selective reality

My Hair

2009-09-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just read my last few posts and realised I mentioned the possibility of me cutting my hair, and how unlikely it was to happen. Well suprise suprise I actually did get it cut. It's now normal long hair length (bra strap length) with a couple of layers. Thankfully due to the field trip quite a number of lecturers (i.e. those that went) know my name now - so the memorable feature isn't needed (fingers crossed). I like my new hair though so alls well - at present.

TTFN xxx

Back in the Bubble

2009-09-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's fresher's week here in St Andrews, but as a third year with a project report already in the pipeline I'm not really participating in the festivities. I'd like to say I took part last year (and even possibly my own fresher's), but this isn't the case. Oh I went to all the meetings and events etc (well not the late night drunken riot stuff). Not drinking alcohol really stunts my social outings - but saves my body in every other way :D.

The aforementioned project report refers to the field trip I went on last week to Orielton, Pembroke. I loved it !! though there were a few too many barnacles for my liking (we identify and count barnacles way too often). My project (and my partner's) is basically a study and comparison of invertebrate abundance and diversity in woodland and grassland habitat. It involved laying pitfall traps (got muddy, bruised, stung and scratched in the process - loved it :D), spending hours (and I mean hours) peering into microscopes to identify all the little critters and then stats to analyse. Despite the hard work I really did enjoy it all and it's made me feel a part of the green biology ermmm 'group' - I am a green biologist!

The project report is a little daunting - as a third year how do I up my report writing skills from last year. Would help if my results/stats made sense to me. In explanation there was a pretty little trend in the first days results which were then completely opposed by the day after, and now the combined results seem to fall with the illogical trend we did not predict. My plan is to hold a meeting with my partner to discuss etc and just lay out our results so we have a level footing and understand what we actually found. Until then I'll write the methods section I think.

Trying to decide whether I should attend a seminar on Wednesday entitled "Visualizing adenovirus structure and host factor interactions by CryoEM and Crystallography." Thinking not to be honest but we'll see how my Wednesday goes - also if I can figure out which room it's in (I've never heard of the room it states).

Let's see whether a good and stable internet connection, personal freedom (except from work) and boredom/procrastination mean this blog becomes a little bit more active.

Sayonara Capabara xxx

I can never remember my ATHENS username

2009-07-11T01:15:00.000-07:00

It's so annoying - btw when I'm in St Andrews I live in university accommodation (too cowardly and loserish to find flatmates to rent with) so don't need ATHENS. Why can't I change the username to something I'll remember (probably because all St Andrews accounts need a particular format (all start with stand I assume). Rant over and on to more general catch up.

Thinking of cutting my hair and getting my ears pierced - won't happen though as no matter how much I complain about getting it caught on stuff and blown by the wind I like my very long hair. It's how I'm recognised - lecturers may not know my name but I'm pretty sure the recognise 'the girl with the long hair that never misses lectures and comes to optional seminars.' Without my long hair I would no longer have an easily recognisable feature. Maybe I'm being melodramatic.

Back to a semi ATHENS subject - sciencedirect is pissing about with me. There's an article called 'what do animal signals mean?' and the PDF just won't open properly. Oh well that'll just be one less article I'm intending to read.

I really want to buy the complete Indiana Jones. I love the movies but only have the first 3 on VHS - which is pretty useless. Bit too expensive for my cheapskate ways - we'll see. I bought Marly and Me on DVD when it came out. That movie really makes me cry, and I don't just mean the single 'this is a sad movie' tear that can be fought back I mean full blubbering sobbing tears that leave your eyes red and blotchy. It's the end bit when Marley gets put down - I get flashbacks of when I've been there and done that with my pets. Speaking of pet flashbacks, a guy came to my door yesterday to ask if i'd lost a cat because he'd found a dead one down the road that'd been hit by a car. This is a flashback because I had a cat (it was my younger sister's, all black and called babe) who was hit by a car and killed about ermmm 10 years ago. Thankfully I gave the cat treat box a shake and both cats came bounding in throught the cat flap. But I really feel for the cat owner - it's a horrible moment to hear that, I remember the last time I saw Babe (I told it to get off my bed - I wanted to get in and go to sleep but couldn't fit with her at the feet end).

