Tag Archives: Imagination

Inspiring Interactions – Simon Clark

Simon Clark is one of the most successful science communicators on YouTube. His channel, @SimonClark, currently has over 644,000 subscribers and his videos regularly amass hundreds of thousands of views. Although his channel is now focussed on promoting climate literacy it started 15 years ago as a vlog about his experiences as a state-educated student attending University of Oxford. This was significant because Oxford and Cambridge have traditionally been a space for privately-educated students – even today where less than 7% of students are privately educated they make up 30% of student intake at these universities, and historically this has led to a disproportionate under-representation of state-educated citizens in important roles (e.g., 65% of senior judges are privately-educated). It’s clear that his representation of the state-educated voice in that arena resonated with many people.

What I have found inspiring about Simon is how he has managed re-invent and evolve his channel throughout his career. From that original vlog, through his time doing a PhD at the University of Exeter, to going full-time afterwards, and now focussing on climate literacy. He has adapted and grown with his audience whilst remaining true to himself and the content he wants to make and feels is important. Recently, he has been open about struggling with YouTube’s algorithm and the threat that poses to his livelihood – this led to another re-invention and the incorporation of some physical models into his videos. Simon makes these by hand and they are beautiful and he has been rewarded with millions of views. It’s imagination, it’s craft, and it’s realness – all the things I think people yearn for.

I’m also inspired by Simon as he is living my dream in many ways. He gets to be creative, share knowledge, and inspire people to learn every single day. He has already achieved my ambition and written a book (with an excellent audiobook version read by Simon himself). Like me, he’s a big gaming and Warhammer fan and successfully brings these into his work (seriously, check out his awesome Hawaiian Orks). When I put together videos for my YouTube channel, I looked to Simon’s for ideas – how can I put it together, how do I tell the story, how can I film this? Simon also co-hosted a brilliant podcast How to Make a Science Video with Sophie Ward where they chatted to other science creators. It is so jammed with useful insights and ideas that I highly recommend you listen if you want to make science videos.

I asked Simon some questions about imagination and his work.

Why is imagination important to the work you do?

Imagination is vital to me for two reasons. Firstly, YouTube is such a crowded marketplace that anyone not being imaginative in how they present their work risks being crowded by any number of content creators making things by the book. By making things that no one has ever made before, you stand out in a competitive niche. But more than that, and this is the second reason, it’s deeply fulfilling. I would never dream of referring to myself as an artist, but I think there is a part of me that clamours to express itself via art. Making videos is of course itself an art form, but trying to innovate and ask “what could I do here that’s unique” provides another level of artistic fulfilment.

How do you keep your imagination sharp?

I firmly believe that in order to create art you must consume art, and so I’m almost constantly hunting for new stimuli in the form of videos, podcasts, ideas, films, games, but particularly music. I’m one of those people who absolutely rinses their Spotify subscription. I think being exposed to new ideas in one medium – such as music – makes you question preconceptions and biases you have in other media forms. And doing that is the first step to creating something innovative. Which is the other key component – in order to create… you need to create! So I try to do something creative, whether that’s painting or singing or writing or videomaking, every day.

What are you currently working on that you would like to shout about?

I’m in the very early stages of a mammoth video that’s a sequel of sorts to my tiny Earth video. I can’t say much, but it’s going to be big in scale and involve very small models. And trains.

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Views expressed in this newsletter are mine and do not represent those of my employer. Content and links are provided for informational purposes and do not constitute endorsements. I am not responsible for the content of external sites, which may have changed since this newsletter was produced.

Inspiring Interactions – Lucia Perez-Diaz

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Lucia Perez-Diaz is just simply multi-talented. You could describe her a Geoscientist. She has a PhD from Royal Holloway, has worked as a researcher, has an impressive scientific publication record and practices geoscience professionally. As an Earth Scientist, of the hard rock geology variety, Lucia specialises in understanding the process of plate tectonics, describing herself as a detective using clues and computer models to recreate the way the earth may have been in the long, distant past.

