7 jobs in science you never knew existed
In the last few years of studying and travelling, and just generally trying to say yes to every possible opportunity that comes my way, I’ve come across many weird and wonderful careers that I’ve been able to experience firsthand or have met incredible people working in these positions. My own career as palaeontologist/archaeologist/science communicator was never something I knew existed until I went out and created it, so I thought I would share some other awesome jobs in science that you probably never knew existed!
1. Fossil Librarian
Fossil brachiopods in a museum collection
Image credit: Canva
The Lord Howe Island Horned Turtle, Meiolania Platyceps,
Image credit: Fanny Schertzer via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
One of Australia’s megafauna creatures, the Diprotodon.
Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Also known as a curatorial assistant, technical officer, or collections manager (which don’t sound nearly as cool), a Fossil Librarian is someone who help with cataloguing, sorting, displaying, and storing the palaeontology collections in museums. As a volunteer in the Australian Museum back in 2018, I considered myself a fossil librarian – instead of caring for books, I was caring for fossils! This job was pretty epic as even though part of it was data entry (gross), I got to learn so much about our fossil collections. My other jobs also included taking photos of the fossils for our collections website and social media, 3D scanning Diprotodon teeth (think giant 2-ton wombat), and helping to track down a rouge horned turtle skull that was stored in the wrong place.
2. Shipwreck Archaeologist
Diver John Brooks inspecting the remains of the USS MACAW at Midway Island. Hawaii, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
Image credit: Robert Schwemmer (CC BY 2.0)
While this job is less searching for submerged treasure or gold, and more measuring the wooden skeletons of sunken ships, this would still be a pretty epic job to have. In early 2020 (before COVID was a thing in Australia), I got to go on a maritime archaeology field school with Flinders University. We spent two weeks diving off of the coast of Victoria, documenting, drawing, measuring, and identifying a sunken 19th Century shipwreck (and trying to communicate underwater half the time). One of the divers and instructors on the course was Dr Maddy McAllister, who also happens to be the curator/shipwreck detective (and real life Shipwreck Mermaid) at the Museum of Tropical Queensland – definitely check her out on social media if you’re interested in this career!
3. Zooarchaeologist
Scene from the ancient Egyptian Tomb of Nebamun, now in the British Museum. Note the many birds, fish, and even Nebamun’s pet cat.
Image credit: Wikimedia
The tiny skull of the Australian native Broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus), part of the collection used for the La Trobe University zooarchaeology course.
Image credit: La Trobe University
A dog from Stone Age Sweden, that was buried next to his master, over 8, 400 years ago.
Image credit: Daily Mail
While archaeology is generally the study of material remains related to human history, zooarchaeologists are an important part of the archaeological process and they study the relationships between humans and animals at archaeological sites. This can be looking for what animals were consumed as food, which were used for farming practices, which were pets and more! I was lucky enough to do a zooarchaeology course with La Trobe University, and spent a lot of time trying to identify tiny animal bones (I’m talking smaller than my fingernail) that had been eaten by dingos and owls! Two of my favourite teachers throughout my degree at Macquarie University were zooarchaeologists – Dr. Linda Evans did an incredible study on animal behaviour in Ancient Egyptian tomb scenes, and Dr. Mary Hartley completed her thesis on dogs in Ancient Egypt!
4. Whale Snot Collector
A drone collecting snot samples from a humpback whale!
Image credit: Vanessa Pirotta via Questacon
A very niche job within marine biology, scientists, such as Vanessa Pirotta (who created this technique for her PhD thesis) use drones to collect snot from whales when they blow air out of their blow holes! This job was described to me when I was diving with whales in Jervis Bay earlier this year by marine biologist Laura Wells as ‘a doctors check up’ for the whales! The snot holds a lot of information, including DNA, or what viruses or bacteria (good and bad) is in the whale, allowing scientists to assess the health of the whale. Drones that are used have a petri dish stuck to them, and they fly through the thickest part of the snot-cloud (this is definitely [not] the term that scientists use), once they’re out the other side, the lid goes on and the water proof drone returns to base!
5. Fungi & Lichen videographer
Photographs of fungi and lichen taken by Stephen Axford. Courtesy of Planet Fungi.
If you’ve every watched a David Attenborough or other nature documentary, you may have seen the incredible time lapse videos of fungi or lichen growing; well, someone has to take the time to sit there with a camera to get that perfect shot! This was a job that I never really knew existed until earlier this year – I was bushwalking up in the Barrington Tops Gondwana Rainforests in New South Wales and came across a couple that had their camera pointed at a rock. I was rather excited as I thought there might be an echidna or other animal, but upon closer inspection, their camera was pointed at the lichen on the rock. We got chatting and they explained that they were videographers! Those time lapses I mentioned? Many of them were created by this couple! Check them out here.
6. Ant QR Code Distributor
QR codes on ants - for science!
Image credit: Timothée Brüsch via WIRED
Yep, you read that right. A friend of mine at university is doing her biology masters on ant behaviour, trying to look at weaver ants that are really good at making bridges or structures between tree branches or other platforms. So, to track which ant is which, the lab (and others around the world) uses tiny QR codes which are stuck to the back of the ants – this job requires the scientist to pick up every single ant very gently by the legs and glue on the QR code! You can read more about their project here.
7. Wombat Babysitter
Sleepy wombats at Wombat Rescue - a program helping to raise and save wombats.
Me having the best day of my life as I meet Burrow, a two year old wombat at the Shoalhaven Zoo.
If there’s one career on my list that I would consider changing to, it would probably be this one. Growing up on a farm, we always had wombats around – they are one of my all time favourite animals (I have one tattooed on me as proof), however, they were always out in the paddocks, and they didn’t tend to like hugs (or pats - I tried once with one who was living in our hay shed). Wombats are at risk to car accidents and mange, but some incredible people rescue wombats, including the tiny babies, and they stay with their carers for several years! Having an army of tiny wombat joeys charging around my house would definitely be a highlight.
Have one of these careers inspired you? Let us know!