Lab was the pick-me-up I had hoped for. The lab manager accidentally made the Pseudomonas stock broth way too concentrated, so our plates came back covered in the stuff. They looked like giant, corroded pennies. The pigment was definitely neat. I took a whiff (and even convinced some lab mates to do the same), and while the odor [...]
I was busy figuring out weird ways to make a cheap, safe manual centrifuge. The awesome wife said, “We have one of those, it’s called a salad spinner.” I’m a lucky guy!
Update: This will be for separating, say, milk curds, not making pellets of Vibrio cholerae, so don’t worry, it’s still safe to eat [...]
Someone in the previous lab session threw out my plates, so no data on what’s in my kittie’s guts, and if their different diets affect what lives in them. Had to spend most of the lab sitting on my thumbs waiting for another group to finish so I could use their plate.
Got a [...]
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I’ll make a bigger post when I actually have it and comment on the quality.
Next lab is on bacteria of the GI tract. People with pets or babies were asked to volunteer to take fecal swabs. I’ve got two cats on different diets, so I’m excited to see if there’s any difference. Awesome wife isn’t phased by this, she even volunteered to be on poo patrol while I’m at [...]
One of the stations at the lab practical last week had us streaking skin swabs onto blood agar. That was my first time using that medium, I’m looking forward to seeing what grew. I chose to swab my chin, since I’ve got a beard, most people don’t pick the chin area, and beards may be [...]
In the spirit of the holiday, I present to you a bit of information on members of the informal genus Vampirococcus.
It’s a neat little bug that nestles next to members of Chromatium, forms a cytopathic bridge, and sucks out all their yummy cytoplasm. You generally hear about it as an example epibiont when people discuss [...]
The most recent lab was spent testing antiseptics and disinfectants. We were tasked with bringing in something from home. I didn’t want to be student #1000 who brought in mouthwash or bleach, so I asked myself what would John Wayne do?
He’d bring in the same whiskey he just used to wash out the bullet hole [...]
Last week was spent putting the finishing touches on, tearing down, and re-finishing my slides on microbial bioremediation. It was pretty fun, and the first presentation I’ve prepared in a while. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up learning about topic I felt pretty solid on (well, solid enough for a 15 [...]
Just a reminder that today is Global Handwashing Day. And if you don’t think that’s important, zombie Holmes and Semmelweis would like to have a word with you.
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