This is a guest post by Andrew Holmes, Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution group of the Institute of Integrative Biology.
How quickly can you summarise your research or latest paper? A minute? Thirty seconds? A sentence?
How about 17 syllables?
That’s the challenge set by The Sciku Project, a website designed for scientists and mathematicians to share their latest research findings through the medium of sciku – scientific haiku.
It may seem odd condensing years of work or a complex theory into a handful of words but I promise that the benefits of such drastic minimalism are well worth it, both personally and professionally.
But first, some background. Haiku are a form of Japanese poetry. In the west they are 17 syllables long and written in three lines: five, seven and five syllables. The best haiku are evocative, humorous or beautiful and the very best are all three at once. Their brevity makes them quick to read but their contents linger in the mind – thought stimulants in word-pill form.
You might be asking why anyone would want to write scientific haiku but it’s not as strange as it might seem. Throughout the long history of haiku there has been a strong focus on the natural world; animals, plants, the weather and the cosmos all have been regular subjects for haiku masters and traditional haiku always feature a reference to the season. Using science as subject matter then is not too much of a stretch.
Haiku have a long tradition of using nature as a subject. Thank you to the Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution group for their gift of this book.
Haiku can also help us think about our own work. They frequently describe a small moment or thought that leads to a wider contemplation of its place in the world. I don’t know about you but all too easily I get wrapped up in the day-to-day details of my research. Scientific haiku help me to remember the bigger picture; writing haiku lets me trim the fat and get to the bones of what matters and why.
Furthermore, evidence suggests that writing scientific haiku can actually help us understand and communicate our own work: undergraduate science students asked to compose haiku subsequently explained their subject matter with greater accuracy and articulation. From my personal experience, haiku also provide a different perspective of my work and a better understanding of its impact – a boon in today’s funding climate.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, writing scientific haiku is fun. As a researcher I plan experiments, run bioassays, crunch numbers and do rather too much washing up of equipment for my liking. And then there’s the writing: dry research papers and slightly desperate grant applications. Haiku let me revel in my work, they let me play with words again and break out of my usual mould. They remind me of my passion for science.
Have a go yourself. If you’ve had a paper published or read an interesting finding, if you have a favourite theory or statistical test, whatever it is that fascinates you, celebrate it with a sciku. In today’s busy world it takes but a moment to enjoy a haiku and only slightly longer to compose one. And I’ll let you into a little secret – whilst it might be hard to construct the perfect haiku, across only 17 syllables it’s difficult to go too wrong with a sciku. It’s a remarkably forgiving medium.
If you’re curious then visit The Sciku Project. Each scientific haiku is accompanied by a brief explanation and links to the original research. Treat yourself to a Random sciku or Explore the back catalogue. If you discover there’s an area that’s not covered then set us right and Contribute your own sciku. You can also follow The Sciku Project on Twitter and Facebook.
The Sciku Project was set up by Andrew Holmes, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution group of the Institute of Integrative Biology. Visit https://thescikuproject.com for more information.
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