A Bird’s Eye View: Finding New Ways to Track Synthetic Chemicals in the Environment

Illustration shows a scientist working in a lab with a parrot on a perch next to her.

By Hannah Hidle, a graduate student at Georgetown University who is currently conducting research at NIST

I’m not a scientist. I’m not sure if that admission will turn the editorial overlords at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) against me, but I think it’s important to understand my background before I begin my story. I failed high school chemistry spectacularly, and before last year, I had never stepped foot in a lab. My undergraduate policy degree, a major in foreign affairs and a minor in global sustainability, did not require a single science prerequisite. If you had asked me two years ago what a polyfluorinated compound was, my response probably would have been: “Fluoride? You mean the stuff in toothpaste?”

I did not have what you would call a “science brain.” I did, however, have two parrots.