Hello! I hope everyone is well.

This week was pretty uneventful as far as the samples are concerned. They got weighed, watered, and counted as usual. One new thing I witnessed was the use of an autoclave, or a machine that sterilizes materials using high-pressured steam. The lab is required to autoclave old growths before disposing of them, since the growths could be invasive if foreign. 

Since there was less to do this week, my mentor thought it would be a good thing for me to become more familiar with data and how to draw conclusions from it. So, I spent a good deal of time taking data from a previous experiment, which had been recorded by hand, and putting it into a spreadsheet

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I also took the ANOVA test I ran last week and wrote a mini experimental conclusion which analyzed the statistical significance of the data. I enjoyed using what I had learned in school and applying it to real experimental data! My mentor and I talked about how I could revise it as I became more familiar with the experiment and laboratory procedures. Lastly, I made a graph of the growth of microbes over time (from the same older experiment) using KaleidaGraph.

In my free time, I have been running and hiking when it’s not too hot out. My dad had a flight out of Denver this weekend, so we spent Friday night out to dinner together. It was great to visit for a little bit!

Thanks so much for reading! I look forward to the weeks to come.