Good news now. I got on to the Dean's List 'for academic excellence' for my grades this/last year :D. Only students with grades over 16.5 in each module get on (btw mine were all over 17.4). Really happy about it because I was feeling a little average.

Can't think of anything else to tell you apart from the fact I have the weekend off from babysitting as mum's staying over at babys dad's house. My uncle and aunt are coming to visit and he has a bigger house so they tend to stay there. Thus you may get more updates in the next 48 hours than you have since my summer began :D.

TTFN xxx

p.s. what should I do with my free weekend.

Mum's really not feeling well

2009-06-27T01:16:00.000-07:00

Mum's not well and has gone back to bed (after ringing her work to say she just could not go in). Fingers crossed she gets better soon - can't be doing with looking after baby until she gets better (doesn't want to pass it on and she's just not with it enough). Had to sleep in the same room as baby last night while mum slept downstairs - just because she wouldn't have been with it enough to deal with her in the middle of the night if there was a problem - thankfully there wasn't.

Do you find my use of "-" annoying? Also isn't odd I'm keeping the rouse of having readers up - fooling myself into internet popularity. Speaking of internet popularity I think someone else is following me on twitter - must block them they're a random something or other desperate for twitter peeps.

I think I'm going to be invited out today - the first idea was the park but the weather looks decidedly British (overcast with threats of rain). Anyways can't go 1) mum's to ill to give me a life and the bus costs a fortune 2) baby must be looked after - I would leave to my other sister (15 yr old) but she has GCSE work to do and I value school work. Albeit I don't think she really does the work when I leave her - procrastination is a nigh on inevitable bummer - and msn etc are evil. I do not have that problem as none of my people come online anymore. It is making me feel alittle isolated here looking after baby in the house almost constantly - social interaction limited to family.

Is it wrong to plan my birthday present now - btw my birthday is October 30th. Thinking of getting a netbook (I'll end up putting some money towards it). I will give my reasoning 1) I realised last semester how many trees my lectures notes were killing 2) my laptop battery isn't quite up to lasting 2 lectures back to back 3) it's a little to wide for easy portability. So yeah the idea is that I'll take the netbook to lectures and write my notes on it, but use my laptop for everything else. What do you think?

Baby's still having her morning nap :D see you later alligators xxx

apologies for the break - catch up

2009-06-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest I have little to update you on, I haven't done anything :(. My baby sister Harriet has taken over my life - I actually half wake up at night thinking I'm supposed to be babysitting and have lost her. Apparently I actually look around for her and talk in my sleep "where are you going Harriet?" etc.

I have been out to see my friends twice so far this holiday - it's an upsettingly low number. Been to the cinema twice as well (once with friends to see the new terminator and once with dad and brother (fathers' day) to see the new transfomers). My verdicts are that terminator was ok but not great - the internal plot of the guy was amazin but it's place in the series was a bit stupid and john connor annoys the hell out of me (as does christian bale in general - it's his voice). Transformers two was amazing absolutely awesome.

Also watched Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull - I admit can't remember it's actual title. Shia leBeouf (guess at spelling) was once again awesome - so far from his days in even stevens.

Ermm don't really have much more to say - wish there was more nature documentaries on tv, most of them are crappy and soapesque - why do they have to give the animals voices or make it like some kind of soap e.g. meerkat manor? Why not go back to the good old days of life on earth - life of mammals was my favourite - although the clip of chimps organising and implimenting the hunt of colobus monkeys was horrific as a small child. Thank christ for Eden (TV channel) which is most likely to have actual documentaries. Currently showing elephant nomads of the namib desert. Earth's greatest events was incredible tv I will admit and I have it on DVD - AMAZING !!! (felt capitilisation was necessary there).

