The Ocean
The best thing about being a sorta hippie researcher is the cool field trips you get to go on. Last saturday I went on a boat trip to the coastal basins off of Santa Monica. You don't realize how massive the ocean is until you get far enough to land to just see water everywhere up to the horizon. I also realized that Punjabis truly are land people and not made for the open ocean. Seriously, do you know any fobs that can swim. We've got 5 rivers in the homeland but who the hell wants to swim where people bathe and crap. I learned the hard way and got seasick but luckily no throwing up. If you are going on a boat trip remember to get plenty of sleep, eat breakfast, and don't boast that you don't get seasick just because you made it through the Small World ride at disneyland.
Much learning was done. Got to filter plankton from the ocean and look at them under a microscope. We dug up mud from the bottom of the ocean and found sea worms. The mud by the way is not like land mud. It has a consistency of Gak, if you know what I mean. So about the worms. We were looking at them under a microscope, and one of the professors was explaining how they reproduce. I had to open my big mouth and mention a certain type of hermaphroditic marine slug that procreated by dueling with other slugs for the ability to be the male. The loser of the duel (the female - not trying to be sexist) gets stabbed by the reproductive organ of the male. Everybody looked at me like I was high and then laughed their asses off. Ultimately I became "the guy that discusses slug porn" That night I actually went home and found a reputable article on this creature and mailed it out to everybody. It's actually pretty interesting from an evolutionary standpoint.
Actually for the most of the trip we just hung around the boat and chatted about random things. On the way back to caltech I drove a couple of undergrads. They gave me the lowdown on what it's like to be a female undergrad here and wow, I have complete sympathy.
Pictures from the trip
Much learning was done. Got to filter plankton from the ocean and look at them under a microscope. We dug up mud from the bottom of the ocean and found sea worms. The mud by the way is not like land mud. It has a consistency of Gak, if you know what I mean. So about the worms. We were looking at them under a microscope, and one of the professors was explaining how they reproduce. I had to open my big mouth and mention a certain type of hermaphroditic marine slug that procreated by dueling with other slugs for the ability to be the male. The loser of the duel (the female - not trying to be sexist) gets stabbed by the reproductive organ of the male. Everybody looked at me like I was high and then laughed their asses off. Ultimately I became "the guy that discusses slug porn" That night I actually went home and found a reputable article on this creature and mailed it out to everybody. It's actually pretty interesting from an evolutionary standpoint.
Actually for the most of the trip we just hung around the boat and chatted about random things. On the way back to caltech I drove a couple of undergrads. They gave me the lowdown on what it's like to be a female undergrad here and wow, I have complete sympathy.
Pictures from the trip