Science for Seniors

We have a science writer in our class this week. He's super nice, and sits next to me. We've been honing our communication Science to Non-Scientific audience skills.

Today our challenge was to present our research in 10 minutes, with five slides, to a room full of eager (hypothetical) Senior Citizens. I guess seniors don't know about science? If I were a senior I'd be getting my hackles up right now. I forgot about that requirement though and was just trying to get the teachers to understand my stuff.

I would have tried harder, I really really meant to, if not for all that pesky traffic on Sunday. We were given the assignment on Friday and I figured that I'd have time on Sunday night to polish and practice and refine. This was not the case. I went out on the boat with a different lab--they need someone to lounge around on the boat, getting a suntan, thinking deep thoughts while they dive and do research (actually, I was trying not to get sun burnt or puke--I only succeeded at not puking). Thanks to some poorly planed traffic rerouting due to construction, it took us 5 hours to get home instead of 1, so I didn't actually get back to my homework on Sunday night. So this morning, I winged it. Luckily I spent about 20 minutes on Saturday throwing my slides together.

I did well though. I think I lost them at "correlation matrix" but our workshop-head-guy said "Well, that's the clearest presentation of Microarrays I've ever seen and I want to use your slides in my bio210 class" Which I think is pretty awesome. I think my microarray slide rocks too.

Tonight our challenge was to write a 'creature feature' or a short introduction to something science-y and involving an animal. I wrote about weevils--because there's a poster of one on the wall in my living room, and the research component of the article was easy. "Hey Laura...what's up with that bug?" Here's an excerpt. Oh and "Send her on her way" has been postponed to a later date. I'm busier than I thought I'd be. I'm disappointed in me too.

There is a weevil in my living room. It has been there for years. It's moved to several different houses with me, in several different states. Actually, it's a poster--a cast off from the E** lab at the U.of.Idaho--I guess it's out of focus but I can’t tell. In the picture, the insect is about 6 inches wide and it practically grins at me whenever I gaze at it. The weevil is crawling to the top of a yellow flower petal, it's reaching around the edge of the petal with its front legs while its long, cylindrical snout emerges over the curve of the petal. No other insects have snouts, and thus it follows that no other insects are nearly as endearing. This weevil, Gym**, is not just a pretty face--it is an environmental crusader.

Gym**, or the fuzzy weevil as it is affectionately called by those who know it, loves Toad Flax to death. This is a boon for researchers who are looking for ways to get rid of Toad Flax--a noxious weed. Toad flax was introduced to the United States from Europe and it reeks havoc in the Pacific Northwest. Though the plant itself is beautiful, it produces toxic chemicals that are poisonous to livestock. Like most invasive species introduced to new habitats, it has taken over large tracts of land and has no natural predators in its new range. Researcher in the E** lab studied the plant in its native range and quickly honed in on the fuzzy weevil as a potential biological method to control Toad Flax infestations in the Pacific Northwest.

**Identifying details have been removed to protect me from too many internet searches of this beast.

The most exciting news all week

Monday Monday Monday

Well, Last year, on a Monday I'd be up to my eyeballs in bratwurst and probably nursing a burn on my arm from the super hot barbecue fire. And it'd be raining, and cold.

This year life is a bit different, but that's okay. Today I started my fellowship introductory course. It is really boring. Really really boring. Probably more boring than this blog post even. If you can believe it!

We sit in uncomfortable chairs, in a hot room, listening to people repeat themselves. Today we discussed lesson plans that were used by past fellows and I've learned that anyone who says "But I'm open to suggestions" really isn't. What they really mean is "I think the way I did it is fine, and I'm not going to change my mind about anything, and anything you say is dumb anyway so I'll just say 'well, that won't work' and then I won't have to listen! hahahahaha". It's a little discouraging.

All the schools participating in this program are considered tough schools--or low preforming schools. The teachers are really pessimistic about the students' ability and tell horror stories about discipline problems.
"If there are fights, they're really bad and we call security and stay away" or "See those heavy science books? They throw those at each other"

OOooooh, great, so I said "Well, how often would you say you call security. You know, on average?" They couldn't answer. I said "Once a week? Every other day?"

They said "oh, it's often, it's often it's a big problem."

If it's that often--couldn't you at least quantify it? I suspect--or I'm hoping--that it's one of those things where Once is Enough. You know, in the past year and a half 2 people have jumped in front of the Metro Train. However: if the subject of people jumping in front of trains came up in casual conversation, or if I had something to prove about being a Metro Train rider, I'd probably say "People jump in front of trains All The Time". I'm hoping this is also the story with desk-clearing, blood-drawing, drag-out, knock-down middle school fights.

Tomorrow we'll be paired up with the teachers we'll work with next school year. After that, we'll begin working as pairs to develop actual lesson plans. I'm more excited for that--hopefully that will be more stimulating and less Frightening.

