Throughout my university years, I've spent a lot of time teaching and writing popular-science articles for magazines and newspapers. Sometimes people wonder why I bother. It's true that without such activities I might have graduated sooner. But I think scientists have an obligation to educate the public. Even in a highly educated country such as Finland, up to a third of the population does not believe in evolution, according to a recent European Union survey.

Apart from that, there are perks to communicating science. It allows me to stay in touch with fields of biology unrelated to my research. I've had the chance to observe weather conditions in space, learn how sociologists analyse political jargon and visit the inside of a magnetic resonance brain scanner. I am inspired by these reminders of how exciting scientific endeavours can be.

Teaching improves my understanding of science because it forces me to think things through. Sometimes I discover a supposedly basic idea that is not clear to me at all. When I'm lost in the fog of my own research, a student may ask a question that actually helps me to see more clearly. And best of all, teaching is a great way to find the connection between concepts. As I write the introduction to my thesis, trying to link abstract modelling, population genetics and behaviour, I'm grateful for this skill.