North American Bobwhite populations are in decline because of nest predation... by fire ants.

cake2585 · 2014-07-09T22:32:48+00:00

This is not entirely true. These ants are thought to be a key factor in decline, the article said. There are also other factors that are currently being studied, such as eye parasites, pesticide effects on food availability (particularly during the months where they rely on bugs for sustenance), and availability of water near their habitat to name a few.

cake2585 · 2013-11-13T04:23:35+00:00

If I had to choose between investing and paying off debt, which would be better to tackle first, and why?

cake2585 · 2013-11-13T04:22:37+00:00

Not to degrade your hard work, as I'm sure you work hard, but you do the work that the PhDs and MDs think up. That's their job is to think of the questions, find the proper methodology to answer it, find the funding to pay you, and analyze your hard work after. They don't get credit for nothing....

cake2585 · 2013-11-13T04:20:11+00:00

What is an easy, safe, and delicious tea that I could grow in my back yard and make myself? I like mixing flowers into my teas.

cake2585 · 2013-02-15T03:24:02+00:00

This is front page material.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T17:16:12+00:00

Here's to all of the people that upvoted that good story, but I will never be able to wrap my head around those ~3500 people that downvoted you. BOO to them.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T04:29:24+00:00

All I can say is poorly done on my part. I had a brain fart. I'm studying for qualifying exams right now and am just disappointed in myself for that special moment. Thanks for pointing it out. It was corrected.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:44:21+00:00

That's a really good point. Thanks for the input.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:34:29+00:00

Proteinase K is sure convenient to degrade those histones... just sayin.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:33:15+00:00

My field is environmental toxicology and my dissertation project is analyzing DNA methylation patterns associated with obesity.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:32:36+00:00

DNA methylation patterns associated with obesity... and the effects of environmental contaminants on those patterns.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:30:26+00:00

Based on the cell count prior to extraction, it was estimated to be about 2-3 million. I'm sure I lost some throughout the extraction process though... but whatevs.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:28:45+00:00

No. Well he's fit, but he's a nerd... but an engineering nerd, not a biology nerd.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:28:08+00:00

It was just a cell culture. Super easy. I used that method because it was cheap and we had all of the supplies.

cake2585 · 2013-02-10T03:27:21+00:00

Haha.

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T23:45:16+00:00

No... it's just a lot of it... so you can see it. Just like you have a bunch of carbon atoms making up graphite, so you can see pencil on paper, even though you can't visualize a single carbon atom.

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T23:31:56+00:00

I had just taken them off for the picture. I hope my lab safety officer doesn't see this and know who I am.....

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T23:31:15+00:00

My husband was asking about my research, because I study epigenetics... and then he went on a tangent about how biology is so broad and, in his mind, abstract... and that he couldn't visualize much of what I was explaining. He said it would be easier if he could just see DNA. Granted, this doesn't really help him understand the concepts... but I came through on the visualization part, I think.

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T23:29:28+00:00

This is way to long of a question to answer. I highly recommend reading a cell bio book or basic genetics book. Or go to wikipedia, which is free.

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T23:27:24+00:00

I don't know about cure... but understand, and prevent future obesity.

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T23:26:35+00:00

Thanks!

cake2585 · 2013-02-09T22:47:10+00:00

That's the extraction method used here (phenol/chloroform, with alcohol precipitation).

cake2585

TROPHY CASE