This week has been full of late-day thunderstorms, which add drama to an afternoon in the lab but might also render that lab completely useless. When the electricity goes out, today’s grad student is left staring bleakly at the instrument that was surely about to return the data that would revolutionize her research. There is … Continue reading
Do you eat seafood? Most of us do. It is delicious after all. By now I’m sure you are aware of issues involving sustainable seafood. Not all of the fish we eat are fished (or grown) sustainably (ex: orange roughy ). In recent years, sustainable seafood has been on the minds of many and several … Continue reading
Dinoflagellate; the combination of the Greek δῖνος/dinos, “whirling” and Latin flagellum, “whip, scourge.” I recently ran across a poem, written back in 2001 by a scientist named Mary Harrington who was in the midst of some phytoplankton research. She published her poem, transcribed below, in the Journal of Biological Rhythms. Science to follow! — FEEDBACK If the lazy dinoflagellate … Continue reading
Let’s open with a game. The following quote recommends appropriate attire for seaweed collecting. (Stay with me, people.) Who do you think wrote it, and when? “Feel all the luxury of not having to be afraid of your boots; neither of wetting nor destroying them. Feel all the comfort of walking steadily forward, the very … Continue reading
Ships have an allure in oceanography. Even the most misanthropic scientists become oddly affectionate when describing research vessels, whether those ships exist only in the misty memory of graduate studies or are used in ongoing fieldwork. RVs are not simply a means of accessing offshore study locations, but provide the physical and mental space for … Continue reading
Whether you consider them centers of discovery or lairs of evil geniuses, you probably have some mental image of a scientific lab (or la-BOHR-atory, for you evil geniuses). There’s the row of white coats, the cabinets of mysterious glass bottles, and, always, the machines. Blinking and beeping, these instruments, as they are more formally known, … Continue reading
UNder the C 