Author: Sweet Tea, Science

Cool Stuff Sunday 3

Happy Spring! Also, happy last week of March. It’s quite possible that I’ll know whether I’m moving forward in the application process by this time next week. Gotta stay focused, but I’ll admit I’m getting excited!

It’s been a busy week for me, but I’ve managed to find a few good pieces from this week. I’m very excited to hear more about the deep sea exploration by James Cameron! I had no idea he was going down alone!

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2012 Vernal Equinox 

Sunday and Monday – Watch the Skies!

Stuff Your Face Saturday

When you are a grad student, weekends take on a whole new meaning. Especially when you are nearing your Defense Date. Weekends become those enjoyable 2 days where you can be in the lab all day with no one around to distract you. (I really think I might be the only person in my building right now.) Also, you get to park anywhere!

Working on campus is certainly not the most ideal way to spend your weekends, but this time of year is crunch time. You may think you have plenty of time to finish everything, however something will always come up. Other students are defending, taking their comprehensive exams, and celebrating their victories and you’ll want to take time out of your day to attend or celebrate with them! Certainly others be doing the same when it’s your turn at bat.

Once you are sucked into research and thesis writing to this degree, it becomes harder and harder to find time to feed yourself. You may find yourself drawn to fast food and junk food, because of its convenience. But, if you make time in the mornings and evenings to prepare snacks and meals in advance, you may still have enjoyable, healthy food to keep you going.

Here are a few tips and ideas that have helped me:

Prepare Ahead of Time
I can be very bad about just wanting to lay down and relax after the day is over. However, I also want to lay in bed until the last possible moment the next morning. Something has got to give. How hard is it to whip together tomorrow’s lunch though? A sandwich. A salad. Some quinoa and whatever delicious things are around the kitchen.


Snacks

Red Pepper Hummus

Try bringing some of these with you in some reusable containers:

  • cut up veggies and hummus 
  • chips and salsa
  • peanut butter and apples
  • crackers and spread
  • hardboiled eggs

Leftovers
Never underestimate the power of leftovers. Getting full while dining out? Don’t keep eating just because its there, ask for a box or some foil. BAM – tomorrow’s lunch. Also, don’t be afraid to make a recipe larger than you’ll need for that meal. You can store it in meal sized containers that are easy to grab for lunch on campus.

Curry

Crock Pot Breakfasts/Dinners
Slow cookers can be your best friend. All you have to do is throw a bunch of ingredients in and when you get home dinner is waiting for you. I’ve enjoyed making vegetarian chilies, pasta sauces, curry, and beans in my crock pot. I also have a list of recipes waiting to be tried. Including an apple pie oatmeal.

Questions of The Day:
What do you do for meals during your busiest days?
Will you try any of the tips here? Tell me how it goes!

CSULB: Graduate Research Project

My time in Long Beach has come and is now fleeting with a speed that terrifies me. Does time speed up in the months before your defense? How cruel. I still have so much to do! A short, but very sweet, adventure has produced some fun posts. This will be my last Spring Break post and since I’m graduating soon, I don’t know when I’ll even have another Spring Break! Oh, Real World, you are trying to get a hold of me and I won’t let you!

We’ve talk about lab and field work in the previous posts and today I’ll wrap up the series with one more spotlight on research. My friend, Rachel, was kind enough to take time from her insect identifications to answer a few questions about her research. 
Rachel displaying proper bird handling.

Rachel’s Master’s Thesis research studies the impacts of an invasive weed species, Lepidium latifolium, on marsh food webs. For her, ‘the field’ is a brackish marsh on Rush Ranch Open Space Preserve, a component of San Francisco Delta Estuary. She measures environmental parameters of the vegetation, in addition to sampling birds (via blood and feathers), invertebrates (bird food), and plants (invertebrate food) for stable isotope analysis.      
                                                                                            More fancy science talk. Stable isotope analysis. This technique follows the notion that you are what you eat. Isotopes of certain elements (Carbon and Nitrogen, in Rachel’s research) get passed along when organisms are consumed and become incorporated into the predator’s tissue. Rachel can compare the plant, bug, and bird isotopes to figure out the food web.

Marsh at Rush Ranch Open Space Preserve. White 
plants are the invasive weed species she studies.
 Photo Credit: Christine Whitcraft

Rachel’s field component in the marsh requires a seven hour drive into northern California. With drives that long, she has to concentrate her efforts for the weekends. A typical outing includes measuring environmental parameters of vegetation, and the aforementioned sampling for isotope data. She has modified a leaf blower so now it serves as a ‘bug vacuum’ for collections. Her lab work consists of lots and lots of processing. According to Rachel, “It’s just the right amount of mix between the two, by the time I’m tired of being up at 4 am, it’s time to be in the lab for a while. When I’m sick of being indoors it’s time to go out to the field again.” In addition, she must also devote several hours per week with other graduate students in her lab working on the restoration efforts mentioned yesterday.
Questions of the Day: 
Do you know of any invasive species in your area?
Have they caused problems for the natural flora and fauna?