The semester is almost over and practically everyone was finishing up projects this weekend. Papers, reports, and presentations of all sorts are due this next week. Today I will be meeting with both my biology lab and chemistry lab teams to work on final papers and presentations.
My chemistry team has been working on crystal x-ray
diffraction. Basically, we have been
growing crystals, cutting them to pieces under a microscope, and then sending
them through a machine that uses x-rays to determine how the crystals are put
together. This has led to lots of
interesting pictures.
Meanwhile, my biology team has been working on seafood
barcoding. For this one we are running a DNA test on a fish sample collected
from a Portland store or restaurant to see if it really is the kind of fish it
was labeled as. So far, ¼ of the samples for the entire biology class have been
mislabeled. The FDA has specific
guidelines for the names fish can be sold under to help prevent fraud, but
somewhere along the line from boat to store the fish gets its name changed so
it will sell for a higher price.
Also, this weekend has been Fire Art’s spring show. Our theme this year is science fiction so
there’s been an interesting collection of songs ranging from “The Saga Begins”
to “Flash Gordon” to random anime music. We held the show outside of Maggie’s (the campus
store) and despite the dampness were able to hold a successful show and
entertain a decent sized crowd after a long day of homework.
Have questions about anything? Send me an email at ameliaberle@lclark.edu