Science Oopsies in Media

One of my favorite things to do when watching TV is to point out “science oopsies”, especially in crime shows like Bones, Body of Proof etc. I define a “science oopsie” as when something is not portrayed accurately in the show or movie, or done incorrectly.

Some examples of science oopsies that I have witnessed include characters touching their phones after touching a dead body/blood/preforming an autopsy (you wouldn’t do that! eww!) or when they take their gloves off the wrong way (by touching the outside of the glove, which defeats the whole purpose of wearing gloves in the first place). Another example are the blatantly obvious science montages, like in Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (which is obviously NOT a high quality film) where “science” consists of people pouring and mixing multicolored liquids in test tubes and beakers. Woo science!

Glowing liquid! Science!!!

I was recently watching Body of Proof (don’t judge me) and found this science oopsie by the main character Megan Hunt who is a medical examiner. She is pipetting what is supposed to be blood samples into a vial so she can test for drugs. Except she doesn’t use a pipette tip!!! What?!? That would never work!! Silly Megan.

Science Oopsie in Body of Proof, Season 3, Episode 8, “Doubting Tommy”

My friend Naomi (@naomilewski) and I were recently discussing how we appreciated that Amy Farrah Fowler (Sheldon’s girlfriend in the Big Bang Theory) takes her gloves of correctly, because shes a real life neurobiologist! She earned her PhD in 2007 and her dissertation was an investigation of hypothalamic activity in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome. How cool! (Side note: I did a big project on Prader-Willi syndrome in high school, another reason Amy and I would be BFFs).

Amy and Sheldon in the lab (Big Bang Theory)

I love that science is portrayed in pop culture, even if it is sometimes wrong, and it sure is fun to point out their mistakes! Are there any science oopsies that really get under your skin? Are there certain shows that are notorious for science oopsies? I want to hear about them!

Friday Funny (On Saturday)

Friday Funny: Piglet Squid

Piglet Squid: Helicocranchia pfefferi

This strange little guy is a banded piglet squid. The “smile” is made up of chromatophores and the “hair” are tentacles. Any guesses about the thing that looks like a nose?

I thought this was fake when I first saw it, but upon further investigation I found that piglet squid are small (100mm) mesopelagic squid. The shiny part under it’s eyes are photophores, which make the squid look extra cute and dopey.

Side view

See this video for some footage of the piglet squid, and some other cool invertebrates! Some terrible effects, but still good footage from National Geographic.

 

Friday Funny

A little Friday afternoon science inspiration!

Friday Funny

Sassy sea star!

I almost didn’t have a Friday Funny, but Chris Luk and Naomi Lewandowski (@naomilewski) saved the day!

Have a shenanigan filled weekend!

Spring Updates

A few updates now that Spring quarter has started. I gave a presentation at the National Shellfisheries Association Annual Meeting on March 28th in Seattle. I talked about my work developing novel tagging methods in Pinto abalone, specifically about using Passive Integrated Transponders (PITs). I was only able to catch a few other talks in the abalone session as I had to jet back to campus for class, but it looks like there is some great abalone research going on. If you missed my talk and would like to check out my slides, you can do so at this link. I got some good feedback from my advisers, professors and others who were able to attend I would like to think it went well. I am still chugging away with the manuscript, I have received my “friendly reviews” and will be working on a final draft this weekend.

In other news, the dates have been set and airline tickets have been purchased for my spring field work for my capstone! I will be gone for a week in May near Sierra Vista AZ, a nice respite from Seattle weather
(and class hehehe). We will be doing a “bio blitz” for one of our target anurans with some volunteers and testing out some of our methods for our summer field season. Flyfishing for bullfrogs anyone? I will be back to Seattle for a few days before I jet off again with some of my fellow AFSUW ExComm members for the American Fisheries Society Washington British Columbia Annual General Meeting in Victoria, BC. I will be giving a talk on live tweeting for scientists, as a part of the Social Media and Science Outreach Session. Luckily my course load this quarter consists of physics, a seminar and a lot of research credit, so I am able to give a conference talk and do some field work! So stoked. Really looking forward to summer field work for my capstone and abalone tagging endeavors. Stay tuned for field work pictures!

Also, my marine biology minor adviser has kindly written up my student profile on the “Who We Are” section of the marine bio webpage, that you can view here.

“Learn about how she became addicted to abalone restoration, how she got connected with the Friedman Labs, her summer at Friday Harbor Labs, her experience studying abroad in Kosrae, Micronesia, and finally her off hours as a science blogger…and get ideas for your own marine biology experience at UW!”

Spring Break visit to Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)

I am sitting in Hubbs Hall at Scripps procrastinating on my National Shellfisheries Association conference talk. I would be procrastinating in my bikini on the beach, but alas, I brought the Seattle weather with me to California (at least I didn’t bring the snow).

I arrived Friday afternoon and visited Coronado Island on my way to Scripps. Coronado used to be the posh place to vacation before they built the bridge to the island. Its still pretty posh, as evidenced by my $5 soda. I browsed some shops, and found some great abalone related thank you gifts for my advisers. Then I arrived at Scripps and met up with a friend and her fellow grad students. A pretty relaxed day. Saturday we visited the Birch Aquarium and I saw a nautilus for the first time! I also saw those Lake Jellies that were on my bucket list (kinda counts) and went to Crab Catcher to get excellent (and cheap!) fish tacos for dinner. Another highlight of the day was seeing (and getting pooped on) by my first pelican! I think that’s good luck. I also saw a few California Sea Lions, and cormorants. Today I took a stroll on the beach at Scripps. Enjoy the pics! More soon.

