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It has been too long since writing or comic-ing. I hope this recent post holds you over until I can get my act together to illustrate again. Alas, science has gone on in the meanwhile. Experiments work just enough to keep you hopefully and then dash all dreams of publishing over the course of the next few months. I’m trying to decide if this love/hate relationship has enough love to go around. I think that’s why people create things like this. Too many hours in the lab makes Jack a dull boy, unless, that is, you can create. Take a look:
Another common piece of laboratory equipment is the balance. Sensitive balances can weight chemicals in the milligram amounts. Extremely sensitive balances can even detect earthquakes, or so Mettler Toledo reports. According to them, back in August of 2009, a lab in Texas noticed their balance was quickly fluctuating by +/- 1 mg, slowing down and then rapidly wavering again. There were no other noticeable disturbances. It turns out there were a series of earthquakes in the Gulf of California. Amazing that a balance could detect such disturbances from such a great distance.
1) If you want to sound smart, throw these words into your conversation: “weigh boat”, “tare”, “gram”, “spatula”.
2) To help you out, try this sentence on your friends next time this hot topic comes up in conversation: “With this being summer and all, we decided to go on a family vacation and take gram down to the Mississippi River. We took a nice tour on the weigh boat. Sure beats riding on the rye boat or the wheat boat. The bread they give you during lunch is so much better. You practically need a spatula to scoop it out of the loaf pan. Another bonus is that being on the boat instead of the water, we weren’t tared of no alligators.”
In honor of the grand accomplishment of the little balance that could, I’ve selected an appropriate earthquake song.
All Shook Up – Elvis Presley
Ultraviolet light is commonly used to maintain a sterile environment in the cell culture hood. The shorter wavelength light breaks down harmful microorganisms that may linger on pipettes, dishes, and other labware used for work with cells. The danger lies in human exposure to the ultraviolet rays. Fume hoods warn us humans to avoid exposure – resulting in instant and severe sunburns on the skin and burning of the whites of the eyes (both true stories of lab mishaps).
1) If you want to sound smart, throw these words into your conversation: “germicidal”, “sterilization”, “mutagen”, “thymine dimers”.
2) To help you out, try this sentence on your friends next time this hot topic comes up in conversation: “I tell you what’s wrong with genetically modified crops. Too many germicidal maniacs messing with our food. I think sterilization is the only option to prevent those little thymine dimers from taking over the process of natural selection. We don’t want to end up with something like them Teenage Mutagen Ninja Turtles in our sewer systems, creeping into our farming fields.”
In honor of this topic, I’ve picked out two songs for you. The first, called “Blind”, is what will happen to you if you stare at an ultraviolet light without eye protection (again, partially learned from experience). The second song, titled “In the Sun”, has ’sun’ in the title, and as a source of ultraviolet light, I thought the song was apropos. That, and the fact that She & Him is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Enjoy!
| Blind – The Brother’s Movement |
In the Sun – She & Him |
The Centrifuge is one of the most commonly used pieces of laboratory equipment. It’s like the Gravitron for biological samples. We use the centrifuge in the laboratory to spin down such things as mammalian cells growing in culture (mouse embryonic stem cells for example) or bacteria for extracting DNA. The centrifuge operates on the principle of centrifugal force, and the particles in the sample separate in the tube based on density as the sample spins at high speeds. In the case of mammalian cells and bacteria, the sample separates into a pellet fraction and a supernatant fraction.
1) If you want to sound smart, throw these words into your conversation: “pellet”, “supernatant”, “rpm”, “swinging bucket (rotor)”.
2) To help you out, try this sentence on your friends next time this hot topic comes up in conversation: “We took the ‘77 Trans Am for a spin yesterday and let me tell you what. We were trying to see if we could get those rpm’s to redline and came up on a sharp curve in the road. Tires squealing. The whole back end skidding. I tell you I almost dropped a few pellets in that swinging bucket seat. On the straight-a-way, we were getting up to speeds of about 120 mph and managed to pick up quite a collection of bug supernatant on the windshield.”
To honor studies of Circadian Rhythms, I have selected this song for your enjoyment:
Centrifuge by Pomplamoose
Here is the most beautiful line written in an academic journal: “Light from the sun sustains life on earth” (Yang, Genes & Development, 2010). It is in reference to circadian rhythms, or the physiological oscillations cued by light not only regulating our sleep/wake cycles, but also maintaining blood pressure, body temperature, and metabolism. The delicate balance between regulation of the positive and negative circadian loops is mediated by cyclical gene and protein expression. If disrupted, it can cause shortened sleep cycles as seen in bipolar patients. Our brains house the main clockwork, but circadian rhythms also exist in other tissues. At the cellular level, it is an intriguing, yet convoluted pathway of which I’m only beginning to make sense.
1) If you’d like to sound smart when feeling peaked, throw these words into your conversation: “Suprachiasmatic Nucleus”, “Period Genes”, “Clock Protein”, “Zeitgeber”.
2) Here’s an example of a sentence you can use when expressing your inability to visit and participate in rousing talk about dung beetles *yawn*: “I’ve enjoyed our time together, but my Suprachiasmatic Nucleus is telling me it’s time to hit the sack. That pesky Clock Protein is ticking, if you catch my drift. Also, my bff here is on her Period Genes, so we best take off before the Zeitgeber strikes midnight and turns us into pumpkins.”
To honor studies of Circadian Rhythms, I have selected this song for your enjoyment:
Day Glo by Brazos