You could describe her as an artist, or even a science-artist. She is also a freelance illustrator and an incredible artist. She has a very distinctive and aesthetically pleasing style that she describes a “fun and whimsical”. Much of what she creates is made using papercut methods and even when her art is digital, whether that’s the beautiful illustrations for the game QUARTETnary or in her book How the Earth Works, it still carries that hand-crafted style. This is why her work appeals so much, it has a tactile quality, it looks like you could pick it up and run your fingers along the edges of each cut piece of paper – like a vinyl record, it is a medium that provides a direct connection between the audience and the creator.

Finally, you could also describe her as a writer and storyteller. She called herself a detective and in How the Earth Works she uses this as a device to draw the reader through the book. The book itself is aimed at children to inspire them with geoscience and learn about plate tectonics, but really it is her own story of investigating the deep past of the planet that she is inviting the reader to join her in. Recently, she has also turned her talents to science-journalism, joining the press team for the European Geoscience Union General Assembly, covering the themes of the conference including gender, AI, and ethics.

I asked Lucia a few questions about imagination and what it means to her work:

Why is imagination important to the work you do?

Much of what we do as Earth Scientists relies on imagination. We imagine processes we can’t directly see, and times we can’t travel to. Science, to me, is built on curiosity—and curiosity naturally leads us to create new ideas, to imagine. For me, science, imagination, and creativity are deeply intertwined.

As an artist, imagination plays the obvious role in the creative process, but also in figuring out how to communicate science in ways that resonate with people who may have different perspectives, interests, or relationships with it. It’s about finding new entry points into scientific ideas.

How do you keep your imagination sharp?

One thing I started doing a few years ago that really helps keep me creatively fit is taking on projects that are outside my comfort zone. Last year, for example, I created a series of illustrations featuring eight different characters based on various lipids.

“Take cholesterol and design a character inspired by its molecular structure and characteristics” — it doesn’t get much weirder than that! At times I regretted agreeing to it, but it pushed me to think in new ways, and I was really happy with the final result.

Some of these experiments never make it to social media — sometimes because I’m not allowed to share them, other times because they don’t fit my usual content — but they absolutely help keep my imagination active.

What are you currently working on that you would like to shout about?

Following my first book How the Earth Works, I’ve been developing ideas for new books — which I can’t talk about just yet, but I’m very excited about!

Alongside that, throughout 2024 and 2025, I’ve been working on a print series called Adventures in Time. It explores what it might be like to travel through different geologic periods. Right now, I’m working on a piece inviting travellers to the Paleogene—where you can climb Mount Everest while it’s still easy! (The Himalayas only began forming around 50 million years ago, so Earth’s tallest mountain was just a hill back then.)

This post was originally published as part of the Imagination Engines newsletter. To get my content earlier and straight to your email subscribe using the box below:

13 Beavers – A Game We Played

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I love a computer game called Timberborn. It’s a city builder game where you manage a colony of anthropomorphised beavers as they build a colony in the ruins of humanity, presumably now extinct. It is gentle, lovely, has a great sense of humour, and is highly addictive.

This is probably why Amy chose the board game 13 Beavers by Format Games as a silly Christmas gift for me. It’s a nice little game aimed at kids but we still had fun. The game has its own lore that tells of 13 legendary beavers who made it to beaver paradise*. These 13 beavers, each with its own theme such as a ninja, a robot, and a cowbeaver, form the artwork of the cards in the game – numbered 1 to 13, you move by correctly guessing whether the next card is higher or lower than the last.

The 13 Beavers game board. Colourful cartoon style, with board squares along a rapid flowing river. A player's hand is using a small fishing rod to catch magnetic fish.

The very simple game play is supplemented by some fun additions, including a magnetic fishing rod and fish that can either give you a bonus or set you back. There is also the opportunity to take a huge shortcut via the ‘tempting tunnel’ if you are able to correctly guess the exact value of the next card – something Amy did the first time we played, crossing the finishing line whilst I was still rooted to the start.

