Hello! I'll begin by saying a little bit about me and my background, passions, and the type of writing you can expect through this weblog.

Here it goes: I graduated with my undergraduate degree in 2009 with three majors: biology, environmental science, and religion from Central Michigan University.Throughout college, I worked in a Plant Systematics laboratory as a research assistant doing lots of cool stuff, like scanning electron microscopy, field collecting, and a variety of laboratory techniques (DNA extractions, sequencing). College was my first introduction to the real world and for the first time, I was exposed to vastness of our current ecological crises. (I was focused on a lot of other things in high school.)

After graduating, I've had the opportunity to travel and hold several random jobs. I'm originally from Michigan, though I have also lived in Louisiana's bayou-region and on the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks (OBX) in North Carolina. Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, I was hired in as a "Gulf Response" Americorps VISTA member. Living about 1.5 hours southwest of New Orleans (in a small community adjacent to the spill), I certainly experienced "bayou culture" and a rich environment that is incredibly imperiled ( . . . More

It was autumn. The air was crisp and cool. Leaves were in the midst of their transformation from vibrant green to red, orange and yellow. The brown would come later. The walkways and cobblestones of Montmartre were slick with damp.  The soles of our cheap shoes couldn’t find much purchase on the stairs of Rue Foyatier, so we clung to the wet handrail. My gloves would smell like rusty metal for weeks after we returned home. The street lights made the ground shine, like some magical place. Dorothy’s Yellow Brick Road and Oz had nothing on the magic and majesty of Paris and her damp slick streets in autumn. You couldn’t help but hum along with Edith Piaf, “The falling leaves / Drift by the window / The autumn leaves / All red and gold.”

It was our last night together in Paris. I would remain for another week. M’s sister was heading home. The other two members of our erstwhile quartet, whom I’ll refer to as D and A, were heading to Nice. A pale, coke bottle lensed imitation of Jake Barnes and Hemingway’s Lost Generation in The Sun Also Rises.  Reservations made and held at a brasserie we’d found earlier in our visit. The white linen tablecloths, waiters in tuxedoes and copious amounts of vin ordinaire paired with the incredible food had endeared the place . . . More

SpaceX has had an incredible mission. They completed the preliminary maneuvers near the ISS, and were cleared to go ahead and get close enough to the station for the robotic arm to be able to grab hold of it. This was all successfully done, and the Dragon Capsule was brought in to dock with the station, making history, by being the first ever commercial company to both fly to space and reenter Earth's atmosphere, and berth with the ISS. The mission will come to an end in several days, when the Dragon Capsule will be released from ISS, returned to Earth for a splash down landing in the ocean, and be recovered for reuse.

Success!!! The Falcon 9 launched successfully at 3:44am EST May 22nd. All systems were nominal, stage separation completed nominally, Solar arrays deployed successfully, and the Dragon capsule is now making its way toward the International Space Station. Stay tuned for more mission updates!



Way to go SpaceX!! This is the beginning of a new commercial era in space exploration.

*** Update - The launch was aborted at T-0.5 seconds, due to high chamber pressure in engine #5. Next launch window is May 22nd at 3:44am EST, and another window the following day, May 23rd 3:22am EST. Keep you posted on changes. ***


. . . More

I stumbled upon these cupcakes and I just had to share them.

They say the way to a persons heart is through their stomach, but in this case a heart can actually wind up *IN* your stomach!



I originally saw them on Not So Humble Pie, and she shared the link to the original baker Lily Vanilli. If you want to attempt to make your own you can find the complete instructions here.

If you aren't feeling that bold, you can actually order them directly from Lily herself (20% of the proceeds go to help kids with cancer):

Scarily realistic, each edible heart cake is baked with a delicious red velvet sponge, cream cheese frosting and blackcurrant & cherry 'blood'.A single ʻbleeding heart cakeʼ is priced at £7 and comes in a cute perspex box tied with apink or red ribbon with a personal note.

