The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...' --Isaac Asimov
That's Funny… random header image

Pavilion Lake and the Cariboo Plateau

July 12th, 2010 1 Comment

Salt and carbonate precipitates line the shores of “Deer” Lake, which is spotted with islands of microbial mats. We’re up at 7, skipping breakfast and congregating down at the dock to find our rubber boots and tie the canoe onto the roof of our rented SUV. Over an hour of mental exertion later (remembering forgotten […]

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Mojave Desert Sampling

March 25th, 2010 1 Comment

This week’s sampling trip to Zzyzx station in the Mojave Desert was excellent! I collected samples of hypoliths (light-using microbial communities living on the undersides of rocks), endoliths (light-using microbial communities living within rocks), and desert varnishes and crusts (light-using microbial communities living on the upper surfaces of soils or rocks). These communities are interesting […]

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Molecular modeling of extremophiles?

December 1st, 2009 No Comments

Dr. Mikko Karttunen, from the University of Western Ontario, will be speaking at McMaster tomorrow in the Physics and Astronomy seminar. He worked on a recent paper titled Microscopic Mechanism for Cold Denaturation in which they used computer simulations to determine that the highly ordered structure of water at subzero temperatures caused protein denaturation because […]

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