Samples Collection & Experimentation – As we arrived back at CSM most of us were feeling pretty tired. It had been an intense but very enjoyable morning in the science labs at UCL (University College London). However, we were all pretty excited to start collecting our samples. We felt it would be a great idea to collect some canal water, some moss, and some leaves. I was really keen to examine the dregs of my Chai Latte so I popped some in a little sample bottle. I wasn’t so keen to grab the canal water but luckily Charlotte a fellow member of the group was on hand to do this. Charlotte Collecting Samples Below is a mix of clips from Days #1 and #2 – they range from crystal garden crystals, to sample collecting, to fruit fly equipment and oxygen free cabinets. Sample Analysis and Experimentation After Lunch we had a quick de-brief then we headed off into the grow lab for some sample analysis and experimentation. Shem and Barbera were our technicians. Shem produced the first four of the following time-lapse sequences. The rest were produced by our group and shot by […]
UCL Lab talks and Tour – Below are the speakers and the order in which we met them all. I was absolutely ‘blown away’ by their enthusiasm and knowledge of their subject areas. It was clear that every single one of them was really excited by their respective research. They are all on a mission to understand the origins of life. I thoroughly enjoyed my once in a lifetime visit to what I call the ‘origins of life lab’ at UCL. Talk Images Talk Images Enrique was working with fruit flies to look for chemical signals. Below are some of the images from his talk. Talk Images Feixue was doing work using a special chamber that allowed for the omission of oxygen. Each of us tried putting our hands into the chamber. This was so that the early conditions of earth could be replicated. We all commented on how difficult it must be to work under those circumstances. This is because your hands are encased in on only white gloves but also a layer of relatively thick rubber. Oxygen Free Chamber Below is a video short showing how the the oxygen free chamber is accessed. Talk […]
Low Residency Part 2 – This is part 2 of the Low Residency. This blog covers the second week of activities. To see what happened in the preceding week please see Zoom Session 19. Low Tech Photography (Monday 10.00am with Felix Loftus) I was very torn about taking this workshop as opposed to the printing workshop. Printing is something that I’ve always been very interested in, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to explore it to any great degree. However the pull of photography coupled with tech had way too much of a ‘pull factor’ for me. Indeed, having taken the workshop I knew I had absolutely made the right choice for me! It was nice to see both Trisha and Ester at the workshop too. When we entered the classroom there were a variety of Rasberry Pi processors on the table. these were hooked up to a variety of lenses. Some were native to Rasberry Pi and some were off the shelf smartphone camera lenses. I hate to admit it but I was in tech heaven! Although I was sad to miss printing I don’t think anything could ‘top’ me messing around with programming and kit. The […]
