Spidery Crystals Appeared After Rotovap-ing. I Think They Look Like Dandelion Fluffs.

Space For All Species Mural

Charley Harper’s first ever mural ‘Space For All Species’ is located in the John Weld Peck Federal Building at 550 Main St. in downtown Cincinnati. Completed in 1964 the design is comprised of two 18×10½ ft panels that feature over 100 species of North American Animals. The tiles were made by Cambridge Tile Company in Cincinnati, OH. more…

Anaïs Nin (b. February 21, 1903) on embracing the unfamiliar – even timelier today. 

Reverse psychology that's not in psychology. Reverse biology...?

How did you decide to do a project with RNA?

I was having a conversation with someone in our department about how useful and cheap next-gen sequencing is, and how I was considering spending out my grant on a project looking at immune gene expression in spiders. He told me flat out that I wasn’t capable of doing it, because I wouldn’t understand it enough to ever publish. So I used a kit to extract RNA, sent off the samples, read a few books in the meantime, learned to code, wrote the scripts for R and the supercomputer, then did it. I’m writing it up now, and have found some pretty cool stuff! I’m glad I learned it too, since it’s a good skill to have.

TL;DR: some asshole told me I couldn’t do it, so I decided to do it.

In ‘Wild Design,’ Vintage Illustrations Expose the Patterns and Shapes Behind All Life on Earth

The flowerhat jellies eat live fish, which aquarists deliver to the brainless beauties using a straw.

#VisitorPicture by @girlymurley #regram #jelly #jellyfish #ocean #animals #closeup #NEAQtentacles #lunchtime #fish #beautiful

B.o.B. WROTE A DISS TRACK TO PROVE TO NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON THAT THE EARTH IS ACTUALLY FLAT

It’s hard to argue with logic that is just words strung together, so maybe B.o.B. just made the smartest move of all.

Stupid Lab Mistakes: a Constant Across All Levels of Experience

So today was day one of a tyrosinase lab. We had to centrifuge our organic matter sample (homogenized mushroom gills) to separate the soluble proteins from the rest of the tissue, and we counterbalanced our sample with an identical centrifuge tube of equal weight filled with water. We did all of this under the supervision of a TA and our professor.

My lab partners and I have used centrifuges many times before, but what we (and the instructors) failed to notice was that these particular tubes required an adapter for this particular centrifuge. We were spinning it up to about 7000 rcf when we heard a muffled “bang,” then the centrifuge slowed to a stop. When we opened it up, we discovered that the water tube had EXPLODED, shattering into a hundred little plastic pieces. the tube containing our organic sample slurry was thankfully intact, but it was badly warped and cracked. We spent the next 20 minutes or so carefully wiping water off every nook and cranny of the centrifuge interior, thanking our lucky stars that it wasn’t mushroom gloop.

I keep thinking that gaining more practical lab experience will save me from this kind of thing, but if the three different generations of chemists present couldn’t keep it from happening then there is no hope. These incidents are the things that add unexpected excitement to my life, though, so I suppose it’s not all bad.

Gale pin design✨

Surreal Monochromatic GIFs by Carl Burton