Right baby's asleep in her bouncer and I have a serious number of RSS feed journal articles to flick through. Oh N.B. internet connection not the fastest here and often dominated by my brother and his Xbox live (he is currently away at my dad's though - hence the post).

TTFN xxx

I'm sorry for not posting

2009-06-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Who'd have thought I'd post less on holiday at home - well to be honest I had a sneaky suspicion this would happen (internet connection not as fast here and I've spent much of my time babysitting). I have an 11month old baby sister (may have mentioned her) and mum seems to be using and abusing my inability to say no. But it's not so bad just time consuming.

In fact it's baby's first birthday a week on tuesday - hopefully will be fun :D.

My Walk - Plus Some Random ChitChat

2009-05-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Walk was amazing. One of those times when you just don't want to go back to civilisation (albeit it was only 30 mins away). You're heart just sinks at the first sound of cars and people as you walk back. I am so antisocial :P.

Anyway pics as promised:

Best part of the walk was watching gannets plummeting into the sea to catch fishies :D. Watched for about 40 mins - partly in the hope that larger more mammalian diners would join the apparent fishy feast (btw they didn't). For further info I'm not an ornithologist (bar corvids) but rather a mammaliologist (may have made that term up). I did try to film the action with my digital camera - with slight success:

I'll go on another walk later, but this time I'll take my big binoculars rather than my baby ones. Judging by the fact I saw more gannets on the way into town this morning (walked along the beach), I should see more later :D.

Currently I'm packing (or atleast that's the intention). Dad's picking me up on wednesday, and I'm no where near down. It's just so daunting looking around at your stuff and just no idea where to start. Not Good!

May write something more later - and possibly post a song :D we shall see saw.

See You Laters, Alligators xxx

A song I love - maybe could be my weekly thing

2009-05-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

This is an experiment. Maybe this could be my weekly thing. A song I've discovered and love. I'll do an actual post later. TTFN xx

Rambling like filling in

2009-05-22T03:55:00.001-07:00

I checked and yes I did mention going to see Wolverine origins but not what I thought of it. So I shall correct the omission. It was an amazing movie, though some parts were too clearly special effects, and it all seemed alittle fast (I would have preferred a bit more character introduction - as it was you met people and then they left in an hour and 20 minute blur), and Gambit's accent wasn't quite as strong as I would have liked (but perhaps that was the cartoons fault).

Now to Star Trek which was, I hate to admit it (and I feel I am betraying X-men), better than wolverine origins. There were no moments of clear special effects fakeness, it made me laugh, the beginning would make some people cry, and just in general it was a very good movie. Simon Pegg was an absolute genius in it (though when is he not :D - the episode of Black Books he is in is fantastic).

Also, right now I am using google chrome and liking it, though there a few things that I have to get used to. I did try opera for a while and liked it, but it didn't like webCT (a kind of necessary thing). I shall have another go with firefox later, it was just so complicated with apps and all this customisation - you could get very lost.

You know the second hand books I bought? Well I began reading one before revision period but had to give it up, and I finished it this morning. The stupid thing grabbed me yesterday, for a few hours in the morning and then until 2am. It's now finished and the sequel is calling my name from across the room. It was The Wolves of Time: Journeys to the Heartland by William Horwood, and very goood.

I have so many little things I need to do before I start packing etc (Dad's picking me up next Wednesday), including going to the Biology office to pick up work and hand in forms (my application for honours and the form for the field trip). Unfortunately they have restricted opening times during exam period (9-12) and I overslept slightly this morning (10am) and the final pages of the book grabbed me so i've missed it. Will have to have another go on monday.

Weather's absolutely gorgeous, for once, so I think I'll go for a walk once my hair dries. Possibly after lunch. I do feel that the obsession with the weather is one of the only British stereotypes to hold true. Also yet to read the Ida paper - that blasted book stopped me from doing loads of things yesterday. Have a strange want to watch Pride and Prejudice (the BBC, Colin Firth as Darcey one).