13 Beavers was lots of fun to play – it is funny, fast, and often frustrating (in a good way), whilst also being quite charming. It comes with a colourful board, a deck of attractive cards with the beaver artwork, a magnetic fishing rod and fish, and wooden beaver and dam playing counters. It’s recommended for ages 7+ and for 2-6 players. If you’re looking for a fun game for the family that doesn’t take too long or lead to arguments, this would fit the bill.

The reintroduction of beavers to UK landscapes is a hot topic these days. Beavers can bring great benefits as they create areas of wetland in wooded areas, which in turn increases biodiversity. Areas with beavers have greater resilience to forest fires and by allowing water to pond behind their dams they have potential to contribute to flood risk management too. 13 Beavers is not intended as an educational game but could make a fun hook for younger audiences as part of engagement work involving beaver reintroductions, facilitating conversations.

*I built beaver paradise in Timberborn so I imagine it looks a bit like this.

This post was originally published as part of the Imagination Engines newsletter. To get my content earlier and straight to your email subscribe using the box below:

The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

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This is not a new book, having been published in 2019, so I am probably not the first person to tell you this book is great, but… this book is great! The author, Will Storr, takes a scientific approach to storytelling. By this, I mean he has extensively researched what the research literature is telling us about what makes a good, compelling story, drawing on diverse fields but especially psychology. It started as a successful course for aspiring writers but thankfully Storr has made all this learning more easily accessible through The Science of Storytelling.

Its origins as a course are evident throughout the book. It is clear, it is engaging, it is packed with examples that illustrate the points, and it is exceptionally practical and useful. I initially listened to the audiobook, read by Storr himself, and found it entertaining in a way I have not found any other non-fiction book – his knowledge, his passion, and his belief in the message he’s communicating comes through in abundance and just makes you want to keep listening. I especially enjoyed his renditions of the many quotes from literary works throughout.

The true testament to the practicality of The Science of Storytelling is that once I had finished the audiobook I went straight out and bought a physical copy. My intention is to re-read it and make a whole load of notes. Of particular use is the Appendix, titled ‘The Sacred Flaw’, which is a step-by-step method for writing a novel – an ambition I have harboured since my early teens.

What I did not expect was for this book to help me improve my understanding of the nature of models. Talking about understanding characters and their motivations, Storr draws on the Theory of the Mind, which is our ability to understand how people perceive the world in different ways. Storr describes how we all create our own models of reality, which are not truth but controlled hallucinations. The best stories emerge from characters being faced with the wrongness of their model – the lie of it – and are forced to change as its usefulness has diminished. For a clear and extreme example of this happening to a character, think of the Truman Show. How can we ever build a perfect model of reality when even our own perceptions and understanding of that real world are themselves an imperfect model?

The Science of Storytelling is essential reading if you write fiction or harbour any ambition to write fiction. However, even if you do not write fiction but are involved in any form of science communication, I implore you to read this book. You will not regret it and it will help you craft compelling narratives and stories to engage and enthuse people with science and research. It sits well within a growing body of work that draws on fields like psychology and behavioural insights to make communication and storytelling more effective, such as How to Save the World by Katie Patrick.

Finally, if you are modeller read this book. It will help you appreciate the cognitive biases we all have and how these shape our perceptions of reality. In all good stories change happens, the resolution is achieved, when someone is able to escape from their own personal model land. This is a useful metaphor for escaping from our numerical model lands too.

This post was originally published as part of the Imagination Engines newsletter. To get my content earlier and straight to your email subscribe using the box below:

Imagination Engines – August 2025

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Welcome to August’s issue of Imagination Engines! Thank you for reading.

This summer I have been given a wonderful opportunity to develop a brand new module on River Management for York St John University’s Geography courses. I am so excited for this and have been loving designing the module and beginning to put the elements together. It’s hard work – fun hard work – and consequently I’ve had to reprioritise how I use my spare time.

