Comments on: Extreme (Plankton) Closeup!

By: Jennifer Frazer

Jennifer Frazer — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:16:14 +0000

Cristina — Oh, I feel your pain. I spent countless hours hunched over microscopes counting sleeping fruitflies, Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) and HeLa tissue culture cells (made recently famous by Rebecca Skloot) and fungal Alternaria spores. If I never see another hemocytometer, it will be too soon. They’re still cool to look at for those of us who aren’t stuck doing it full time, though! : )

Daniel — Yeah, that’s the kind of episode that really sticks with you, if you know what I mean. I still remember it all these years later, and it’s been 22, if you can believe that!

Warren — I totally love that garden after rain smell too. Thanks for the tip!

By: Daniel Poth

Daniel Poth — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:45:09 +0000

You had to bring up “Conspiracy” didn’t you? I’ve never gotten over how that plot line was just dropped like a bad habit. Ugh!

By: Warren

Warren — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:28:15 +0000

The bacteria you are smelling are the same aerobic bacteria responsible for denitrification in aquariums. I believe they are from genus Nitrobacter, and others. I find the best way to tell people to check if their aquarium is healthy is to check if it smells like a “garden after rain”. If it doesn’t, then maybe certain harmful anaerobics are taking over.

Warren

By: Cristina

Cristina — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:08:28 +0000

They look even funkier under a microscope! Preferably an electron-scanning microscope at that! ;)
But they can give you massive headaches when you spend hours looking through a time tube into a glass column with diatoms and dinoflagellates and tintinnids sedimented at the bottom and you’ve got to not only identify them… but count them all as well!
And people wonder why I hurt my back and my eyesight got worse? hmmm… :p