Augh! What a horrible turn of events. Spanish is worsening, and Calculus just dealt two mortal blows to whatever shred of confidence I had left. I never thought I'd say it until maybe I was old and twentysomething and freaking out about some humongousass super-paper due, but I hate school. It's all because of the Spanish. I swear. Stupid good-for-nothing requirement for UW.
At least I managed not to bungle the water holding capacity measurements we did on the soil last week, though the data collected isn't worth much without getting the data that Karen so diligently collected last quarter (thank you!). Respiration of the soil is next, followed by DNA extraction...hopefully.
There's a new biologist on campus, Joel Pankey, who's supposed to be the new lab teacher for Chem this quarter(since the old one is now dismissed), and the lecture and lab teacher next quarter.(or something like that, I've only met him once...) Anyway, he's doing his doctoral dissertation and is/was conducting an experiment in Eastern WA on various ecological systems to try and find correlation to the proliferation of weeds and invasive species to finger high-risk areas and work on preventing problems from occurring in the first place. So yeah...if anyone's interested in learning more about research like that, drop by during or after chem lab or something and meet with him. I just hope to god he's a good teacher.
Okay. Putting this precariously pointless post to the public. Suffering in Spanish starts subsequently.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
The horror....
Ick, okay. Things haven't been going so well at all this quarter. Unfortunately, since there are no real updates REU wise....but since Bill should be back by now, that's set to change. In the mean time, there's a couple things I need to just vent, so just skip this whole section and jump to the links at the bottom or something.
Why did you have to go help the impoverished, Dr. Woodson? You're gone and the new teacher is smothering to death all the fun and excitement of that class. Honestly, powerpoints are a horrible way to learn chemistry, and handing out a book's worth of handouts doesn't mean we'll actually read them, much less enjoy doing so. Speak in language we can understand, write on the damned board, and let us do the note-taking and homework. And taking away all the homework in the first place....I just don't see how that helps us students learn, which is the whole point of your job, isn't it?
I could go on about Spanish, but I guess I'm just going to have to buckle down and really work at it -_- Language just has no basis in science and math at all, so it's something I know nothing about. Extra review...verb lists...word forms.....flash cards....god, that is why I'm going into science. Heck, if I HAD to jump into second quarter physics at this point, I think I might be able to pull through with an acceptable grade. But second quarter foreign language? Academic suicide in a textbook. >_<
And Calc is just....hard. And getting harder. Next quarter is just going to be ludicrously hard, at this rate. Oh man....
[/rant]
Okay, that felt pretty good, so we're now moving on to something I found in a magazine that looked pretty cool. Something like that would be pretty awesome to end up doing, I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit
http://www.asm.org/microbe/index.asp?bid=46546
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-09/ff_lagoon?currentPage=all
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/microbes8.htm
Why did you have to go help the impoverished, Dr. Woodson? You're gone and the new teacher is smothering to death all the fun and excitement of that class. Honestly, powerpoints are a horrible way to learn chemistry, and handing out a book's worth of handouts doesn't mean we'll actually read them, much less enjoy doing so. Speak in language we can understand, write on the damned board, and let us do the note-taking and homework. And taking away all the homework in the first place....I just don't see how that helps us students learn, which is the whole point of your job, isn't it?
I could go on about Spanish, but I guess I'm just going to have to buckle down and really work at it -_- Language just has no basis in science and math at all, so it's something I know nothing about. Extra review...verb lists...word forms.....flash cards....god, that is why I'm going into science. Heck, if I HAD to jump into second quarter physics at this point, I think I might be able to pull through with an acceptable grade. But second quarter foreign language? Academic suicide in a textbook. >_<
And Calc is just....hard. And getting harder. Next quarter is just going to be ludicrously hard, at this rate. Oh man....
[/rant]
Okay, that felt pretty good, so we're now moving on to something I found in a magazine that looked pretty cool. Something like that would be pretty awesome to end up doing, I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit
http://www.asm.org/microbe/index.asp?bid=46546
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-09/ff_lagoon?currentPage=all
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/microbes8.htm
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving, unhappy student
Mood Face: (-_-)
Yes, I know, it is the holidays and there should be joy and cheer, but school seems set on killing it all. Damned calculus. I cannot tell you how much I want the next exam to come. Optimization can go to hell.
But that is irrelevant. What is is the fact that I haven't posted a blog in ages. For this I apologize, and acknowledge that I should have done it much sooner. However,since now there are many things afoot, and our plan is coming along very nicely, there should be some good filling for future posts.
Since there has been such a big gap in the blog....I should get you all up to date on the plan we drew up for ourselves.