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My Marine Bio Bucket List

In the theme of Deep Sea News’ post earlier this month “What’s your marine biology bucket list?” I have been thinking long and hard on this topic. So many choices!

1. Swim in “Jellyfish Lake” Palau, Micronesia

Well apparently Kosrae, Micronesia isn’t really that close to Palau, Micronesia so I didn’t make it over there on the way to my study abroad trip. But I will make it back there! Many of you have probably already heard to “Jellyfish Lake” with its totally awesome non-stinging jellies. Turns out that’s a common misconception, they do sting, just not enough to really hurt you since they eat zooplankton. Another common misconception is that they farm algae for food, so that’s why they don’t need to sting. While they do have symbiotic zooxanthellae, they use the photosynthetic byproducts from the zooxanthellae (they dont actually consume to zooxanthellae themselves for food).

A couple of cool facts:  Jellyfish Lake is one of 70 marine lakes in the Republic of Palau (Hamner and Hauri, 1981), and the jellies in Jellyfish Lake have developed into five distinct species derived from the spotted jellies in the lagoon (Darwin’s Jellyfishes; Dawson, 2005).  These jellies take on daily horizontal migrations within the lake to optimize the sun exposure to the zooxanthellae (Hamner and Hauri, 1981).

Another unique aspect of Jellyfish Lake is that it is one of few lakes in the world that is a permanently stratified marine lake, and as a result of this constant stratification, the hypolimnion is severely anoxic and contains high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas (Hamner and Hamner, 1982).

2. Visit the Galapagos

Darwin did, why shouldn’t I?

3. SCUBA with a big whale

I’m not too picky about which one, but I would prefer a baleen whale.

4. Dive the Great Barrier Reef

5. See a Narwhal

Unicorns of the sea. Nuf said.

6. See a ping pong tree sponge (also featured in the DSN post)

7. Take a trip in a deep sea sub

8.  Huge jellies!

I would love to see some of the huge jellies that are commonly caught in Japan, like these guys (well they don’t look too big here):

9. See a walrus in the wild

10. See a giant clam in the wild

11. See all species of abalone!

12. See a live horseshoe crab

Whats your bucket list?

Refs:

Hamner, W. M., & Hauri, I. R. (May 01, 1981). Long-Distance Horizontal Migrations of Zooplankton (Scyphomedusae: Mastigias). Limnology and Oceanography, 26, 3, 414-423.

Turner, P. (n.d.). Darwin’s Jellyfishes – National Wildlife Federation. Home – National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved November 5, 2011, from http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2006/Darwins-Jellyfishes.aspx

Dawson, M. N. (January 01, 2005). Five new subspecies of Mastigias (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae: Mastigiidae) from marine lakes, Palau, Micronesia. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the Uk, 85, 3, 679-694.

Hamner, W. M., Gilmer, R. W., & Hamner, P. P. (September 01, 1982). The Physical, Chemical, and Biological Characteristics of a Stratified, Saline, Sulfide Lake in Palau. Limnology and Oceanography, 27, 5.)

Kosrae, Micronesia

This gallery contains 24 photos.

This is kinda cheating, but still worth sharing. I went to Kosrae, Micronesia for a study abroad trip in September 2010 and I just found my journal! I really wanted to start a travel blog while we were there, but … Continue reading →

Science Jams

Other than a constant stream of caffeine, I find music very motivating when I’m “doing science” and I know many of you do too (like Miriam Goldstein).

“When you’re by yourself in the lab late at night, sometimes you just need to shake your booty. This list is made for playing loud, dancing around, and singing along – so make sure you’re alone first!” -Miriam’s description of her “Lab Booty” Mix that she kindly sent my way via Spotify.

Whether it be cleaning abalone tanks, taking tail clips from tadpoles, doing histological sampling, or drawing various invertebrates I find I am more productive and happy when I have some tunage. Especially if I get the lab to myself and can sing along. Many late night hours in the lab at Friday Harbor with my friend @Naomi Lewandowski led to constant blasting of 90s, Britney, Lady Gaga and The Sounds, which has influenced my song selection below. Here are my top jams for making myself feel like a badass lady scientist:

1. Look at Me Now – Chris Brown, ft. Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, I especially like the cover by Karmin

2. What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – Kelly Clarkson

3.  Fem Bot – Robyn (or any Robyn song really, saw her live, best concert EVER)

4. Gold Guns Girls - Metric

5. Queen of Apology – The Sounds

6. Electric Chapel – Lady Gaga

7. Big in Japan - Martin Solveig & Dragonette

8. Undone (The Sweater Song) – Weezer

9. Love Liquid Wrap Around – Super Deluxe

10. Never There – Cake

11. Mean – Taylor Swift

12. Bottle It Up – Sara Bareilles

13. I Need a Dollar – Aloe Blacc

14. Like That – Memphis Bleek

15. All the Small Things – Blink 182

Apparently I am an angry feminist with an inner gangster who is very nostalgic for the 90s. My go to for guilty pleasure songs.

I made a playlist on Spotify called Science Jams! Spotify didn’t have Gold Guns Girls or Love Liquid Wrap Around so I put different songs from the same bands.

What do you listen to when your doing #FridayNightScience alone in the lab? New hash tag #sciencejams?