Mud from marsh to incubation

These past two weeks have been a hectic time in my world of research! I've been doing soil incubations. I'm using soil incubations to examine the effect of belowground bacteria on overall methane production. To perform this task I take soil samples from different depths (0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80cm belowground), remove the roots and place 6g of soil in labelled jars in the anerobic chamber (a no oxygen bubble), add 5mL of water to create a slurry, then take methane gas samples over time to see the methane gas production by the bacteria in the soil.

Here's the step by step process of what I've been up to for the past two weeks:

1) I put all my incubation jars through the dishwasher and labeled them with my color coded labels for each depth. On each different color tray is my two sample sites of GCREW and Fox Point.

2) I went to the store to buy lots of ziplock bags. I needed a bag for each sample. That's 104 ziplock bags! And yes, there's also ice cream in that purchase although it wasn't made with petty cash and a tax exemption card from SERC.

3) At both sites I extracted soil cores (with lots of help from Fred, Tom, and Josh since I don't weigh enough to use the big Russian peat corer by myself) to down to a 1m in depth.

4) Once the core was extracted, I cut out 5cm sections at each depth, and placed each sample into its own color coded ziplock bag.

5) Back in the lab, the soil core samples sat in the 4C freezer until I was ready to extract the roots. The cold stops the processes occurring in the soil, so it remains in the state at which the core was taken.

6) I removed the roots in the anerobic chamber. Anerobic means all the oxygen is vacuumed out. The bubble is instead filled with a nitrogen and hydrogen mixture.  This step takes a long time with each sample taking about 30-40 minutes depending on what the soil to root ratio is, since I only want to 6g of soil and not the roots.

7) I created a slurry by adding 5mL of water to the vial. The jars are then sealed within the anerobic chamber to endure no oxygen entered the vial.

8) I took a sample of the gas within the anerobic chamber to record my time zero of carbon dioxide and methane levels from the headspace within the vials. Then for each vial every other day I take the carbon dioxide and methane levels as the bacteria do their thing within the vials.

So that's been my life for the past two weeks. It's had its ups and downs. But it's all been a learning experience for which I am grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of.

A Run Full of Bunnies and Natural Charm

I've been quite busy with research (both in the lab and in the field) recently. Today the realisation of how fast this summer is going came into view as today marks exactly one month left here at SERC. I even tentatively scheduled the day of my intern presentation with my PI this morning. That action made me realise how little time I have to do so much more research! My other realisation today definitely put a smile on my face - I will see my family in one month and a day from today!

 

This weekend I went for a run. Something I haven't had time to do as much as I would have liked recently. I ran down to the fish weir. Stopping for a moment to walk along it with the sun setting on one side, while the other was already cast in shadow - it was beautiful! The water was so calm, with just the slightest ripples. While the sky had a blue-pink tint on the one side, which had transitioned on the other side. I wish I had taken a panorama shot of the weir, it's a bit hard to put merging colors into words. I hope the pictures help you understand the majestic view I stood there witnessing. 

The rest of the run brought me down Fox Point Road to the turn and back up again, then down Transition Trail. It was along Fox Point Road that I saw the first two bunnies of my run. Little did I know then that these cute creatures were to become the theme of my run! With their fluffy white bobtails teasing me from the bushes, occasionally coming out to say hello by darting out in front of me or sitting by the wayside watching me go by.

What I love about going down Transition Trail towards the Java Trail is the steep hill with the view of the bridge. Sometimes I go up the hill, but the view of hill just extending above you is not quite the same as sprinting down towards the bridge over the patch of marsh on the outskirts of the marsh.

I had no set direction for this run, instead I let my feet guide me to the most interesting trails at the time. Crossing over the bridge, Java Trail twisted around to the dock, then back up towards the old tobacco farm. Along the road there were several more bunnies. I managed to capture these two on camera before they darted back to the safety of the bushes and long grasses. At the tobacco barn, I met back up with the Java Trail, forgetting about the low hanging branch on my way down the hill. That branch has been there since the beginning of the summer, so I'm not sure why I forgot it was there just on this run. The bunnies and gorgeous nature definitely made up for that branch, the humidity, and the bugs! 

Some feisty cannibalistic crabs!

One of the interns is doing their summer research project on blue crab cannibalism. Last weekend on our way to the dock to sunbathe, we stopped by the wet lab of the Fish and Invertebrate Lab (otherwise known as the Crab Lab) In several large tanks there's a juvenile and an adult crab together, in many cases the larger, more feisty crab eats the younger juvenile. You can see a video of this cannibalism occurring below - that SERC posted last week!

While we were there last weekend, some of the crabs got really feisty when we agitated them. They were defending their territory - the big blue crabs defending their big plastic tub at SERC's wet lab!

