“Born too late to explore the earth. Born too early to explore the stars”

– Anonymous

Modern scientists often have the strange feeling that they have been born in the wrong era; that they are the ‘middle children’ of history. They read enviously about the exploits of explorers past, sailing boldly into uncharted waters, and worry that they may never be able to undertake those same legendary journeys. But the truth is that scientists are explorers everyday; they explore the uncharted waters at the boundary of human knowledge. By studying the phenomena that occur all around us every day they are uncovering more and more information about the building blocks of our universe.

Dr Matthew Bulbert (AKA Dr Bulby) is a behavioural ecologist from Macquarie University with an insatiable desire for exploration. In an interview with In Situ Science he recounts his journeys throughout Papua New Guinea, Africa and Australia in search of rare and poorly understood animals. He explores new paradigms in biology by describing and studying animal behaviours that have never been studied before.

Find out more about his research through his lab’s website www.conflictecology.com or follow him on Twitter @MBulbert

Music: ‘Strange Stuff’ by Sonic Wallpaper – www.sonicwallpaper.bandcamp.com