Emotional Transitions

I'm having a hard time leaving the job I have now (and love) for this new job opportunity. And it's not because of the baby. Strangely enough, I feel more guilty about having a baby than I do about having a new job. yikes. either way, something's up emotionally/hormonally because even after my advisor told me he's positioning me to take over the grant in two years (as the co-head of the grant!), I started to cry when I got back to my office because I'd be away from this job for the next year (and they're hiring someone else to replace me). Rationally speaking, I think I cried because I'm replaceable, but I'm not sure. Also rationally speaking, I know this job transition is the best thing for my future and it will challenge me to try new things and gain new skills. Still, irrationally, I'm having a tough time with the idea of it.

Cherry Experimentation

I processed 5 pounds of cherries last week in my quest for the perfect Old Fashioned after Katie is born. I have dreamed of having Oregon cherries to complement my drink but I had never attempted to can cherries before. My motivating factor was a coworker who attempted it with success last year, combined with the fact that my parents are coming to help take care of Katie in October -- and my father makes a mean Old Fashioned.

I read in the Oregonian last week (June 30th Food Day) that pouring boiling simple syrup over raw cherries and sticking the jar in the fridge can preserve them for up to 3 months. But Katie's born in just around 3 months, so I needed a more drastic preservation method to be sure that I won't have cherries-gone-bad come October. That would make me sad. All that work and no cherries.

So I decided to look into pressure canning the cherries, which prolongs their shelf life by years. According to several reports, canning cherries can really change the texture, rending them soft mushy blobs. I also read that brandied cherries are excellent. I couldn't decide which to make. Thus, I created a mini experiment to test the effects of pressure canning and brandy on cherry texture for our delicious drink-to-be.

The Syrup
Most recipes for preserving cherries say to submerge the cherries in hot water or a hot simple syrup when processing. I chose a simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water, boiled. I made 8 cups and added 2 cinnamon sticks, zest of a lemon and 5 drops of calcium chloride (latter for added firmness). According to some food science articles I looked up, adding a 0.04% solution of calcium chloride improves firmness in processed cherries. Since I happen to have a calcium chloride solution in my kitchen for cheesemaking (bottle doesn't say the concentration; just to add 1/4 teaspoon per 2 gallons of milk), I figured I'd add a few drops. Note: I didn't have enough cherries to control for calcium chloride concentration else I would have. Also note: I feel ridiculous for having calcium chloride on hand.

The Cherries
I used Bing cherries from the farmer's market at ~$2 lb. I only used firm cherries, which I pitted and stemmed. I left the stems on two of the jars because my father insists that Old Fashioned cherries have stems. Luckily, I had enough cherries to control for stems vs no stems in pressure canning.

The Experimental Groups
I tested for:
a. pressure canning (used a standard 10 lbs pressure x 10 min, which translates to roughly 240 degrees F -- enough to kill all sorts of buggies)
b. brandy (used 1 part brandy, actually an unsweetened Tuaca base, to 3 parts simple syrup described above)

My groups were (only one pint jar per group due to limited cherries):
1. Stemmed cherries in syrup, put in fridge (control)
2. Stemmed cherries in syrup + brandy, fridge
3. Stemmed cherries in syrup + brandy, pressure canned
4. Cherries with stems in syrup, pressure canned
5. Cherries with stems in syrup and brandy, pressure canned

The Results
I opened jars 1, 2, 3 and 4 this weekend to check for taste and texture. We had 6 tasters.

The cherries in the fridge had a much better texture than the canned cherries. All tasters preferred the texture of the refrigerated "preserved" cherries, which tasted "like fresh cherries" according to one taster. Great for making cherry garnishes in advance for a party, but I was sad since this isn't a preserving option for me for October. The pressure canned cherries were pretty soft but passable (especially for a drink).

The brandied cherries were excellent. Not too strong but gave a nice flavor that complemented the cherries. They were good in both cases but the brandied pressure canned cherries were a really nice distraction from the texture. (Keep in mind that the fridge cherries were by far the winner, but for my drink in October, the brandied pressure canned cherries are the winner).