It does not change my long-term goal of writing a book. In fact, I think the whole process is excellent practice and brings that goal closer. However, I need to temporarily change how I use this newsletter – I have been using it as a motivator to get me writing regularly and to explore different ideas, with 3-4 articles each month. I just don’t have capacity for this now but want to maintain a monthly publication schedule. Instead, I will focus on giving short updates on my main projects that are listed on the front page of my website.

Ongoing Research

I have a new paper out this month as a co-author. The work was led by my former supervisee, Josh Wolstenholme, and covers his PhD field work on the geomorphic change induced by the installation of leaky woody dams. It is a timely reminder that rivers move and change, especially if you stick stuff in them.

Wolstenholme et al (2025). Localised geomorphic response to channel-spanning leaky wooden dams. Earth Surface Dynamics. DOI:10.5194/esurf-13-647-2025

Adventures in Model Land

This is an open-source system to make game worlds based on the numerical models we use to learn about the world around us and predict the future. It is inspired by the world building used in tabletop roleplay games (such as Dungeons & Dragons) and just needs your imagination. You find out more and download the free guide here.

I’ve also started a Discord server for Adventure in Model Land as a place to discuss the system, share the game worlds you create, and to get help from others. Join it here.

FloodSkinner YouTube Channel

I had a new Short out in the last month. I came across some videos discussing rumours and leaks about the (long) upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, including some indications it might include a dynamic weather system. The rumours suggest that the weather system would interact with the terrain and influence the game – it rains, water pools, and roads flood and become inaccessible.

This is obviously very exciting for me so I put my thoughts into a Short. I was short on time and cutting all the clips together was quite laborious – unfortunately I didn’t get chance to do a full set up and did not light my greenscreen properly, so this is a bit messy (the kitten also moved the screen partway through filming and messed it up more…). Despite this, it did moderately well, with >1,100 views.

Games for Geoscience

After the annual General Assembly of the European Geoscience Union (EGU), summer is pretty quiet for Games for Geoscience. With the call for sessions for the 2026 General Assembly now out, in the coming month I’ll be pulling the team together and proposing what would be the 9th Games for Geoscience session.

I still have ambitions to make it more than just an EGU event, with year-round activity and a community. If you’re interested, you can join the Discord server.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®

In the last month I had the great pleasure of the supporting the Geography staff at York St John University with a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY inspired workshop. I was asked to support the department as they considered the best ways to support the future employability of their students and the creative approach of the workshop led to some valuable insights.

A table filled with Lego and models and surrounded by people — Making models with York St John’s Geography staff.

I’m looking forward to October this year where I will be returning to Southampton to once again deliver a Play you PhD workshop to the new cohort of Flood CDT students.

Project Prospero

Project Prospero is my hobby project where I am combining two pillars of geekdom into one nerdy-monster – a Warhammer-themed train set! The setting is the homeworld of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion, Prospero, as it is being pillaged by the Space Wolves Space Marine Legion. I am using models from the Legions Imperialis game and n-gauge tracks and trains. The centrepiece will be the giant pyramid of the Pyrae Cult, partially destroyed, using a Playmobil pyramid as its base.

This month I have been progressing the models and mocking up the layout to get some idea of scale. Because I don’t have space to leave out a layout, it will need to be fully modular. Check out a video I made from my mock up below:

About this Newsletter

I am Chris Skinner, a science communicator, STEM professional, and ADHDer. I am on a mission empowering people to unlock their full potential by transforming imagination into a powerful, actionable skill. This newsletter tracks my journey. I would like you to join me, so please subscribe. This newsletter is free and I do not offer a paid tier. If you would like to say thank you and/or help me in my mission please buy me a coffee using the link below.

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Dr Chris Skinner – Geoscience Games Master and Educator

Tag Archives: Imagination

Inspiring Interactions – Simon Clark

Inspiring Interactions – Lucia Perez-Diaz

13 Beavers – A Game We Played

The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

Imagination Engines – August 2025