My first blog

My first blog

I'd like to start off my first blog by thanking the STEM committee for choosing me to be a part of the program and to Espi...without your help, I'd still be in the dark with this blog business!!

I've heard the old saying "what you don't know won't kill you" too many times without really thinking about it...until now.  I'm talking microbes people, you definitely can't see them with the naked eye but don't be fooled, they're everywhere!!  From door handles to tabletops, mud puddles to pond water, tiny microscopic microbes lay somewhat dormant just waiting for the perfect time, the  right conditions and a food source to flourish.

Take for instance the project that I'm currently working on, it is called "hay infusion".  The idea behind it is that you take any non-chlorinated water source, add some cut grass or hay, wait a few days (to weeks) and you will have a jar filled with trillions of fast moving, flagella swinging, microbes. 

Josh was kind enough to get a few bottles full of water from a pond at Papago Park and a Fry's grocery bag, half filled with hay.  With my protocol in hand, I set out to discover the creepy world of microbiology.

Day 0 -

I filled my jar with pond water, cut up my hay and placed it in the jar.  I knew that today, day zero would be pretty uneventful under the microscope but I prepared my slides.  Taking a sample from the bottom, the middle and the top, I was able to observe a few pieces of hay up close and a really cool air bubble.  I lightly recapped my jar and placed it in a room temperature incubator for exactly four days (MLK holiday weekend!!)

Day 4-



The pungent odor coming from my experiment was ripe with possibilities!  Four days had gone by and I was sure that the micro world was budding inside my jar.  I made my three slides, one from the top, one from the middle and one from the bottom.  Judging from what I saw, as soon as I saw my jar, I knew the majority of microbes would be hanging out in the yellowing, greenish sludge that had settled at the bottom…food frenzy!  I was right, the sample from the top was barely worthy of mention but as I went closer to the food source, I found a plethora of microbes, some congregating in vibrating piles and some swimming so fast past my view, I was thinking that I needed the corn syrup to slow them down!



Day 5-
Short day today, so I added some fresh pond water and hay to my jar.....then scrubbed and cleaned the Micro lab!!!