Plant studied by ck

It is always a good idea to perform a newly establish research by using model organism, for instance drosophila, mice in animal science, and Arabidopsis thaliana in plant biology. It is belongs to the family of Brassicaceae or mustard family. Arabidopsis thaliana (A-ra-bi-dóp-sis tha-li-á-na; thale cress, mouse-ear cress or Arabidopsis) is a small dicotyledonous and it is closely related to such economically important crop plants as turnip, cabbage, broccoli, and canola. Anyway, Arabidopsis thaliana is not economically importance as compare with its family members, but the following characteristic makes it become valuable in plant science research.

• Small genome (114.5 Mb/125 Mb total) has been sequenced in the year 2000
• Extensive genetic and physical maps of all 5 chromosomes
• A rapid life cycle (about 6 weeks from germination to mature seed).
• Prolific seed production and easy cultivation in restricted space.
• Efficient transformation methods utilizing Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
• A large number of mutant lines and genomic resources
• Multinational research community of academic, government and industry laboratories.

To date, scientists have used it to study various physiological or biochemical aspects in (disease resistance, plant hormoney, enviromental response, commercial application, i.e. improved crops and so on.)

The following pictures show plant I used in my research. Finally, I hope these "kids" can reveal their hidden story to me, especially what're their feeling after I "torture" (applying abiotic stress) them. haha, pls pls pls... ////:-)

references:

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR), at http://arabidopsis.org/index.jsp

Arabidopsis, The Model Plant, The National Science Foundation, USA. at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/bio0202/model.htm

Arabidopsis cultivated by ck, such a great "performance", no contamination in 2 batches, it is never been easy for me to pippete each individual seed, (total 8 seeds per plate, size as small as sesame) from a pool of sterilised seeds

after 14 days of germination, grow too fast already, because "lui beng" like me accidentally placed first batch plants to long bright day growth room, haha, what to do?! so many growth rooms.., so they deveploped faster than expected, long and fine root, with ck's sexy, smooth, charming, fair fingers holding on it, hehe

one of my tasks, transfer plant from solid media to hydroponic solution. Again, it's never been easy to get into a hole without formal training, really not easy to put each individual "tiny" plant + long root into such a small hole, because got some "hidden power", maybe due to surface tension or viscoscity by liquid nutrient, so root tends to "move aside" / shaking when i attempted to place it in.

I spent 8hrs to remove >200 plants from agar and placed to hydroponic solution...."*%&$^&..

Place tape to make hole smaller (invention from cklim, haha) and hang the plant properly. Otherwise it will fall down to "toilet bowl", and take a "nutrient bath".

The movie below shows germination of Arabidopsis seed, enjoy it!

A cup of hot drink, new friend mari mari (come to you)

Research is always interesting, as researchers will carry out any study (if possible) to gain more understanding, fill in our knowledge gap, answer our doubts…Therefore, here we come, today topic--> "People are more likely to judge strangers as welcoming and trustworthy when they are holding a hot cup of coffee, experiments show, study by US researcher".

Hehe,Now people who were complained they don’t have friends, no one care them, and so on, are no longer have any excuses.

Haha, interestingly, temperature of drink also can reflect an individual selfishness. For more info refer the following articles.

Furthermore, another research from also found that friendships may be the key to happiness and they demonstrated that people with at least 10 close friends are likely to be happier than those with fewer than five.

Conclusion, make more close friend, if hard, start with a cup of hot drink, perhaps coffee is a good choice. This is especially true, I felt warm in the lab seminar, as most of my colleagues hold a cup of hot coffee before we begin our discussion. Even, when we attended any seminar/ orientation events as well as the first day I arrived at Glasgow Uni in September, people here tend to pour a cup of coffee to us...hehe

Reference:

hot drink promote warm feelings

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7688315.stm

Clocks Turn One Hour Back in Glasgow

Luckly my supervisor told me yesterday that UK time will turn one hour back, which means the time difference between Malaysia and UK time is 8hrs, no longer 7hrs. For clarification, I just added two clocks (Malaysia and Glasgow) in my blog.

The reason is daylight saving time (DST) comes to an end on October 26, 2008. Basically, Daylight Saving Time (or summertime as it is called in many countries) is a way of getting more light out of the day by advancing clocks by one hour during the summer. During Daylight Saving Time, the sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning, when people are usually asleep anyway, and sets one hour later in the evening, seeming to stretch the day longer. The reason DST works is because its saves energy due to less artificial light needed during the evening hours—clocks are set one hour ahead during the spring, and one hour back to standard time in the autumn. Many countries observe DST, and many do not.

Therefore, the coming DST begin on Sunday, 29 March 2009, 02:00:00 and end on Sunday, 25 October 2009, 01:59:59.

Well, about weather here, winter is approaching, average temp now is about 6-8°C

reference:
http://www.timeanddate.com/