Available exclusively through this site 20% of the procee . . . More

29andaPhD is a PostDoc with a degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics who is currently on the hunt for a real job. She blogs at 29 and a PhD and she can be found on twitter as 28andaPhD.

-----------------

One of the most awesome experiences of grad school (besides landing the coveted spot for the interview, getting into your favourite lab, or finishing your degree sooner than planned) is passing the qualifying or comprehensive exam. For short, I'll call it qual. In a way this exam is designed to not only test your capacity to create new and test an idea, by teaching yourself new concepts, challenge paradigms, establish a new line of thinking, but to “filter”, in a way, the incoming talent of the department. Passing the qual, in a way, serves to welcome you into some sort of club, where students (usually) don't take any more exams, that of senior grad students who are held up as the best and brightest within a department. It was understood that if you passed this rigorous examination you had fought hard and earned your spot in the department. At least that's how it seemed to the 24-year-old-super-scared me.

This is my story about passing th . . . More

This isn’t new news, but I find it super cool none the less. I’m a big fan of the strawberry, and also a big fan of space travel. Putting those two together sounds like a good time waiting to happen!

The problem of food in space has been on the minds of many for a long time. You can only carry a limited amount of supplies with you, and currently, there really is no way to replenish said supplies other than waiting on another shipment from Earth. If we want to go out there, explore, and potentially take over the universe (but in a nice way), we need to figure out how to sustain ourselves in space, without relying on incoming shipments from our cozy blue planet. A first step in that direction would be growing our own space crops. There are many problems to tackle when dealing with crop growing in space. You've got your zero g issues, need of nutritious soil, limited water supply, limited space for a garden patch, sunshine requirements for your plants to live on, lack of bugs for pollination, and the list goes on.

Researchers working on a NASA funded project carried out at Purdue University, have come up with a healthy yummy sweet and nutritious space crop candidate – The Seascape Strawberry. This particular variety is very low maintenance, and hence would requi . . . More

.. a magentic stir bar system for the stove top. You know.. a glorified hot plate. No more need to stir continuously, just use a stir bar and walk away. Granted, there was that small choking hazard issue, but I was going to work on that.

But now it looks like I'm too late. I've been scooped.

Meet the Robostir

Damn. There goes my shot at millions.

. . . More

I don't know why I have a twitter account.  I've asked multiple questions to the twittersphere and not a single reply.  When I read through the twitter posts, the converations appear  to be amongst a small and select group of individuals (oh my gosh a clique you say?) or the tweets are simply mast$#%*.   

The question I have for you, dear tweeter.  Is what do you think of the twittersphere?  Oh and can anyone tell me what the competition is called when you write for a month and then count the number of words.  Is it inanmudiro or something like that?

GO CANUCKS!

. . . More

This blog has been quiet for a couple of weeks because I am so overwhelmed by all that needs to get done to meet my goals. It may be quiet for a little while longer...

But I did read this and it made me wonder if each gender percieves what constitutes housework differently. Here is an excerpt:

An Oxford University study says if current trends continue, women will probably have to wait until 2050 before men are doing an equal share of the household chores and childcare. According to the paper published in the latest issue of the journal Sociology, ‘substantial and persistent obstacles’ remain.

The amount of time women spend on routine housework still ‘dwarfs’ time spent on non-routine domestic jobs carried out by men. Nevertheless, there is evidence to show that the gender gap in housework and child care has been narrowing gradually. Women’s time spent on caring and chores in the home declined gradually from about 360 minutes a day in the 1960s for both the UK and US to 280 and 272 minutes, respectively, in the early 2000s. In the UK and the US, men went from spending 90 and 105 minutes a day, respectively, on housework and child care in the 1960s to 148 and . . . More

This is one of the worst things that could have happened to Canada.  Stephen Harper and his conservatives have won a majority.   We have lost our country.

. . . More

I hope that some of you folks can give a few dollars towards improving scientific literacy! My fav is "Do Plants Wear Genes?" It's too bad there isn't something like this for Canadian schools - or maybe there is and I just don't know about. Details and links below.

. . . More

Well so far I'm doing pretty good at meeting my writing goals. I sent out my Research and Teaching Stmts to 4 different people in my field and one who was only remotely related. When I get comments back, I'll edit and send out my t-t applications.

. . . More

I have noticed this story circulating around my social circles, and I was ignoring the hype (as usual) because I am keenly aware of how the mainstream media loves to spin a good science story.

In case you didn't hear about the newest fear-inducing phobia (Diet Soda), let me just give you a few headlines:

MSN: "Daily diet soda tied to higher risk for stroke, heart attack"USA Today: "Study: Diet soda linked to heart risks"CBS: "Diet Soda, Heart Attack Linked: Is Anything Safe to Drink?"newser:"Diet Soda's Dark Side: Heart Attacks, Strokes"ABC: "Diet Soda: Fewer Calories, Greater Stroke Risk?"The irony here is that when you go on to watch the ABC news clip, their expert actually says "This is one of the worst studies I've seen capt . . . More

Over on my personal blog I have been lamenting the fact I live in a 100 year old house and absolutely hate what a money pit it has become. To put in perspective how long ago 100 years really is, I looked up a few facts about life in 1905 (the year my money pit was built) .

"When this house was built Teddy Roosevelt was president, there were only 45 states in the Union, most people still drove a horse and buggy, and milk cost 14 cents per gallon. It was the age of the Victorians. Automobiles, the railroad, radio, the world series, airplanes and indoor plumbing were all in their infancy. Albert Einstein still hadn't finalized the theory of relativity, and William Bateson suggested the term "genetics" for the very first time. The average weekly salary was $12.98 and the average life expectancy was 47 years. Child labor and racial segregation were prevalent and women wouldn't be given the right to vote for another 15 . . . More

This reminds me of where I live. I wish cities across the USA would make it mandatory for all cops watch this video.



. . . More

. . . More

...and also for caring. By donating to a LabSpaces Donor's Choose campaign, you're doing just that -- showing you care.

So to sweeten the deal a bit, I'll throw in some cookies.

I don't have my own Donor's Choose campaign set up, but plenty of other LabSpace bloggers do! Head on over here to see the full list of participating bloggers and the projects they are trying to fund, and donate to one (or more than one!). Email me the receipt showing that you have donated (if you are attempting to stay anonymous, feel free to digitally erase your name), and you'll be entered for a chance to receive a batch of homemade cookies of your choice. The more donations, the more chances to win -- for every $500 total donated to the combined LabSpaces efforts, I'll draw one name. $2000 donations total? Four people get cookies, and so on and so forth.

The type of cookies are up to you (provided they can be shipped)... some of the favorites I have made include pinwheel cookies, lemon drops, my most-requested pudding chocolate chip, chocolate chip oatmeal, pumpkin spice, banana-stuffed peanut butter, triple choc . . . More

Bachmann Says She'd Consider Everglades Drilling by associatedpress

God caused the hurricane and now this shit? It saddens me that these people are top political candidates.

. . . More

Many families have Sunday Dinner, or its equivalent. That one meal, at least, you don't get to miss. The rest of the week may involve trekking back and forth between sports practice, band rehersal, late nights at the office (or in the lab), and who knows what else. For me these were sizeable get togethers of family – core, extended, friends and neighbors. These insane Filipino fetes that no one got to miss.

When I first moved out to Big Public SoCal School, I took that tradition of a big meal with friends with me. They didn’t fall on Sundays, but through necessity and logistics became Fridays. My criteria for these dinners were that it was cheap, filling, moderately difficult and could easily be timed. There was no wagyu beef, no black truffles or caviar making appearances. These meals also couldn’t be boxed or IQF either. It had to wow without being expensive. After graduation, the meals moved around as we all became busy. But to this day one of the dishes that still seems to delight is one that is incredibly simple – risotto. Rice cooked slowly with lots of liquid over a longer period of time, in relation to steamed rice. It fit all my criteria, and if you make it . . . More