Jemsweb

We foolishly thought that the tummy bug was behind us, but Archie was leaking things all over the floor this morning again, and then of course Harry started vomiting. So much for the planned visit to the dental clinic this morning. Ah the joys of family life! Still the boys are happy as it means they get to watch DVDs (whereas normally they are only allowed one DVD after lunch).

It will almost be a blessed relief to get back to university and cut up rats! Speaking of the rats, got this info from a former student of the course.

The rats are frozen and contain a preservative, and they don’t smell like rats. They smell like formalin – ie, not pleasant, but not disgusting either.

The thing that some people DID find a little challenging was looking at 72 hour eggs – you break an egg and fish out the embryo to have a look at it under a microscope. At this stage, it is little more than a brain and notochord, but it also has a heart which you can see beating.

Not pleasant if you are a hippy…

The other thing that was a bit annoying was the heart lung dissection (sheep) – because these DO smell a bit, and they are obviously a lot larger than a rat. The heart and lungs come from the meatworks, so they are pretty clean, but it is a time to wear your lab coat…

Guess I should buy that lab coat after all… but now I am actually LOOKING FORWARD to the rat autopsy.

Just received my course notes for Cell Biology which includes instructions for all the lab work. Looks like the most living thing I’ll be cutting up is a rhubarb plant! And a bit of fiddling with human blood and mouse intestinal cells – but the main thing is, no cutting up of actual corpses.

I’m sure I could cut up a corpse if necessary, but happy to delay it as much as possible.

At my chemistry tutorial last night, we made a start on organic chemistry. It is the area of chemistry that deals purely with carbon molecules. It was fascinating! We got to play with those little plastic models with spheres and rods, and learned all about the very rigid naming conventions for carbon molecules. And about “aromatic compounds” and all sorts of cool stuff. Our tutor is an organic chemist so she was really enthusiastic and I think it rubbed off on me. Perhaps if I am really crap at biology (soon to be tested) I can become a organic chemist instead.

Our lab week begins on 20th Feb and my opportunities to permanently scar myself with some particularly dangerous chemical will begin!

I’ve been swotting up on chemistry a little and I found a good resource at about.com. It includes some chemistry safety recommendations:

Dress Appropriately (for chemistry lab, not fashion or the weather)
No sandals, no clothes you love more than life, no contact lenses, and long pants are preferable to shorts or short skirts. Tie long hair back. Wear safety goggles and a lab coat. Even if you aren’t clumsy, someone else in the lab probably is. If you take even a few chemistry courses you will probably see people set themselves on fire, spill acid on themselves, others, or notes, splash themselves in the eye, etc. Don’t be the bad example to others, remembered for all time for something stupid!

Don’t Play Mad Scientist
Don’t haphazardly mix chemicals! Pay attention to the order in which chemicals are to be added to each other and do not deviate from the instructions.

Perhaps chemistry is not the best discipline for me as I have a formidable reputation for clumsiness, or as Lucy Lawless once put it, “I’m an unko”. As does my darling sister.