Science!

She blinded me with science

(She blinded me! With science!)

I'm up in Hawkes Bay at the Eastern Institute of Technology, for a four-day residential course of practical microbiology. "Why?", I hear you ask! Because I am coming towards the end of my first semester course in Microbiology, as part of my diploma in Grape Growing and Winemaking, which I started at the beginning of this year. This first course, being Microbiology, is all about the science of microbes, and so far we've covered such topics as using a microscope and staining a bacterial sample, preparing a number of agar plates in petri dishes to identify and quantify bacterial samples, and identify an unidentified bacterium from a culture. This is proper science stuff! Even if some people call it stamp-collecting. Some people have a similar opinion of physics.

The purpose of the residential course is to familiarise us with the tools of the microbiological trade. Microbiology is a hands-on science, and it is essential that practitioners are able to do the practical aspects. We've been preparing and staining samples to look at under the microscope, measuring bacteria and yeasts, and also measuring growth rates and concentrations of micro-organisms. We've also given presentations on various microbes that we've studied, and taken a practical test which will contribute to our final course mark. We are also taking work away to write up into a formal report on some of the experiments we've done during the week.

I can do science, me.