Stems don't seem to make a difference when pressure canning. All stems stayed on fine and didn't change the texture of the cherries.


The Outcome
I have one jar of pressure canned cherries with stems leftover from this experiment and I canned 3 more jars this weekend (all with brandy) for October. I am looking forward to my Old Fashioned. I even have homemade bitters to use in the drink. It will be a homemade Old Fashioned, that's for sure. Well, minus the booze. I've been saving a bottle of Bulleit bourbon just for the occasion.

Teaching teens genetics and phenotypes at the expense of our unborn child

Our teacher friend, Alyson, collaborated with the science teacher next door on what kids look like based on traits of the parents. Alyson asked for pictures of Ken and I and put the teens to work. They use software that was lent to them by the FBI. Here are the pictures we submitted and the result of what they think Katie will look like.

The pictures we submitted:


Larger view of the result:


Kind of fun, kind of terrifying to see it on paper. I think she looks like Kristen Herman mixed with a Slater (family friends of ours). For all the happy pictures that went in, she kind of looks sad. Maybe that's because she fears for the humiliation that will come with years of posting all sorts of photos of her on the blog. Smart girl, after all.

I'm a Celebrity! (in my head)

A friend of mine just sent me a link to the Portland Parks and Recreation webpage. Turns out yours truly is on the front page of their website! There's no description or link, but it's definitely me. I did a science demo with the kids about a year and a half ago. They learned how to pipet and string DNA. Incidentally, that's how I ended up with my current job.

I'm excited! Go science education!

Experimenting on Kids: Science Demo Recap

The science demo went great. I was constantly packed. At least 2 deep, if not more with parents and spectators. Much better than any scientific poster I ever gave.

The premise was simple: catch the ruler. Kids brought their friends over to see it. I loved the "you GOTTA try this!". I think the stickers helped too. I can't confirm, but I'm sure some kids asked others where they got them.

I built up the demo by telling the kids they couldn't do anything before the ruler moved. Then, they had to see it move, process it in their brains, have their brains tell their muscles to move AND catch the ruler. After that build up, some kids looked very nervous. I asked how long they thought it would take them to catch it. Some said "a few seconds". To be fair, the kids ranged in age from 4-12.

I brought two rulers so kids could go head-to-head (and I could speed things up). They loved competing against each other. They'd do it once and then immediately asked to do it again. I told them they were good scientists by wanting to repeat their experiment. (They really liked hearing that). It helped a lot that they'd just done science fair projects and were familiar with experiments.

Most kids tried it 4-5 times. Afterwards, I'd have them read off the distances to me so I could enter them in the calculator so we could find the average. Some were very excited that we were doing averages and explained what they were to me. Others had no idea (but they were 4-5). After we entered the numbers, I asked each student how many times they repeated their experiment. That's when they got stiff and very serious. You could see them counting the number of trials. "I did it four times!" I was proud, kids seeing the importance of repeating experiments and taking averages (more than just one data point) sunk in more than I expected. It turns out that although the brain part was interesting to them, what they REALLY loved was doing the experiment...

• some wanted record the data (even more than participating)
  
• some wanted to see if they could be faster if they used their left hand
• some wanted to see if they were faster than their sibling/parent
• some loved repeating the numbers back to me to figure out the averages
• some loved counting the number of trials
  
• some were just really, really competitive. "Did I win?!"

I gave out a bunch of stickers, a few winning ribbons and left exhausted. Stopped by the grocery store to pick up some items, ate brussel sprouts for dinner, baked off some bread I needed to take to work today and then I crashed.

This morning, I hung the giant data sheets in my office. They're awesome and I love looking at them. In case you're curious, here are the numbers:

Number of students who did the experiment: 47
Total number of trials: 225
Average number of trials: 4.8
Average distance it took for students to catch the ruler: 11.5 inches
Equivalent time it took their nerves to respond: 0.25 seconds. (They don't understand 1/4th of a second, so I told them they were so fast that they could catch 4 rulers in one second. They liked that and would turn to their parents: "I can catch 4 rulers in 1 second!")