Maybe I'll post a few pics of my walk, just to shake things up a bit.

TTFN xxx

Internet Exploring - adventures of the absolutely knackered

2009-05-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

Firstly why am I not asleep! I just don't seem to be moving - I swear I am so tired those lines took a few tries without typos. Maybe I should surrender and stop this post until the morning (atleast I'll heavily edit). Exploring different web browsers - internet explorer I have, but firefox? and google chrome? etc - I don't know I'm feeling experimental. Oh if only people read this and could give guidance - :P I know you all have way more interesting things to be doing, like watching paint dry.

sweet dreams xx

I'm Back

2009-05-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Long time, no blog. I have many good reasons for not blogging, the primary one being the horror that is exams. Yes it is/was exam period - and a horrific one at that. Arm absolutely buggered from writing and revision etc and sleep has been fitfull. But, today was my last exam, and it is now officially summer :D. Let's keep our fingers crossed I did well - I can never really tell. Maybe I'll go for a walk this afternoon?

Errm let's think what I need to fill you in with. Would help if I could remember what I last wrote! I'll just mention that I really like the band A Fine Frenzy that I've just discovered. Oh and spotify :D thankyou Emma for telling me about it (btw that's not me Emma but another Emma - there's a few of us). Oh I don't think I told you how amazing the Star Trek (is that one word or two?) movie is, (I assume I mentioned going to see wolverine: origins - I'll check in a bit).

I have so many RSS feeds to have a flick through and read and delete as appropriate - going to take me eons.

So looking forward to having actual cooked food for tea - I live off canned food etc during revision period (minimize interuption time - I'm such a dedicated student :P). Thinking home made veg soup - bought savoy cabbage etc especially.

TTFN (or until I remember something I was supposed to say),

xxx

Oh yeah I really need to give this thing a purpose - I'm looking into it don't worry imaginary readers.

Lethargy

2009-05-07T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Sorry lack of posts, not sure why I haven't posted it's not like I've been doing anything. Suppose it's this horrid lethargic mentality I have at the mo - just living in a zombie like state of hibernation. Need to start revising - well I've slightly started ... kind of. Ecology lectures have now finished, and just two more comparative physiology. Which is lovely because I haven't enjoyed comparative physiology all that much - at the moment we are doing immunology and it's far from enthralling (no offence to it it's just not my cup of coffee).

Went to a lovely seminar on Tuesday evening by a lecturer from oxford (he was adorable and with a stephen fry accent :D), it was very interesting about circadian rhythms, light/dark, and sleep etc. Talked about a 3rd photoreceptor in the eye - certain ganglion cells are also photoreceptive. I love how seminars that don't sound like the kind of thing you usually like are actually interesting - never trust the titles of seminars, go anyway (within reason of course - I don't mean go to a maths, chemistry or politics seminar, for example (unless that's what you're into).

My skills for biologists poster was handed in on Tuesday, and peer reviewed - they were very harsh on it and i was a little dismayed. Thankfully it is also part marked by the lecturer who I feel will do it more justice.

I think that's all I wanted to say for now - bound to be things I've forgotten but I'll add to it later. Going to get ready soon and nip into Tesco on the way to the lecture. Oh yeah I remember I was going to have British moment and complain about the weather - it is really windy (I have hair down to my waist btw and so wind is an absolute pain). I'm not being melodramatic the MET office weather people say we'll get 55mph gusts of wind with a base wind level of 30mph. It practically sounds like it's trying to break through my window. A definate day for putting my hair up.

