Eating for Millions

Our day began with a brainstorming session about picking sampling
locations and designing a standardized methodology for our
experiments. We sketched X's and O's on a diagram of a tributary
stream for about an hour -- in other words, a football game plan for
field biologists. Even though we spent hours planning, each group ran
into a number of technical difficulties. The cold waves made gathering
samples in the substrate a test of mental fortitude, but we happily
risked hypothermia for science (just kidding, parents -- we're all
fine). Indoors, calibrating the equipment we use for measuring
dissolved oxygen in the water turned into a smack down between the PC
and the Mac people. The PC camp (surprisingly) won. In the afternoon,
our team hiked north to Malaia Sennaia where we dove underwater to
finish sample collecting and installing logging instruments for the
day. But the work is far from over: during dinner we embraced our
maternal instinct by incubating colonies of E. coli collected today in
our Baikal chic belts. In about 24 hours, we'll be proud parents to
millions of new bacteria.
Lyuba and Hayley