Monday, December 8, 2008

Now I know how that guy felt....

As an undergraduate working in a lab, I encountered a graduate student (who for the sake of this story will remain anonymous). He was doing his dissertation on Harbor Seals, their population genetics and predation habits. He had one season left of data collection, and then he was done. Unfortunately, this season coincided with the arrival of a particularly voracious group of transient Orcas to the area, who proceeded to decimate the local Harbor Seal Population.....He did go on to make lemonade with his lemons, turning the unprecedented event into a chapter in his thesis. But I have to tell you. I know just how he must have felt!

I began my last experiment today, after having nightmares about it all weekend. And sufficed to say, it was an unexpected DISASTER. The machine worked perfectly, all technically was running smooth. But due to factors of biology I hadn't really anticipated (just worried about....) I lost over half of my samples....

This is actually a result in an of itself. I am reassessing and running a highly modified version of the experiment next week. But I am doomed to another trip to the field in January for sure now. And my spring will be very frantic.

5 comments:

Loft Offcourse said...

Can you wait to go on your trip 'til I get there? Where are we going? Texas? Alabama?

Oh, and of course, my sincere condolonces. I'm really sorry to hear about the....??...extraction/hybridization/printing not working.

Loft Offcourse said...

Damn! I probably won't be back 'til the 15th. I think the soonest I can get out of Idaho is the 10th :(

Sure you can't wait? Perhaps just postpone that whole graduation thing...timing isnt EVERYTHING.

MEPN5 FOREVER said...

In my dissertation the control group blood pressure had a perfect inverse correlation with the experimental group and both were sawtooths that completely destroyed any possibility of trending. I'm back in class on 1/5 or I might like a bayou vacation.

dad

Fran said...

So sorry. But maybe, in a perfect world, among the half-sample left, you will find a wonderful gene that will do all kinds of good for womankind! Meanwhile, you can always go back to my other idea: raising sheep, spinning yarn, and knitting beautiful sweaters!

Fran said...

So sorry. But maybe, in a perfect world, among the half-sample left, you will find a wonderful gene that will do all kinds of good for womankind! Meanwhile, you can always go back to my other idea: raising sheep, spinning yarn, and knitting beautiful sweaters!