Creamy Chocolaty Vegan Peppermint Patties

This post is my 100th post on my blog! *cue fanfare* I'm unsure if I would still be writing this blog more than a year after I started it, if it wasn't for my amazing family and friends who read it! So thank you all! Y'all are the reason I have caught the blogging bug!

This blog post is about a delicious dessert. Now before you start judging it because of the word "vegan", don't! I'll be honest with you and admit I had a few doubts about it too, but once I tried one, I was smitten. The blended cashews and coconut makes the most delicious filling I have ever had! It is so creamy and smooth!


Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 4 tablespoons agave nectar
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1 teaspooon peppermint extract
- 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil


Directions: 
1) Place cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Let soak overnight, or for at least 2-3 hours. If your blender isn't great at blending things smooth, I suggest soaking overnight for the best results.
2) Drain and rinse the cashews after soaking.
3) Add the cashews, melted coconut oil, agave, milk, and peppermint extract into a high-speed blender. Blend on the highest speed until completely smooth. This can take a couple minutes.
4) After freezing, quickly pop the patties out of the cupcake liners and set each on top of their respective liner. Return to the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up even more.
5) Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a small pot over the lowest heat. When half of the chips have melted, remove it from the heat and stir until all the chips are melted. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly for a few minutes before dunking the patties.
6) Remove the patties from the freezer and dunk them into the melted chocolate with a fork. Tap the side to shake off excess chocolate and place on parchment paper. Do this step as quickly as possible so the patties don't melt.
7) Return the patties to the freezer until set, for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate coating is firm. Store leftover patties in the freezer/fridge until ready to enjoy!

This recipe proved to me (and a lot of the other interns in the house at SERC) that vegan desserts can be delicious! I am amazed at the power of cashews. A few intern, Ben made a yummy vegan fruit tart with a cashew center earlier this weekend for the 4th! I honestly think these peppermint patties are better than the York ones!
I encourage everyone who does not have a nut or coconut allergy to try these out! You will not be disappointed!

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

These past two weeks was the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which is held each summer. It's only open to the public on the weekends, but one Tuesday over the two weeks it is open to Smithsonian staff for the annual Smithsonian Institution picnic. I went last year too (you can read that post here), and had a fun time, so I decided to take half a day off to go into DC and explore the festival again this year. 

Each year two countries are chosen to be represented; this summer the two countries were Kenya and China! The festival on the National Mall comprises of culture and food from these two nations. The majority of the cultural tents are not open during the SI picnic, but the food and drink definitely is. I had a Kenyan chicken dish and a Kenyan beer with interesting undertones, both of which were really good!

 At the SI picnic bands from throughout the Smithsonian Institution put on a performance. We watched a band from the anthropology department at the Museum of Natural History. They were good! Unfortunately, we misjudged the time and where the SERC band was playing. But we did get to see these children who were brought by their counsellors to run around to the music - basically get all their energy out so they would be calmer, I understand that situation! On the China side of the mall, there was this Flower Plaque tent - a really vibrant wooden structure! There was also this casual little man structure. His name is Tian Tian, though we never could figure out who he is or why he was there. I had a fun half day in DC before heading into work for a good several hours! 

Time spent at the beach is never wasted

Summertime is beach time! Whether with family or friends, the beach is a place to relax with toes in the water sitting on the sand. So last weekend, a few of us went down to the beach for some relaxing time. We'd heard that the only beach around here was Sandy Point, and locals didn't have great things to say about it. But dying for some sun and sand, we went to investigate anyways. And yes, it was not a pristine beach, but it was nice enough and much better than how the locals described it.

Sandy Point State Park is the last exit before the Bay Bridge on the Western Shore side, right on Chesapeake Bay. In fact, the beach looks out onto the Bay Bridge. We saw several large shipping barges shuttling cargo back and forth to the Port of Baltimore while we chilled on the sand. Even though as SERC interns, we know too much about the Chesapeake Bay water to get in it, we did anyways! We even went all the way under just for fun! The bottom was rocky near the shore, but got sandy further out. When the bottom got sandy, one of my friends went down and got a handful of sand to look for some benthic creatures. That's how we do it! Because science is everywhere, even on vacation at the beach!

I want to end this post with this cute picture I found on Pinterest - which is an online pinboard site, where people "pin" interesting pictures onto virtual pinboards. Even though I don't personally have a Pinterest, I have definitely found myself perusing the site for baking ideas and good quotes. Especially when I want a good quote for a specific purpose. Like here on this blog. So here's a little bit of life advice from the ocean!

Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies

Last week, in a spur of sweet cravings and baking creativity, I made some caramel stuffed sugar cookies. I've had these caramel bites sitting on my shelf in the pantry since I got them a few weeks ago because I was going to use them to make a different dessert, but never did. So I used them in cookies! Because a little extra surprise in plain sugar cookies makes them awesome cookies!

Here's how to turn plain sugar cookies into caramel surprise cookies - with caramel stuffed in the middle!


Ingredients: 
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups caramel bites

Directions: 
1) Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) Combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Beat ingredients until evenly incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy.
3) Beat in an egg and gradually add flour to the creamed mixture.
4) Shape rounded tablespoons of dough into a ball, pressing several caramel bites into the center of each ball, be sure to cover the caramels with the dough. Place the balls on a prepared baking sheet, spacing the cookies 2-3inches apart.
5) Bake the cookies for 10-11 minutes until golden on top. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to cool completely.

Chewy Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies
(Makes 3 dozen, adapted from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 box Milk Duds
• 1/2 cup coarse raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon liner.
Combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
- See more at: http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2011/05/caramel-stuffed-sugar-cookies/#sthash.7Warfm6N.dpuf

Chewy Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies
(Makes 3 dozen, adapted from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 box Milk Duds
• 1/2 cup coarse raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon liner.
Combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
- See more at: http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2011/05/caramel-stuffed-sugar-cookies/#sthash.7Warfm6N.dpuf

Chewy Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies
(Makes 3 dozen, adapted from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 box Milk Duds
• 1/2 cup coarse raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon liner.
Combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
- See more at: http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2011/05/caramel-stuffed-sugar-cookies/#sthash.7Warfm6N.dpuf

Chewy Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies
(Makes 3 dozen, adapted from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 box Milk Duds
• 1/2 cup coarse raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon liner.
Combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
- See more at: http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2011/05/caramel-stuffed-sugar-cookies/#sthash.7Warfm6N.dpuf

As the cookies bake, the caramel melts slightly spreading out a bit (not enough to become gooey though, but enough to have a chewy center!) If I were to bake these again, I would melt the caramel slightly before putting it in the cookie dough. And I would coat the cookies with brown sugar before putting them in the oven to add a little crunch to them. What would be perfect on top would be those caramel crunch sprinkles at Starbucks! Just throwing ideas out there.

Because DATA!

This week has been busy and so fantastic at the same time! It's been busy and fantastic because of one thing: DATA!
Last weekend, I worked through the weekend - both Saturday and Sunday - to finish sampling the first set of data at one of my sites. Then on Monday I made the standards for the GC (gas chromatograph) and ran my samples. It was really exciting! As you can see in the picture to the left, I get quite excited about data, especially running my own data. This is data I took and ran myself (with some help  from the guys in my lab who know how to work the GC, but I took it all the samples all by myself!)

 Let's back up a step. So what were all these gas samples I ran on the GC?

They are methane samples. I have vegetation plots (native, Phragmites, and mixed plots) out in the marsh. There are metal collars that two guys that I'm working with put in last summer. These metal collars are hammered into the ground, leaving 10cm poking up above the soil. On top of these metal collars I place plastic, metal framed chambers which are 70 or 120cm tall. In the taller Phragmites plots, I stack 2 chambers on top of each other - in fact at one of my sites, the Phragmites is so tall this early in the season that the next time I'm out sampling, I'll be stacking 3 tall chambers! There's hole with attached tubing on the top of these chambers from which gas can be extracted using a syringe. I extract an initial gas sample and 4 subsequent samples every 30 minutes for 2 hours. I have several of these chambers running at any given time, so it's always fun to organize the timing to bop between them. It's these gas samples that are then run on a GC to give methane concentrations. After the GC runs the samples overnight (there's a robot that samples the gas from the vials for me every 8 minutes!), a program is run to spit out a bunch on numbers - giving me exciting data to explore!! Look at that color coordination and fascinating figures!

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday collecting methane flux data at my other site.

On Thursday, I had the shocking realization that the month of June was coming to a close! Where does time go?! And in order to say I took pore water data in June, I needed to get out there and take it asap! So that was my Friday, taking pore water! Having done my own I have so much more respect and understanding now for people who have several harsh words to say about collecting and running pore water samples. It's hard to collect from depths deeper than 20cm in the Phragmites plots - I was trying to collect at 20, 40, and 80cm. It smells horrible - imagine a mix between manure and rotting eggs. It's a struggle to filter! It takes so much more time than I thought it would - I went out to sample around noon, thinking I could sample, filter, and run the needed methane before 6pm. I did not finish in the lab until past 8:30pm. That was a longer than planned Friday work day. And I'm so thankful to my labmates Drew and Scott who both stayed late to help me work though my struggles and teach me how to use the old, non-automated GC! 