In other news: I bought Laura guitar hero and drums for her birthday. I swear it is just for her! I am not enjoying it at ALL. But I will say I am REALLY good at the guitar part. I can even play on Hard. It also turns out, that Laura is a really good drummer--but the video game drum surrogate is not at all like actual drums, so she's trying to figure out the system timing. Looks frustrating from here....

Oh, and I signed up to be on the National Bone Marrow Registry. I sent in my DNA swabs today. If anyone else is at all interested in joining it's free right now (normally it's $50 or something to get your HLA typing done). You should do it. You can save a life! (Or at least get a few days off of work) Sign up for the Bone Marrow Donor Registry

Travel log. Cumberland Island

DAY 1, ST. AUGUSTINE

First stop: The Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida. It's the oldest masonry structure in North America. It was built by the Spanish in the middle of the 17th century. The walls are made of coquina--a special limestone that's made from large chunks of sea shells--and as a result, the fort was especially resilient to attacks. The fort experienced many seiges between the 1650s and the 1860s but it was never captured. Laura liked the little baby cannons the best.

We went to the top of the fort, and watched a guy cleaning a canon, but then it started to storm, and this park ranger made us go down stairs.

But, we had a nice time anyway.

This dog was bored.

St. Augustine isn't a very big place. It's got some pretty old buildings--it is the longest continuiously inhabited settlement in North America, after all, but they don't take long to look at. So we continued on to Anastasia Island State park in the afternoon, and set up camp.


We thought that we were going to go swimming, but after driving 5 hours, touring the Castillo and the old town of St. Augustine we were pretty tired. Also: it was COLD! The water isn't nearly bathtub warm like it is in Miami.


That's okay though, because we had an early morning ahead. Getting up, packing our bags and getting ourselves onto the Cumberland ferry.

DAY 2, CUMBERLAND ISLAND

CUMBERLAND ISLAND RULES: Don't have any fun! No no, not really. But remember, Ponies look pretty but they will CHASE you and bite you! Furthermore: everyone wants to climb in the ruins...but there are diamondback rattlers gaurding them..you choose...

Riding the ferry is FUN!

Ruins, CHECK!
Ponies, CHECK!

DAY 3, CUMBERLAND ISLAND

They told us that the mosquitoes were THIS BIG. But we didn't believe them. They weren't joking. They also weren't joking about the abundance of ticks on the island. On our second day on the island, we went on a hike. Only, it was more like a jog, or a powerwalk. Everytime we stopped, even briefly, a swarm of mosquitoes descended from above and a stampede of ticks came from below. Here's a large beetle having a bad day--see the ticks?Maybe some trail maintenance is necessary?

Armadillos--or Possums on a half shell as our neighbor called them--abound
They're fun to pet.
The trail lead us to a Georgian revival mansion built in the 1890s by one of the Carnegies, Plum Orchard.
It was a nice place to take a break.
And a nap.
But then we had to go back to our campsite, and eat gruel.
No no, we got wise and moved our cooking operation out onto the beach--which had no mosquiotes and only a moderate number of biting ants, and whatever ticks we brought with us.
I wonder if the National Weather Service is missing its buoy yet? The barnacles on it were still alive and making pathetic attempts to gather food from the air. They were not long for this world....
The next morning, we hiked out. We found lots of shark teeth--the main road on the island is filled with the dredgings from the intercoastal waterway. Laura found a megalodon tooth--which made the whole trip worth it.


We'll go back in the winter next time--when the insects and blood sucking arachnids aren't out in force.

Put the Lice in the Coconut and ...what?

I thought I had a promising career as a Walmart fish keeper in my future. My fish were dying faster than a blond in a horror flick. Last night, I was removing a slow moving floater from one of my tanks, so he could die in peace overnight when I realized he was COVERED WITH BUGS. Bugs that look just like a face-hugger. You know, from Aliens. I realized that parasitic infection by extraterrestrial organisms was really unlikely, so I took the infested fish to Someone who Knows--this is a marine biology school after all.

It's an Argulus, or Fish Louse. They're crabs. My fish are lousy with them.

Great. Just Great. Unlike the terrestrial lice, I can't put all the fishes pillows in the dryer or shave their heads. I called every aquarium shop or fish farm in the area. Turns out insecticide is the best treatment for these nasty crabs. I found some. I drained tanks, I poured some in. We'll see how that goes.

In other news: They're preparing the campus for hurricane season. That means: tree pruning! That also means, they're cutting down all the coconuts so they don't turn into pina-projectiles during a storm. Apparently this is a big event because no sooner were the bunches of coconuts on the ground than people began scurrying around the grounds laying claim to them. There are bunches of coconuts scattered all over the lawn and each one has a paper sign on it...property of Dean's office...property of Print Shop...etc

I don't even know what you're supposed to do with a coconut, but if I use mangoes as a guide for the general deliciousness of things that come off trees here in Miami, then I know I want at least a dozen. I'll have to be quicker next year.

