A Spooky Week?

While I had planned on getting some spooky images this week, I didn't have access to the good camera at the lab, so instead I took my own spooky image of microplastics. The picture here is from a test slide that I made because next week I will be collecting data from my microplastic feeding experiment, and while the microplastics should be easily visible under the microscope with fluorescent cubes, I still need a test to visualize what the particles should look like. Think of this slide as an identification key that you might use before going on a hike: once you recognize the item that you have seen, you may see it more often because you have given it a name, shape, color, etc. This test slide will make it easier and faster for me to collect data, which means a more streamlined process. It also means that I can get data to show Sean how we use statistics in science to assess our experimental questions. While we teach a few different statistical methods in our undergraduate courses, I have found that we rarely use the tests we teach because our questions and data are more complicated.

So while I don't have spooky images to show you of nematode mouth parts, or kinorhynchs (mud dragons), which are the two most prominent animals in the sediment Sean and I are processing, I guess microplastics do make for a spooky sign, because they represent a nearly invisible force that is likely affecting global biodiversity and we are slowly starting to recognize the magnitude of the problem. Next week I will have the first images from the fluorescent microscopy analysis, which you don't want to miss!

---