Chocolate and Caramel Shortbread : Millionaire's Shortbread

I'm usually so much better at updating this blog, than I have been recently! I've been busy with research. I worked both Saturday and Sunday to do research prep and to take data. As a side note about data, everyone should watch this science parody video!

It's a parody of "Get Lucky" Instead of "Up all night to get lucky" this version is "Up all night to get DATA!" I showed this video to my housemates last night after we talked about making a SERC intern parody music video!

Last week, I made Millionaire's Shortbread, which I thought was a quite well-known, but may be just a British term. Essentially it's short bread, covered in caramel, covered in chocolate. . .
Let that thought sink in for a moment.
Doesn't it sound absolutely decadent? Maybe that's why it's called Millionaire's Shortbread!
Here's the recipe! 

Ingredients

Shortbread:
2 sticks butter, plus more for preparing pans
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for preparing pans
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Caramel Layer:
2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter
Chocolate Topping:
3/4 pound good-quality milk chocolate
 

 

Directions
Shortbread:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) square nonstick pans and coat with flour, tapping off excess. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse once. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles peas. Press the shortbread mixture into prepared pans and bake until golden brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Caramel Layer:
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the condensed milk and 2 tablespoons of butter. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously. Continue stirring over the heat until mixture becomes thick and amber in color, about 15 minutes. Pour the caramel over the cooked shortbread and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Topping:
In a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Once chocolate has melted, pour it over the cooled caramel layer. Cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, and then place in the refrigerator to cool completely, allowing chocolate to slightly harden but not get hard. Cut into 2-inch squares and enjoy, or store in an airtight container

I will be the first to admit that the chocolate was not as smooth and glossy as I wanted it to be. But they tasted delicious. Decadent is definitely a good word to use to describe these bite-sized treats! I made a big dish of Millionaire's Shortbread. I let them solidify overnight, then took them into work, offering them to everyone I know and work with. Let's just say the whole dish was gone really fast, with plenty of people asking for seconds, thirds, or more. That's what I love about baking - sharing the results with others! 

Research Related Knick Knacks

This whole post is about some of the quirky things I encounter in and around doing research. Like this little guy to the left. A cute frog that hopped in front of me as I walked back from lunch one day. I scrambled to grab my phone out of pocket, and was surprised when the noise didn't startle it. In fact, it just sat there posing while I got close to take it's picture! This modelling frog just had to make it onto my blog one way or another!

Sometimes I actually do bench work, and don't just tromp around in marshes all day. As part of my project this summer I will be doing redox potential of the marsh. So I've been working my way through a large bin of redox electrodes, testing each one in a variety of solutions to test if the probe is still good. Here the probe is in a ferrous-ferric solution, which is bright orange. Next to the beaker is a pink pH 4 buffer solution, which I mix with hydroquinone to make another solution.

Then today I was evacuating exertainers, which are small vials for gas samples that we can then run on a gas chromatograph (GC) to see the methane concentration. I'll be taking methane flux measurements tomorrow, which is methane concentration over time to examine differences in vegetation in connection with methane emissions. Anyways, I digress (because science is fascinating!), getting back to the picture this gauge is attached to the vacuum which evacuates the exertainers. This sign started flashing up, being not 100% familiar with the device I asked a lab mate what it meant and he told me "bat stands for battery (as in low battery) or it's the batman signal, I'm not sure" Basically, my lab is awesome!

I'm usually not inside doing bench work, I'm usually out in the field in marshes. These two pictures are my two main field sites this summer. GCREW on the left and Fox Point on the right. They are both beautiful! I would not be excited to come to work each day, if I worked inside at a desk. I love being outside with nature, doing hands-on research!

 Sometimes I take friends out to the marsh with me. One day after work, I still had some work to do out in the marsh. Because honestly that 8:30am-4:30pm workday is non-existent! I work until it gets done, regardless of what hour it is. So Hope and I went out to GCREW at about 5:30pm one afternoon to lay down some fiberglass boardwalks over the muddy patches on the way to the methane flux plots. Hope is much more used to real, mucky marshes not the luxury electrified marsh of GCREW. The boardwalk at GCREW is elevated above the marsh, and meanders through the marsh, passing by each of the many experiments taking place out there. 
 

The other day, a big storm rolled through the marsh. There was some lightening, so we finished the boardwalk we were working on and took a break to watch the weather. Gary and I got up on the boardwalk in front of the porch to watch the lightening. We tried really hard to get a picture of the lightening flashing across the sky, but were unsuccessful! But my lab mate, also named Rachel (she's big Rachel and I'm little Rachel according to our lab!) got this great picture of the sky as the storm rolled across. It's amazing! The different cloud elevations and colors contrasted against the marsh is gorgeous!