David R. Brake

About me

I was born/grew up in: New York City, NY, USA

I now live in:  St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

I completed my training/education at: The London School of Economics, London, UK and Trinity College, University of Toronto

What I do at work

I work with our volunteer writers, helping them to make their stories about science in everyday life more readable and interesting. I also make sure that the scientific concepts that they explore in their work are accurately and well explained. I studied social media and how access to the internet is important in everyday life.  I am what is called a 'social scientist'. That means I studied how people behave. It is every bit as hard as inventing new substances or studying how plants grow. Though I never wore a lab coat or peered in a microscope I learned some very important things about science in my work. One of the most important of these is understanding the scientific method - how scientific theories are made and judged. I learned French in school but did not use it afterwards for 15 years. I ended up marrying a French woman and found that with a little effort it all came back. My working knowledge of French turned out to be very useful in a committed bilingual organization like Let's Talk Science!

My career path is

If there's one thing I have learned it is that life is full of surprises! Not once but several times my life has changed completely. Sometimes the change was my choice but often by chance. Fortunately, my love of learning has given me the skills to start again and enjoy the process of adapting to new environments. I developed these skills through my university years and through my work as a journalist.  I believe you should not assume you know what you will be doing in life or that you know what specific skills you will need. If you have a curious mind, you will always be prepared for an un-knowable future.

I am motivated by

I love that I end up learning new fun things about science every day as I read and check over new articles. I also enjoy using my own writing and teaching skills to help our expert volunteers to tell others about the science they do. I also like helping our undergraduate volunteers who want to share their passion for science to learn more about how to research and write. I hope that I am helping to build an ever-growing group of skilled science communicators who will spark an interest in science in others.

How I affect peoples’ lives

Learning to enjoy learning is one of the greatest blessings in life because it is always possible to learn more, and of course, it's very useful! I hope by making our website full of appealing and interesting content I am helping thousands of young people to find science fun.

Outside of work I

I volunteer with various neighbourhood and civic organizations and am active politically. When I am not doing that (and helping to raise two great kids and a dog!) I enjoy playing board games and computer games.

My advice to others

If you want to be a writer, don't wait for someone to ask you. Start learning about the world around you and write or do a vlog about what you find out to your friends. It's all good practice - there are a million things around you to write about!