That's it for now,

TTFN xxx

Dead or alive? Living ants chemically signal their vitality: Scientific American Blog

2009-05-05T12:01:00.001-07:00

Interesting article in the scientific american:

Dead or alive? Living ants chemically signal their vitality: Scientific American Blog

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Misc Updates

2009-04-30T01:27:00.000-07:00

Actually spending money at the moment, it's scaring me. First on those second hand books, and now on two albums (nickelback's latest and a band I have only just discovered called shinedown) and Darwin's Origins. I've been meaning to buy The Origin of Species for donkey's years, but just haven't clicked the 'proceed to checkout' button - cause I hate spending money. Oh also going to see the new wolverine movie tonight :D - which is more money :(. But still I'm looking forward to it, Gambit's in it and he's always been my favourite xmen.

In my lab yesterday I made starfish spawn and then fertilised the eggs (oocytes). There was an awful lot to do in the 3 hours and I no where near finished, going to have to look at friends' work to piece together the bits I didn't do and add them to the report. It was so hard to see the sperm under the microscope, the best I got were black dots zooming around and it took me ages just to get to that point. Also there was a lot of scientific drawings to be done - I'm very slow at drawing. Oh well.

Skills for Biologists project poster due next tuesday (same day as the starfish fertilisation practical), so me and Mel are meeting this afternoon to do statistic analysis of our results and talk about the presentation of them - probably sort out the graphs. Then come home and think about what we need to say in the intro, methods, and discussion etc. We'll get together over the weekend and actually write all that probably.

Just checked webCT and my results for the nitrate in soils lab report (which we did about 9 weeks ago) are actually up - i got 18 (so I'm hoping it's out of the 20 point system - if so then it's a very good mark). Might see if I can pick it up from the office on the home after lectures.

Still thinking about the weekly something or other, TTFN xxx

World's frogs disappearing: Save the Frogs Day calls for action: Scientific American Blog

2009-04-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

World's frogs disappearing: Save the Frogs Day calls for action: Scientific American Blog

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Weekly?

2009-04-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

Taking a leaf from other blogs I am thinking of doing something weekly. Not sure what yet but am thinking. Maybe just an interesting fact or a species profile. I'll continue stewing over it.

This morning's mud and water collecting session went well - though missed the ecology lecture and am deeply upset about it (no sarcasm btw). Am now going to measure nitrate and look at the creepy crawlies.

Skills for Biologists

2009-04-28T00:24:00.000-07:00

Today is data collection day for my skills for biologists project. This morning me and Mel will be meeting at the harbour, taking sediment samples, and measuring abiotic factors (oxygen, pH, and salinity) at five sites, working our way from salt water to freshwater along the estuary. This afternoon we will measure nitrate levels (the meter needs a mains supply so can't be taken into the field, and do a semi biodiversity count/dominant species identification. Not really looking forward to it - the weather doesn't look fantastic (in fact far from it). Also there's a slight possibility we will overun and be late for the ecology lecture - I never miss lectures and will be absolutely devestated (spelling gone blank - is that right?), but doing this project has to be a bit of a priority and we're constrained by the tide times.

Next concern is that, even though I tried to buy some, I do not own a pair of wellies. The cheapest I could find were £17.99 and I have no intention of spending that much. So the current plan is to wear long walking songs and tuck my trousers into them - I'll look ridiculous but don't care.

I'll tell you how it goes later - and promise not to laugh if I end up falling over.

TTFN and wish me luck xx

The library - ramble

2009-04-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Realised I really miss my school library. I miss alot about school (I mean secondary school and sixth form primarily): my friends, teachers, the general structure etc. You always knew exactly where you were with work, how much you had to do, and when it had to be done by, none of this vague expectation you've been doing reading etc.

Anyway back to the library, I loved the school library - don't think I used it enough near the end. It wasn't large, and leaned a bit too far towards harry potter esque teenage tripe (but as a secondary school it's supposed to). Maybe it was just the wandering along, picking up interesting books, deciding if they really were interesting and if so taking them out - or in fact just sitting there and reading. Perhaps it was the quiet or the brownie points I knew I was getting from the librarian and english teachers. I think it boils down to the fact I love reading, and you don't have to buy books from the library - it's free. More people should use libraries - I know my sister doesn't use her school library at all (apparently it's not well stocked and she's dyslexic so doesn't like reading).