...

Meanwhile in Idaho

Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 8:52 AM

Management at an Idaho pool takes a stand for traditional families... by discriminating against a non-traditional family.

A same-sex couple and their three foster children were denied a reduced admission price to a pool in eastern Idaho because the Lava Hot Springs State Foundation says the five don't fit the definition of a family.

Amber Koger and Jeri Underwood say they and their three children were recently denied the resort's advertised family admission price to the Olympic Swimming Complex at Lava Hot Springs.

"What made me mad is that their definition leaves out a lot of families," Koger told the Idaho State Journal. "What you're saying is that because we're gay, we're not a family."

The director of the Lava Hot Springs foundation, Mark Lowe, says that he had no choice: the state of Idaho doesn't recognize gay or lesbian marriage and defines a family as one male, one female and children. "We are a state agency bound by all the laws of the state of Idaho," Lowe told the Associated Press. He's got a point. And none of this would even be an issue if someone didn't give these two women three children to look after and create a pseudo "family" that isn't recognized in Idaho. Who gave these two women these kids anyway?

Koger is the aunt of 11-year-old Makayla, 9-year-old Kolton and 5-year-old Ricky. Their parents divorced and Koger and Underwood were awarded custody after the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare became involved.

Oh.

I'm Scared!!!

Laura is gainfully employed. Five months and no work until this week and then she's got 2 jobs at once! Wow! Anyway: she's a big wig at the museum now, or something, and they wanted her to go to the opening of a new exhibit (And we ALL know how museum openings go--monsters, blood, creepy preternaturally intelligent albinos...) so of course she can't miss that.

Except! There's a baseball game tonight. So I said..no no go to your opening, baseball doesn't trump Gainful Employment. I was feeling a big disappointed all day (You know, woe is me, I'll miss the baseball game...) but now I don't feel so bad:


Looks like there might not BE a game at all. That big scary red blob has been there for over an hour. The storm is FORMING RIGHT ON TOP OF US! It's not leaving!

I'm not sure if I've ever seen it rain as hard as it is now. I can barely see the building next to me. The rain is falling in sheets and I'm afraid I'll have to wade to my car. (oh no! I think something at the Seaquarium was just struck by lightning--I hope it wasn't Lolita the Whale).

The Next Adventure

Just signed up for This:

www.escapetomiamitriathlon.com

Anyone wanna do it with me?

How to "Fish"

I use the term fishing loosely. I mean, I think we say it because it makes us feel better. What is more accurate is: Trapping.
We fish in Salt Marshes. They're full of mud, crabs, more mud, mussels and other things that go CRUNCH or SQUISH under your feet. There are usually little creeks that run through the grass that completely dry out on the low tide.

We take little wire cages that have inward pointing cones--fish can swim in, but they can't swim out! mwahahahahaha--fill them with Gravy Train (it makes its own gravy!) and throw the traps in when the creek is dry. As the tide starts coming in, and the fish start coming back up the creeks to find their dinner/breakfast they're confronted with the delicious scent of horse/cow/pig parts in their own gravy and they swim right in happily.

So in a nutshell it's like this:

Stomp out through marsh, maybe get stuck once or twice while repeating loudly to yourself "oh my God don't get stuck, don't get stuck don't get stuck". Throw traps into water/dry creek bed. Wait an hour. (Unless you're with dlc, then you check the traps every 4 minutes, because you can't help yourself). Stomp back out, get stuck, try to find traps, dump fish into buckets, stomp back to van. Then you're done!

We keep the fish in plastic garbage bags (bin liners to you Brits) inside Rubbermade tubs and stack them in the back of the van. They can stay viable like this for over a week with nothing but air to keep them going (and perhaps smaller snack sized fish...)

Field Trips

I went to Maine with dlc a few weeks ago. It was a good trip. I got fish and some ugly postcards and mostly enjoyed myself.

Here are the numbers:

1. 3800--miles
   
2. 6 --days
3. 5--am wakeup
4. 7--am low tide (that means, we were waiting at the site for approximately 6 hours before it came back)
5. 1--lobster I dismembered and ate
   
6. 6--subway sandwiches
7. 3 minutes--time it takes for me to eat a 6 inch sandwich = time it takes dlc to eat a 12 inch sandwich
8. 500--fish in 5 Rubbermade tubs
9. 157--peanuts/raisins thrown at me while driving by dlc while bored
   
10. 15--hours of sleep in proper bed
11. 5--minutes dlc was out of the van at our first stop before he was seriously stuck in the mud

Ahhh, it was good to get home after that.

Ok Ok Happy June

And where have YOU been?

I've been to Maine (and all the states between here and there) and Georgia (where the mosquitoes really ARE that big) and am trying fish husbandry out. If there were levels to fish keeping, like belts in karate, I'd be at the "Walmart Fish Section" one.

Here's to June and the start of Hurricane Season. Stay tuned. I've got some good pictures.