What are you doing today?

Marine ecology! Primarily kelp forest and trophic (food web) ecology. What about you?
I am a neuroendocrinologist and I studied the relationship between stress hormones and the dopamine circuits in the mesolimbic system. We applied my findings to chemical dependency.
 
Sounds interesting. What were your findings?
The production of eggs are lower with females that are exposed to too much nanoplastics which results in a small number of offspring. I've used plastic plants that I broke in smaller pieces and put it in a tank with a number of females that have mated for the first time. And in another tank, I did exactly the same but without plastics in there. Also more females got pregnant in my control tank in comparision to the pregnant females in the polluted tank. This does verify the tests scientists have done before. I've got similar outcomes. This is based on a two month project of mine.
So, that was worth to write an article about. But instead of the February edition, it will be published in the May edition this year. For it would fit in more with some other articles in the May edition. We've discussed about it today. I'm also an editor of the Poecilia news.
 
Just finished some more tissue extractions for my research. It takes about 8 hours from start to finish to complete 10 samples, and most of that time is spent actively working 😵‍💫 I'm glad I can listen to music...

What kind of research do you do? I am a retired researcher.

Marine ecology! Primarily kelp forest and trophic (food web) ecology. What about you?

I am a neuroendocrinologist and I studied the relationship between stress hormones and the dopamine circuits in the mesolimbic system. We applied my findings to chemical dependency.

The production of eggs are lower with females that are exposed to too much nanoplastics which results in a small number of offspring. I've used plastic plants that I broke in smaller pieces and put it in a tank with a number of females that have mated for the first time. And in another tank, I did exactly the same but without plastics in there. Also more females got pregnant in my control tank in comparision to the pregnant females in the polluted tank. This does verify the tests scientists have done before. I've got similar outcomes. This is based on a two month project of mine.
So, that was worth to write an article about. But instead of the February edition, it will be published in the May editionn this year. For it would fit in more with some other articles in the May edition. We've discussed about it today. I'm also an editor of the Poecilia news.

I love that we have proper scientists here! It's exciting, and I want to pick all of your brains and learn as much as I can! Glad that you all, and others I won't tag and name but know are here, to help out!
 
I am not planning on purchasing new fish in the near future. So I decided to convert my quarantine tank into a dedicated shrimp tank. The tank is cycled and ready to role. As soon as the temperature gets above 40F I will buy 20 Fire Red Neocaridina from the Shrimp Farm in Abnormal, Illinois. I will begin breeding.
 
Oh yeah definitely.
I'd go as far as to say it was the worst book I've read. I didn't even make it past the 2nd chapter I don't think before deciding it wasn't for me lol
One of the dumbest books I've ever read. I soldiered through because I kept thinking it must have some redeeming quality that got it published. There were a few minor laughs, but definitely not worth the effort to read. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that had so little to do with the book; the characters had the same names, and lived in a vaguely viking culture, but that's about it.

Oh, there is one other movie that I vastly prefer to the book: The Princess Bride. The book is pretty good, and movie follows it fairly closely, but I found the story-within-a-story format easier to follow in the movie, and rather tedious in the book. Plus it was one of the most brilliantly cast movies I've ever seen. As "Honest Trailers" says, "a satire of all those sappy, swashbuckling medieval love stories, that happens to be the best sappy, swashbuckling, medieval love story ever made."
I am not planning on purchasing new fish in the near future. So I decided to convert my quarantine tank into a dedicated shrimp tank. The tank is cycled and ready to role. As soon as the temperature gets above 40F I will buy 20 Fire Red Neocaridina from the Shrimp Farm in Abnormal, Illinois. I will begin breeding.
Thank you for reminding me that there is a town called Abnormal. It makes me happy.
 
My last name, Lacher, is German and pronounced locker. I was curious as to if it meant something in German and it does and it fits me to a tee. In German Lacher == laugher. :)
My last name Wand, is German too. It is pronounced Vant. In German Vant translates to Wall. I guess my ancestors were Masons 🤔
 
One of the dumbest books I've ever read. I soldiered through because I kept thinking it must have some redeeming quality that got it published. There were a few minor laughs, but definitely not worth the effort to read. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that had so little to do with the book; the characters had the same names, and lived in a vaguely viking culture, but that's about it.

Oh, there is one other movie that I vastly prefer to the book: The Princess Bride. The book is pretty good, and movie follows it fairly closely, but I found the story-within-a-story format easier to follow in the movie, and rather tedious in the book. Plus it was one of the most brilliantly cast movies I've ever seen. As "Honest Trailers" says, "a satire of all those sappy, swashbuckling medieval love stories, that happens to be the best sappy, swashbuckling, medieval love story ever made."

Thank you for reminding me that there is a town called Abnormal. It makes me happy.
Glad I didnt go past the second chapter then lol

And yes, The Princess Bride is an incredible movie lol
 
Just finished some more tissue extractions for my research. It takes about 8 hours from start to finish to complete 10 samples, and most of that time is spent actively working 😵‍💫 I'm glad I can listen to music...
I interned at a neuroscience lab for a bit and while I was there I shadowed a number of postdocs and phd students who were doing certain experiments. They would come in at 12 and then work till 9 doing the same experiment which was 10% work and 90% waiting. And each of these was only for 2 samples, so you would spend the whole week to process one batch of a control and two tests. Some of these guys had been working there for decades and only did the same experiment.
 
I interned at a neuroscience lab for a bit and while I was there I shadowed a number of postdocs and phd students who were doing certain experiments. They would come in at 12 and then work till 9 doing the same experiment which was 10% work and 90% waiting. And each of these was only for 2 samples, so you would spend the whole week to process one batch of a control and two tests. Some of these guys had been working there for decades and only did the same experiment.
Yup, I usually go in at 8:00 or 9:00am and work until 4:00-5:00pm. The difference for me is that for my samples, it's 90% work and 10% waiting lol. Most of the time is spent pipetting, either adding reagents or moving them around to different test tubes and the like. We use a variety of nasty chemicals, but primarily chloroform since it's so good at extracting and holding onto the molecules we want to look at. But, even during the times the samples are sitting in a water bath or the centrifuge, I'm still working to prep new glassware for the next steps in the process or I'm prepping samples for the next extraction day.
 
Day 3. Everything hurts
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I'm watching "The Holdovers" starring Paul Giametti. It's on Peacock steaming. I hear it has an Oscar nomination.

Paul also starred in 'Sideways"...a really awesome very funny movie...highly recommend
Just searched 'The Holdovers' on Peacock and it looks interesting. I added it to my watch list. :)
 
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