Twitter

2009-04-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Basically wasted my day downloading and uninstalling twitter apps. I'd like to pretend it was productive in some way. But let's face it why do I need a twitter app, I can just go to the website. So far the best one (spaz) is the best because it pops up to tell me when someone's tweeted something. There are some scarily complicated ones out there that integrate all the social networking sites, email and im into one app. Let's entertain the idea that people read this and ask if they know of/have a favourite app thing?

Tomorrow I have lectures so hopefully won't try and waste time like this - fingers crossed xxx

flashback to barnacles

2009-04-26T02:35:00.000-07:00

Just going through my RSS feeds - they were really building up - and found an interesting article on barnacles. They seem to be haunting me.

Barnacle penises appear to have a level of phenotypic plasticity. Those that settle in wave exposed shores grow thicker penises, whereas those on wave sheltered shores are thinner and longer. Thus it's assumed that those on wave exposed shores sacrifice the distance they can fertilise for sturdy penises that'll cope with the waves.

Hoch, J.M. (2009). Adaptive plasticity of the penis in a simultaneous hermaphrodite. evolution

work experience

2009-04-25T05:38:00.000-07:00

Desperately need to get some work experience. Trying desperately to organise some, but failing miserably :(

It all costs so much money - money I really don't have.

grrrr

Update

2009-04-25T03:38:00.001-07:00

Ballads Ball:
Yep i go to ballroom and latin dance classes and thursday was my annual ball. Went well I feel, though I only danced once. I am so unpopular. The ceilidh bit was fantastic - danced with my friend btw (hence why doesn't count). Actually wore a dress and make up, which is very very rare.

Book:
Bought two books from a charity shop - decided to start with wolves of time by William Horwood, fingers crossed it'll be good.

Eye retinopathy:
Appointment went well (or so she said). First one since becoming diabetic - basically put a camera way up close and take a photo of the back of your eye - flash incredibly painful.

Skills for Biologists Project:
As promised I shall explain. Skills for Bios is this extra little module that contributes to my continuous assessment. This semester we must plan and execute an experiment/study, and present our findings etc in the form of a poster - which will be presented and both peer and lecturer marked. My project (with mel) is basically measuring abiotic factors along the estuary. This involves meters etc, which is why we were approaching technicians.

This morning

2009-04-23T01:12:00.000-07:00

Hmm where to start. Have my eye retinopathy appointment in 45 minutes (will tell you how it goes) - in fact I really ought to start getting ready for that. I don't think my trousers are dry yet (actually got around to doing my laundry yesterday night at about 10pm). Today's lectures seem good, though to be honest i can't remember what the ecology lecture is about. I think it's about ecosystem services or functions, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was on yesterday. Comparative physiology lecture is on pheromones - pheromones are very interesting and thus i expect the lecture to be.

Right I really do need to go get ready, will continue this later.

TTFN xxx

filling the gap

2009-04-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

I am leaving gaps between posts already, not a good sign for its continuation I must admit. The barnacle lab report was handed in yesterday and I'm not filled with confidence about it - apparently she'd only wanted standard error and confidence limits etc not any complicated statistical comparisons. Am glad to say I covered my bases and did put standard error in along with kruskal-wallis tests so we shall see. Now I must revise for the timed essay (let's call it the practise exam question) on wednesday (christ that's tomorrow). It's based on the last 4 weeks - atleast it's not the entire module (just a third of it).

