As many scientists know, experiments sometimes (often) don’t work out as expected. You just have to deal with it, because that’s how science works. You record what you observe and come to conclusions based on that. Oh, and if you find a method that doesn’t work, you look for a new one
I learned many things in that experiment back in July. (Yeah, I started this blog post a long time ago, during a frustrating lab experiment.) One very important thing: Tyrophagus putrescentiae eggs disintigrate in 70% ethanol. Important lesson! Next, we tried freezing, since it was extremely difficult to sort through the food in all ten vials in one afternoon (every other day). Fortunately, freezing worked! Refrigeration probably would have also worked.
Anyway, science does not always go as planned, and you have to adjust to that.
Now I’m running a different experiment. It’s always interesting to find a different organism in your arena, but sometimes it’s hard to avoid. Those moths are sneaky! Fortunately, some of the little snafus aren’t likely to mess up your experimental results. Also, that’s why you use replication.
Okay, those are my musings for now. Any interesting experiment stories?
Last summer, I did a lot of traveling. On the plane I would often listen to a Millencolin mixed CD. I would wake up about 1 minute into this song. I’d fall asleep about the 3rd or fourth song on my mixed cd I burned and would wake up to this song.
It brings me back to 2006, reminding me quite a bit of my aunt, since she was like a mother to me. (My aunt Catherine died May 19, 2006, of a breast cancer relapse. It spread to her lungs and we had to watch her struggle to breathe. She lived a block away from me for the fist 19 years of my life, so we were very close.)
“Shut up, you’re dreaming!” is what I want to scream when people tell me she’s in a better place or I can see her again some day. I don’t believe I will, and these phrases don’t bring comfort. Comfort comes from the memories I do have.
I guess I get to see her in my dreams, and I treasure those moments, even though I know they aren’t real. Shortly after my aunt died, I would see her in my dreams. I was filled with hope for her survival. Then I would flashback through the process of her cancer and watch her body fail and it became apparent to me that this was just a dream. Over these past (nearly) four years, I’ve somehow developed a delusional technique. When she shows up in my dreams and I remember that she died, I somehow delude myself into forgetting this and enjoy my time with her. She was a great role model and I am better off for having known her.
About a week and a half ago I participated in the University of Minnesota Relay for Life event. I knew it would be difficult and I’ve stayed away from the Relays for Life since it’s such a painful subject for me. I decided to try, and it was more difficult than I expected. There were lots of tears. A stranger was the first to notice my tears, and she reached out and comforted me.
As a group, the University of Minnesota raised a lot of money for the American Cancer Society, which was great. I do feel, however, that they put too much money into the event. I’m all for a good time, but when it comes to charity, I prefer the charity gets more bang for our buck. I believe they mentioned that they got about $3o,000 from sponsors and that covered the overhead costs for running the event. This event in my hometown has live local bands and other forms of entertainment and ran on such a low budget, that I didn’t realize how extravagant some of Relay events were.
I found the speakers to be overly sentimental. Everybody seemed to look at cancer as if it’s a single entity. It’s not. It’s a plethora of diseases. Even breast cancer has several types and causes. If more people understood the underlying mechanisms (and how cells work), they might have a better understanding of cancers and their risk factors. Also, people kept talking about the importance of hope and faith, when I remember reading a study that showed these had no effect on cancer treatment (although a positive attitude sure does make the trip a lot more bearable.)
(I strongly recommend looking up the multi-hit or multi-step model of cancer. Also look up the definition of carcinogen and be able to distinguish a carcinogen from a toxin.)
I also got a very morbid and harrowing thought while seeing all of the people in their purple survivor shirts. How many of these people will be dead in two years? I remember going to my hometown Relay and seeing my aunt wearing a survivor shirt. That thought certainly did not help my mood or my grieving. Fortunately, I had a few friends around who comforted my in my time of sorrow.
Some things I appreciated about the U of MN Relay for Life:
They provided tables with information about different types of cancers and their treatments and prevention
They promoted a healthy lifestyle and encouraged ways to reduce personal risk factors (such as quitting smoking) to many cancers.
They promoted a community and compassion.
They promoted scientific research!
All in all, I support the American Cancer Society and their programs to help fund and treat cancer patients and to raise awareness for early detection, symptoms, and risk factors.
Also, did you know that smoking has been linked to colorectal cancer? I read about that a couple years ago and it didn’t surprise me at all. Smoking isn’t just harmful for your heart and lungs (and the people around you), it’s also bad for your butt.
Yeah, so I know I haven’t blogged in a while, so here’s a mini life update.
On Monday my brother had surgery on his back. This is the second time he has reinjured his back (that’s 3 injuries in total.) That’s 3 surgeries in 5 years. This one appears to have been the most painful. It was also a different procedure. They fused two of his vertebrae together. Here is a link that discusses the basics of spinal fusion. His spinal fusion was for a disk problem. I could go on a tirade about the importance of taking care of one’s body and letting oneself heal properly after injury, but I’ll save that for another day.
Well, yesterday my brother sent me an angry text because I didn’t go visit him in the hospital. Instead, I opted to take time to dine and converse with some fellow entomologists and a visiting professor from Ohio. He has done some work with Belgica antarctica. (Remember this blog post?) Well, I’m pretty sure he was the Lee et al. from the papers I read for that prelim exam. Rick Lee has been to Antarctica several times and done several studies on this organism. He also talked about aquaporins. I started to get really excited when he brought those up, because the individual who discovered aquaporins (Peter Agre) also went to Augsburg for his undergrad, just like me! (This was several years before me, but it’s still kinda cool.) I also must mention that Agre got a Nobel Prize for his work with aquaporins? Aquaporins are the channels by which water passes through cell membranes. In his seminar talk yesterday (which was amazing), Lee talked a bit about cold hardiness and how insects respond to changes in temperature. Well, actually, he doesn’t just study insects, he studies other animals–even vertebrates!
Despite my brother trying to guilt me into coming to visit him, I stayed with my fellow academics and had some wonderful food, drinks, and conversations.
This evening I went to the hospital to visit my brother. Within minutes he was yelling at me and telling me to shut up. Any residual guilt I may have had about not visiting him yesterday disappeared. I was in his hospital room less than ten minutes, and it was just like living with him last year, just like he snapped at me at our brother’s wedding last month, and just like he’s treated me many times over the years.
(I could go onto another discussion about the prevalence of subtle misogyny in my paternal family and misogyny in general, but I’ll save that for another day, as well.)