Alright.....so....as with so many things in science, we are going to start with a bit of no-duh logic. Bacteria utilize organic carbon in order to produce energy and to build itself towards replication. Bacteria in a stressed environment use more carbon as energy (similar to us) and release more CO2; growth of the bacteria is also slowed, leading to a smaller amount of organic carbon locked inside the microbes. Conversely, bacteria in a stable environment can use more of the carbon for replication because it doesn't need as much energy to survive, and microbial carbon levels increase while emitted CO2 decreases.
1. Soil samples were taken of 3 habitat types, with 3 reaches of each and 4 sites in each. This produces 36 samples to work with. (Thanks, Pat Shaffroth)
2. Biolog analysis of functional diversity using ecoplates and GN plates. (....cancelled if I remember right)
3. pH analysis (later)
4. Carbon anaylsis
a. Organic carbon (current step) Free organic carbon from soil microorganisms via chloroform. This, along with the other organic carbon in the soil (decaying matter, etc) will be measured via the Walkley-Black Method (H2SO4 + KCr2O7 reaction, result is found through measuring the intensity of the orange or greeness of the resulting mess).
Then, repeat the process with a non-chloroformed sample of the same site and subtract (x+y)-x=y, right?
b. Basal Respiration (next...) Get a fully thawed soil sample, ram 50 g into a tube, seal the ends, and stick it in the machine....repeat 36 times. Then compare the g CO2/hr to the amount of organic carbon.
5. DNA Analysis
Here's where the majority of the work is probably going to lie. Looking back at the notes that Dr. Eaton provided us, I suddenly find myself unable to understand exactly what is going on. Buuut, I do know that this step has to do with identifying certain species of bacteria themselves in the soil, and cloning the DNA that makes them unique to be added to the national clone library.
6. All of the above is in order to establish a baseline of activity, numbers, and trends over a variety habitats and sub-sites within those habitats, and draw conclusions on the diversity of microbes in these habitats, whether they are under stress, and to establish a baseline that future changes can be comapred to.
Okay....I really hope at least some of that made sense. Writing that felt like translating someone else's notes back into regular English >_>; (*cough*Dr Eaton's*cough*)
Anyway....so far we've found 34 of the 37 samples that Dr. Eaton placed on the list, which he decided was still good enough to work with. Two samples of 20 grams each were taken from the bags and are to be used for the Organic Carbon measurements. Once we can get 3 or so good work days in a row, we can polish off almost all the measurements required, and finish off that part of the experiement.
So yeah....I'm probably forgetting something (or a lot of things), but...
...it's 1 AM.....and I'm cold....and there's more calculus to do....
Onwards and upwards....or something
Yes, I know, it is the holidays and there should be joy and cheer, but school seems set on killing it all. Damned calculus. I cannot tell you how much I want the next exam to come. Optimization can go to hell.
But that is irrelevant. What is is the fact that I haven't posted a blog in ages. For this I apologize, and acknowledge that I should have done it much sooner. However,since now there are many things afoot, and our plan is coming along very nicely, there should be some good filling for future posts.
Since there has been such a big gap in the blog....I should get you all up to date on the plan we drew up for ourselves.
Alright.....so....as with so many things in science, we are going to start with a bit of no-duh logic. Bacteria utilize organic carbon in order to produce energy and to build itself towards replication. Bacteria in a stressed environment use more carbon as energy (similar to us) and release more CO2; growth of the bacteria is also slowed, leading to a smaller amount of organic carbon locked inside the microbes. Conversely, bacteria in a stable environment can use more of the carbon for replication because it doesn't need as much energy to survive, and microbial carbon levels increase while emitted CO2 decreases.
1. Soil samples were taken of 3 habitat types, with 3 reaches of each and 4 sites in each. This produces 36 samples to work with. (Thanks, Pat Shaffroth)
2. Biolog analysis of functional diversity using ecoplates and GN plates. (....cancelled if I remember right)
3. pH analysis (later)
4. Carbon anaylsis
a. Organic carbon (current step) Free organic carbon from soil microorganisms via chloroform. This, along with the other organic carbon in the soil (decaying matter, etc) will be measured via the Walkley-Black Method (H2SO4 + KCr2O7 reaction, result is found through measuring the intensity of the orange or greeness of the resulting mess).
Then, repeat the process with a non-chloroformed sample of the same site and subtract (x+y)-x=y, right?
b. Basal Respiration (next...) Get a fully thawed soil sample, ram 50 g into a tube, seal the ends, and stick it in the machine....repeat 36 times. Then compare the g CO2/hr to the amount of organic carbon.