I really want to buy and get into a book - I miss the irrational devouring of a novel, you know where it just grabs you and no matter where, for instance in a lecture, part of you is still there with the book. There are a few novels on my shelves I haven't read yet (actually there's quite a few I buy and then don't have the time to read), maybe I should give one of them a shot and see what happens. At the moment I'm reading "The Diversity of Life" by E.O. Wilson, but perhaps I can read that at the same time as something more frivolous. I will be honest I had thought about buying the book Twilight - the internet told me it's only £3.49 in waterstones and the movie was ok there were some huge odd things that left a little clueless - like why can he read minds but no one else can and erm alice, i think, can see the future. Not exactly your normal vampire thing - and the shinyness in the sun rather than the burning up and dying. Basically I'm afraid to buy this book and find it's just another harry potter. Further confusion is why they're so in love - they don't seem to have proper conversation in the movie, it's all animalistic lust.

Went to a seminar yesterday evening as a kind of celebration that all the essays and lab reports had been done - I worry myself when I realise I saw a seminar as a reward. It was on decoding the function of humpback whale song and was very interesting. Part of me wanted to go down to the informal drinks and discussion section that's always after these things, but they feel so awkward and i just hover around the periphery willing someone to speak to me and start a conversation. Which they never do, and so I leave.

Really should have done my washing yesterday - I have practically run out of clean clothes - definately must be done this afternoon. So annoying.

Right I need to do some revision before getting ready for lectures. Am meeting Mel 20 mins before the lecture to sort out some equipment for our Skills For Biologists project. Tell you about that later.

TTFN (ta ta for now) xx

2009-04-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Wasting a little time while I get over the hypo I just had (2.something for those that want to know (not that anyone's reading this)). I'm diabetic btw (I haven't filled in my profile yet - though I will - not that I'd put "I'm diabetic" in it or "I'm an epileptic" or "I'm gluten, wheat, dairy and egg intolerant" for that matter). Yes I know my body hates me.

Back to the barnacle problem apparently we should include a statistical measure of confidence and my mind has gone blank as to what's best - it's a bad bad situation.

interesting facts about barnacles

2009-04-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

So far in my barnacle research I have found the following interesting facts:

Starting in November Semibalanus balanoides goes through a period of anecdysis (it doesn't moult) and practically hibernates, for 6-8 weeks.
S. balanoides sheds its penis in the first moult of the year (springish time) and regrows it over the summer before mating in November and December.
Elminius modestus Australasian native first seen in Chichester in 1945 - thought to have come over on ships during early years of second world war.

ermm that's all the interesting things I can remember from the research so far. Ok I admit I don't like barnacles all that much - let's just say if I had been Darwin I'd have rushed through them as fast as possible !!

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Extension

2009-04-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

To add to the last post, the ecology lecture was switched with that scheduled for monday so was on the Galapagos archipelago (love that word) and was a different lecturer than expected. She was of the young and nervous variety (practically PhD student looking). I'll be honest, I turned up a little late so don't know who she was/is - on the other hand pretty sure she started earlier than she was s'posed to. She finished 20 mins early, as is the trend with young and nervous lecturers, so I had a pretty big gap between lectures (read some of my book and worried about barnacles). The comparative physiology lecture was as enthralling as expected and too anthropocentric for my liking - apparently the aim of neurological studies is to understand the human nervous system etc - we are such a self involved species.

This barnacle lab report is becoming more and more worryingly problematic.

First

2009-04-17T02:16:00.001-07:00

Always wanted to try one of these. In fact always wanted to keep a diary of some sort but I never manage to stick it out. Bound to be what happens in this case - who knows (well I kind of have an inkling).

Let's hope this doesn't become a procrastination strategy over the next few days. Have a lab report due on monday on the distribution of two species of barnacle on the harbour wall (one being native the other invasive (Semibalanus balanoides and Elminius modestus respectively - for those that wanted to know)). Worst thing about it is we had to come up with the sampling method (two in fact) in groups so I actually have to think about how to write the methods section :(

Kinda need to get ready for lectures - ecology lecture at 11 and comparative physiology at 12. Apparently my ecology lecture today is on 'open ocean ecosystems' and my comp phys is on the vertebrate nervous system (that one sounds absolutely enthralling (sarcasm btw)).

At some point I'm sure I'll give up pretending someone's reading this. Until then byes xxx