Today I had my lab induction, which was mostly a tour of some very clean rooms with some extremely expensive machines that I might actually need to use in the near future. Sure hope my tendency to spill liquid and drop things won't be a problem.
I also had a quick tour around the parasite collections from their lone, rather harried curator. She showed me the banks of old wooden cabinets containing thousands upon thousands of microscope slides, each with a few specimens of tiny worms fixed in yellowish discs of preservative. The cabinets start right by my office; one is topped with shelves that include those wonderful Australian anurans.
Big worms are kept in the spirit collection. I didn't realise this, but five or six floors of that wing of the building are spirit storage. Each time I think I've appreciated how big the museum is, I move to a new collection area and get my mind blown again! The big worms are stored in jars ranging from the size in which you might buy spices to great urns of several litres. A selection of the most impressive are actually stored back out in an office. It's not worth keeping them in stores because they so often get displayed. The curator proudly pointed out the museum's biggest worm (I think it was 13 m): a Diphyllobothrium tapeworm from an orca. Its name was Eric. "Don't ask me where the name came from", she said.
Finally, in an almighty breakthrough, I found a settings menu on the Mac and can now perform right-clicks.
No comments:
Post a Comment