to pick up my results. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't made the grade to get into Leicester University for Medicine. This was a real blow, as I had been really looking forward to going.
My initial plans had been to get a deferred place at University for Medicine and go on a gap year in the meantime. Now, all my plans had to change. I thought for a bit, phoned up a couple of universities and decided to go through clearing.
For anyone going through clearing themselves, as annoying as they might be, family members are invaluable at this time; finding suitable courses, the information that the interviewer needs, and just being someone to rely on.
I collected as many places as I could, and then sat on my offers to decide. Again, family was useful here for an alternative perspective - while the final choice is and should be yours, they might think of pro's and cons which hadn't occurred to you.
My final choice ended up being Biomedical Sciences and Anatomy at Aberdeen University. I have since had freshers week (SO much fun), joined some societies (again, loads of fun), and actually begun my courses! I'm currently looking into transferring to Medicine at the end of this year, because I still really want to be a doctor, but at the moment I'm happy with where I am. My only regret was that I was unable to go on a gap year, and I let down one of my friends in the process.
Onto more interesting things: smart phones are everywhere. Whether you prefer Android or Apple, they're really common, and most modern ones have good coverage from satellites, and good cameras, can download apps etc.
Which is why they're currently being used as diagnostic tools. You read that right. You can, with a small additional lens and a downloadable app, use an iPhone or Android device to perform eye exams. In the more economically developed countries, this isn't such a big deal - you head along to a clinic and they have a big powerful camera that can take detailed photos of the back of your eye and say what's wrong and everything is hunky dory.
However, in third world countries with poor access to healthcare this is a little harder - the equipment is expensive and bulky and you'd probably have to travel a fair old way to get seen. With a smart phone and attachment, the doctors would come out to visit you and check out what's wrong with you. They can even take photos with a geotag so that in two weeks time, a doctor who's actually going to do the operation can find the patient, regardless of whether they have an addressfor their house or not.
I'm constantly amazed by how technology which is originally for a specific use can be adapted and changed to be useful for a whole host of other things. I think that developments like these are going to be the way forwards in helping to treat people who were previously too remote and couldn't be reached.
Source
http://bit.ly/1a2pBve
http://bit.ly/154PNIv