Here are all the data for your amusement:

Science Demo tonight

Tonight I'm going to a local elementary school to do a demonstation at their annual "Science Night".

My demo is on reflexes and how fast our nerves are. I learned last year that the message has to be very simple. A bunch of 5 year olds do not care about science much (unless it involves candy), so I have to have a hook. My hook involves stickers and competition.

Students will get to compete against their friends and family. 8 year olds will be all over this, I'm hoping. Here's the plan: I'll be holding a ruler from the top. The student will place their hand at the bottom of the ruler. I'll drop it within a 5 second window. They have to catch it. The distance the ruler travels is proportional to how much time it took them to respond (from seeing it, to their brains telling their nerves to move their muscles, to actually grabbing the ruler). Students can try it a couple of times and record their name and distances on a board for all to see. They get a sticker for competing (see above right).

In addition, I made "ribbons" for the winners. I made 6 of them (see the circle below, which is printed on yellow paper and then has a purple scalloped trim and orange ribbons hanging down. Safety pins are attached to the back of each one). I can award based on fastest time, best sportsmanship, most improved, fastest parent time, etc.




I'm hoping the science message comes through: you need nerves to tell your arm to move -- and this happens really fast! Fingers crossed that they like it. Especially since I'll be stuck with it for 2 hours.

The one person who reads my papers...

I got this from my graduate advisor the other day:

... I just received a message from a lawyer in VA wanting to talk with me about your publication. They want to sue someone regarding using (drug deleted) on middle aged women that causes (disease deleted)...

What?! I believe in my research and what I published. Yet basic research is just that, the foundation for further research. Everything that scientists publish needs further testing by other researchers.

Suing someone based on this one study is like putting the cart before the horse. Or suing a toddler, who will go to medical school one day, for malpractice based on a paper cut or telling a friend to eat these delicious mud cakes. I know my advisor will tell the lawyer that, but it's still odd yet flattering to think someone believes in my research wants to make money off of it.

Science Policy

At my science education meeting in DC this month, National Institutes of Health (NIH) directors explained how research funding is completely flat right now (and decreasing in terms of cost of living). A former congressman was our keynote speaker and talked to us about what we can do to help (he was the one that helped to double the NIH budget). He explained how most representatives don't know much about research and that to make better decisions, they need our help. He said that besides voting for candidates who support research, we should find out if our state representatives have science policy advisors. If they don't, he told us to volunteer. He also told us to run for office ourselves. Since I'm not doing the latter, I decided to try the former. I just wrote our state representative who was elected this month (who I voted for, like and support). It's completely out of my comfort zone but I guess that's the point. Here's my email below and his response...

Dear (name deleted),

Congratulations on winnning the election! I was so happy to hear about your win - I voted for you and really support what you are doing.

I'm writing to see if you have a science advisor who is helping you navigate the advances in biomedical research as state representative. As you know, there are many new scientific advancements occurring throughout the country right now. Research in Oregon has played a particularly strong role in the understanding of stem cells, diabetes, neuroscience, nanomedicine treatment for cancer as well as how the environment affects our genes (epigenetics). Research advances occur all the time in Oregon and I know that it can be daunting to keep up with the intricacies of all of them - especially since you will have so many other responsibilties as state representative. For that reason, I was hoping that you have a science advisor in place who can inform you about important issues in biomedical research when you need to make policy decisions. If you do not have a science advisor, I would like to volunteer to help in this capacity.

I have my doctorate in neuroscience and worked at the research bench for 11 years before moving to the field of science education to translate scientific research to the public. I currently work at (name deleted) in the office of (name deleted). I talk to teachers, clinicians, elementary school students, grandparents, biomedical researchers and everyone in between on a daily basis. I love science and believe that everyone should be more informed about scientific research - especially when making decisions about its future and the future of Oregon.