5. DNA Analysis
Here's where the majority of the work is probably going to lie. Looking back at the notes that Dr. Eaton provided us, I suddenly find myself unable to understand exactly what is going on. Buuut, I do know that this step has to do with identifying certain species of bacteria themselves in the soil, and cloning the DNA that makes them unique to be added to the national clone library.
6. All of the above is in order to establish a baseline of activity, numbers, and trends over a variety habitats and sub-sites within those habitats, and draw conclusions on the diversity of microbes in these habitats, whether they are under stress, and to establish a baseline that future changes can be comapred to.
Okay....I really hope at least some of that made sense. Writing that felt like translating someone else's notes back into regular English >_>; (*cough*Dr Eaton's*cough*)
Anyway....so far we've found 34 of the 37 samples that Dr. Eaton placed on the list, which he decided was still good enough to work with. Two samples of 20 grams each were taken from the bags and are to be used for the Organic Carbon measurements. Once we can get 3 or so good work days in a row, we can polish off almost all the measurements required, and finish off that part of the experiement.
So yeah....I'm probably forgetting something (or a lot of things), but...
...it's 1 AM.....and I'm cold....and there's more calculus to do....
Onwards and upwards....or something
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Hum, the calm before the storm
Well, it's about to come to an end, but then again, it doesn't look like it's going to be much of a storm for a while.
Karen and I got our synopsis for the next year on monday, and it looks great. PCR, gels, respiration rates, and on and on. Despite the enormous amount of material that was covered in the 2.5 hour period, i think i can keep with it. Everything made sense, and since I've done most of the techniques covered at least once before....
What's really exciting is the results of all this work that's going to be done. I know it sounds a bit stereotypical, but i wasn't sure what new things were out there in the realm of microbiolgy. However...evidently something like this has never been done before.
Cool stuff! Now that the group knows where the ball is gonna be rolling, all we have to do now is start it up!
Karen and I got our synopsis for the next year on monday, and it looks great. PCR, gels, respiration rates, and on and on. Despite the enormous amount of material that was covered in the 2.5 hour period, i think i can keep with it. Everything made sense, and since I've done most of the techniques covered at least once before....
What's really exciting is the results of all this work that's going to be done. I know it sounds a bit stereotypical, but i wasn't sure what new things were out there in the realm of microbiolgy. However...evidently something like this has never been done before.
Cool stuff! Now that the group knows where the ball is gonna be rolling, all we have to do now is start it up!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Aha~ Blogging
Hum. So, I'll start from square one. My name is Jay Hennen, I just turned 17, and I live on the outskirts of Sequim, about 5 minutes from the Dungeness River. I've lived in a few places throughout my life, including 8 years in Mill Valley, CA, 1 year in Singapore, 1 year in Jakarta, Indonesia, and 7 years here on the Peninsula. My family and I also spend a lot of time on vacations, because up until I started college last year both my brother and I were homeschooled.
So far we've been to every state west of the mississippi, about 4 or 5 states east of it, and Alaska. We'd spend weeks at a time driving around different areas of the country, taking 1-2 hikes every day. So yeah....name any major geological feature, especially in the southwest, and I've most likely seen it, or at least been nearby. Since my mom's family are centered around Singapore and Indonesia, we visit there frequently too, and have taken time off to go touring in China, India, New Zealand, and Burma. So, i've seen my share of different kinds of ecosystems...and ecological disasters.
Just like Jenn, I discovered my interest in biology after the first quarter of school, with Environmental Science and the Biology series. For me, REU is a chance to receive some hands-on science work, experience which I wouldn't be able to gain until graduate school normally. Over this last summer I worked with the wildlife crew, and this school year I've signed up for the microbiology crew, so I can get some experience in lab work as well as field biology.
So far we've been to every state west of the mississippi, about 4 or 5 states east of it, and Alaska. We'd spend weeks at a time driving around different areas of the country, taking 1-2 hikes every day. So yeah....name any major geological feature, especially in the southwest, and I've most likely seen it, or at least been nearby. Since my mom's family are centered around Singapore and Indonesia, we visit there frequently too, and have taken time off to go touring in China, India, New Zealand, and Burma. So, i've seen my share of different kinds of ecosystems...and ecological disasters.
Just like Jenn, I discovered my interest in biology after the first quarter of school, with Environmental Science and the Biology series. For me, REU is a chance to receive some hands-on science work, experience which I wouldn't be able to gain until graduate school normally. Over this last summer I worked with the wildlife crew, and this school year I've signed up for the microbiology crew, so I can get some experience in lab work as well as field biology.
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