Currently, I can divide my profession into three parts:
The first is science journalism at the Swiss public broadcaster RSI (Radiotelevisione Svizzera). To be precise, I am formally an “external collaborator”. I publish weekly science articles and occasionally get to report science news on the radio, sometimes streamed on TV. Lately, I’ve also started appearing in social media reels.
The second is science communication and marketing at Nanosurf, an atomic force microscopy (AFM) company based in Liestal, near Basel. Here, I take care of Nanosurf’s external communication in all its aspects. I write articles for the Nanosurf blog, newsletter, and social media, adapting style and language to each medium. It is a great exercise. Moreover, I take care of the customer relationship management (CRM) system, the website, brochures, and more.
The third is freelancing, which includes some journalism, for example for Swissinfo or Ticino Scienza, as well as other projects. This does not occupy much of my time at the moment, to be honest.
I’m really happy with this mixture. If I had to compare it to a cocktail, it would be a Manhattan: science writing is the whiskey, which makes up most of it and gives direction to the flavor. Contact with society, in economic, social, and cultural terms, is the vermouth, which mitigates the strength of the whiskey and makes it easier to drink. The Angostura brings out new notes, and this would be the connection with people, responsible for a certain tendency I have to talk with those who directly make science, but also with those who will receive it. And finally there is the cherry, which is probably my tendency to always try new things. This pushes me to act in many different directions at once and often come up with new projects, which might not involve writing. This is probably the region at the bottom of the glass where the cherry syrup accumulates a little bit.
This is the recipe for a Manhattan, very simple, from the IBA:
Ingredients: 50 ml rye whiskey, 20 ml sweet red vermouth, 1 dash Angostura bitters.
Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes. Stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
I often drink it with bourbon or Irish whiskey instead of rye, just FYI. It is softer.
Also, I have never made a Manhattan myself.