If I can be of any help, please don't hesitate to call or email me. Congratulations again on your victory -- I'm looking forward to having you as our representative.

Cheers,
Lisa

and the reply a few days later:

Thanks, Lisa! I really appreciate your support and look forward to representing you.

I also really appreciate your offer of a science advisor. As a child, I spent hours with my mom in the lab learning to count white blood cells and working with science, so these issues are near and dear to me. I would love to be able to call you from time to time for advice, and please don't hesitate to contact me as things come up.

Thanks again!

Best,
(name deleted)

So I guess that's a start. Time will tell if anything will happen from it.

Science education everywhere

Many thanks to Arthur for the link...

Here is a cute article [in the NY Times] about a scientist teaching kids about cosmetic chemistry - "What puts the ick in lipstick"

Enjoy.

Holiday odds and ends

I just got the go-ahead that I am volunteering at the Science in the Kitchen gala at OMSI on Saturday, January 18th. I'm pretty excited and love their event logo. So cool.

Sara and Drew are in town right now and are staying at our house this week and while we're gone. We're meeting for sushi tonight. Tomorrow is a packing day after work and then we head to Ken's folks' place in New Hampshire on Saturday morning. As an interesting twist, Kinley will be going with us. He'll love it and will get to run in the snow with all their dogs (n=10ish). We'll be bringing our snowshoes so we can walk through the snowy woods. We're looking forward to seeing his family and relaxing with them.

In the meantime, Ken's swamped at work and is trying to finish things everywhere before we leave. He has learned a new skill at work, which he loves and is right up his alley. What is it, you ask? He is rappelling down buildings as a means of inspecting them. Here he is in Seattle inspecting a 20-something story building overlooking Puget Sound from 2 weeks ago. He loves it.


I'm still loving work and have had more meetings in the past 1.5 weeks than I had in 6 months in the lab. I pulled out my old organizer from college that I haven't used since. New calendar inserts and I'm back in the swing of things. I'm pretty good with the organization stuff. Add science and creativeness to the mix and I'm a happy person. I've also met a ton of people, which I also enjoy. So the whole work front is going great.

When we get back from NH, we'll be heading to Mt. Bachelor in middle Oregon for some New Year's Eve skiing with friends. 30 of them. In two houses. Should be a blast. We haven't been skiing in quite some time.

I think that's all that's new from the Western front. We're doing well and keeping our chins above water. I'm getting used to the early morning wakeups, although I still don't like them. As a result, I went to bed at 10 last night. The second time in a week. Call me Grandma.

My paper

is submitted.

Sex and Monogamy

I attend quite a few talks a week. So far this week, I've learned about

how misfolded proteins may be the precipitating factor leading to a number of neurodegenerative diseases (Huntingtons, Parkinsons, Alzheimer's, polyglutamine, etc),

that thyroid hormone metabolites can act as inhibitors of the dopamine and norepinephrine transporters (similar to the actions of cocaine)

and how oxytocin gets released during sex and facilitates the formation of partner preference (i.e. monogamy).

None of these talks are related to what I study. And I love that. It is wonderful to learn new things and be able to see parallels between the different fields of research. Since this last talk happened an hour ago, it is fresh on my mind. At the lunch following the talk, I asked the following:

If oxytocin gets released during sex and leads to an animal preferring their sexual partner, what happens if you abolish the memory of that partner? Would the animal still show a preference for their partner, would they prefer the next male they saw, or would no partner preference be made? Short version: what's important... oxytocin, the memory or do you need both to form a 'monogamous' relationship? And flip side, if you are unconscious (or conscious but not fully lucid), can sex still lead to a release of oxytocin?

People looked at me and laughed. I was surprised, it was a real question. I was asked how one could block the memories. Although there are a number of drugs that could do it, roofies (i.e. the date rape drug, rohypnol) immediately came to mind. Short version: nobody knows the answer. I'm still curious.