beginnings

Post date: Jul 10, 2013 1:50:10 AM

It has been an exhilarating three weeks, and I can tell that the journey has just started. As I am typing right now, Noel is saying that we will pick topics for our final projects next week (boy, am I excited)! So far, we've been focusing on collecting data on blastoids, crinoids, and ostracods. By measuring these creatures, we will be able to get a better idea of how body size has evolved over time, as well as its importance in keeping organisms alive through mass extinctions. There are enormous treatises we flip through and thousands of pictures we measure painstakingly; I also gained a better handle on Microsoft Excel by going through 2 or 3 of those volumes. As for the ostracods, we're allowed to work in pairs, and divvying up the jobs is amazingly fun. I love to see the "row" numbers become double digits, and then triple, knowing that all of this data will be invaluable to our projects. I've never attended a professional scientific conference before, and am really looking forward to attending AGU in San Francisco. I can't wait to transform our data, the fruits of our "hard labor", into tangible, cutting-edge scientific studies.

In addition to data collection, we interns were given the opportunity to listen to several guest speakers during our Wednesday get-togethers. This allowed us to learn more about field science outside of our domain of body size evolution. These presentations included a brief introduction to soil science, carbon sequestration, and phytoplankton. One post-doc was even able to share her experience doing field work in Antarctica, and had pictures/footage to add to her presentation. Although I love what we are doing now, it's definitely refreshing to find out about what graduates and scientists are currently working on. As one of the guest speakers mentioned, becoming a Ph. D is like reaching maximum knowledge in one area, and then making a tiny "dent" in the circle, signifying an advance current knowledge. This metaphor/visualization has inspired me to pursue this path - I want to make a dent in science, no matter how small.

Finally, the History of Life program's participants took a trip to several beaches to take a look at fossils and tide pools in their natural disposition. We first travelled down to New Brighton beach in Capitola. Before this trip, I had no idea that fossils were so abundant in beach rocks, nor in outcrops. It was amazing to see life that had fossilized 3-5 million years ago, in the Pliocene era, on a lay beach. We also visited the Bean Hollow tide pools, where we were able to see hermit crabs, limpets, algae, and sea urchins cling onto the rock. The ocean was breathtaking, and I can definitely see myself driving back up to these beaches and revisiting this beautiful scene over and over. Despite the fact that my backpack got stained with algae (a climbing mishap), this was one of the best trips I've made in a long while. Here are some pictures I took: