Hello there! Well hasn't it turned chilly all of a sudden? Brrrrr. It's also turned rather wet in York and that can only mean one thing... the river's burst it's banks. Whilst it's quite a spectacular sight, you have to feel very sorry to the poor folk who live right next to the Ouse.

Anyhow lots have happened since my last blog. I am now a doctor which is rather exciting. I went to the densist the other day and asked them to change my title. It felt so weird. The viva was pretty tough but only lasted 2.5 hours which I'm told is verging on the short side for a chemistry one!

My weekly radio show yesterday was fun. The theme was 'sticky stuff' and I spoke about self sealing envelopes, sticky cling film and superglue. Try saying that quickly! I did an experiment live in the studio with a self sealing envelope. Go root around your bins or recycling and get an already-used self sealing envelope. Have you done it? Have you got one? Ok, now wait until it goes dark, turn the lights off and wrip it open again. You should see a purple light as you pull both sides of the gummed envelope apart. This is a phenomenon called chemiluminescence. Basically what is happening is that you give the molecules in the gummed envelope energy and they move up to higher energy levels. This sounds very strange but if you give molecules energy they will move up into this excited state. They won't stay there for very long and as they decay back to their ground state (where they hang around usually), they can release energy in another form. In this case the form is light and it's purple in colour because of the distance between the ground and excited state. Don't just take my word for it... go try it yourself!

I have to admit that I have met a famous person recently.

Prof. Kathy Sykes! How cool is that?! She was amazigly lovely and gave me a big hug and a kiss when I told her I passed my viva the day before. We chatted about science engagement by a water cooler (just like in the movies!).

I went up to BBC Scotland with some other NOISEmakers last week and had a great time. I met people who work on BBC1's 'The One Show' and I told them some of my ideas and you want to know one of the best things? They didn't think I was crazy. Bonus.

Right I'm going to head off as my fingers are so cold I can barely type anymore. Might get a cuppa. Until next time...tra.

Life as a NOISEmaker is pretty ace actually. I joined after auditioning this summer and have met some lovely scientists who are as passionate about their subject as I am. I saw becoming a NOISEmaker as my chance to make a difference a bit further afield. Anyhow, enough of the acceptance speech.

I've been up to quite a bit recently, since you asked. I now do a weekly science show on BBC Radio York. Every Tuesday at about 15.40 you'll hear my dulcet tones and hopefully you'll learn something too. It's called the School Run Science Club and I use it to talk about fun experiments, science oddities and general goings on in the world of science. You can listen online if you're not a Yorkie.

I went to the Manchester Science festival with NOISE a couple of weeks ago and I blummin' loved it. I would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to the organisers for spilling red food colouring on your lovely blue crushed velvet tablecloths. It wasn't me. It was an over-zealous 5 year old. If it's any consolation it took me about 4 days to get the dye out of my fingers. Imagine what it does to your insides if you emptied a full pot in your cup cakes? Anyhow, roll on next year.

Hopefully the next time I write I will have become Dr Jo as I have my viva in a week. Nervous doesn't even come close. You know the last time you had a big test or exam and you got butterflys on the morning? Well I feel worse and I've got 7 days to go! Help?!