{"id":8569,"date":"2025-07-19T16:32:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T16:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/?p=8569"},"modified":"2025-07-19T16:32:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T16:32:51","slug":"day-18-cool-cars-and-pcr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/day-18-cool-cars-and-pcr\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 18: Cool Cars and PCR!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Hitomi, Eden, Trevor and Harper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EV car built by Friday Harbor High School students (photo by Hitomi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This morning, we enjoyed a short walk a few blocks to Friday Harbor High School where we helped Sam Garson with his Invasive Mussel Project. In groups we were given mussels collected from the local area (native) and a mussel bought from the grocery store (invasive – Mediterranean mussels). Using PCR and electrophoresis, we identified if the mussels we had were invasive, native or hybrid. The data we collected will be used to further Mr. Garson\u2019s study which is cool! We also tested a new and faster method for data collection, shortening the data collecting process from multiple days to 90 minutes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PCR lab (photo by Hitomi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While we were waiting for our DNA ladders to appear, we were given the opportunity to take the high school’s makeshift electric car for a spin in the parking lot! Only licensed students were allowed to drive, but those of us without licenses took turns riding in the back. The car itself has some impressive capabilities, being able to drive for 80 miles on a charge, and having a top speed of over 90 mph. However, when we asked Mr. Garson about driving it on the road, he said that his last attempt led to an encounter with a sheriff, which is why he only keeps it in the parking lot. Even though we were confined to the parking lot, driving the car was still fun (and scary at times), and we were still able to go quite fast. Once we were done with the car, we ended up analyzing our DNA ladders and walking back to the dorms for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Electrophoresis! (Photo by Hitomi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following lunch, we were joined by Dr. Donatelli. She walked us through a workshop on using the coding language R. R is a statistical coding language that many scientists use to analyze large data sets. We downloaded software onto our computers and began our coding class. We learned how to insert, look at, calculate, and even plot different sets of data. Overall, we all were happy to gain new knowledge and hopefully now we will be able to put our skills to good use in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dinner Crew making spanakopita! (Photo by Hitomi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After working on our research projects for a while, some of us went to prepare dinner as we set up the dining room for tonight\u2019s guest: Mr. Tim Dwyer. Tim is a science teacher at Friday Harbor High School who specializes in Chemistry, Physics, Oceanography, and Environmental Science (and who was the science director of our very own Salish Sea Sciences for 8 years!) He graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in biology and from Central Washington University with a degree in education before earning a master\u2019s degree in biology at Northeastern University. In his long career, Tim has worked as a marine science instructor for the Catalina Island Marine Institute, as a teaching fellow at Harvard Medical School, and even as a science communicator on the PolarTREC program based in Antarctica! During Tim\u2019s after-dinner lecture, he discussed the subject of polar gigantism as well as his time spent at Antarctica\u2019s McMurdo Station where he studied the physiology of sea spiders (which are more related to ticks than spiders.) According to Tim, there are lots of theories on the cause of polar gigantism, with the most likely theory being that larger bodies result in greater speed, allowing for organisms to scavenge for prey more effectively in the sub-freezing waters beneath the Antarctic ice. After Tim left with his adorable research assistant Wookie, some of us prepared to head off to bed while the rest of us made ready to head down to the marina with Maya to go night lighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noam looking so kawaii<\/em> in Cara’s Stitch hoodie (Photo by Harper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tonight, we are going to go night lighting with Maya. Night lighting is when you take lights down to the dock and lookout for marine organisms. We are all excited so see what we will find, but we are going to have a late night. Good night, see you tomorrow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Huge marine worm captured on the dock (Photo by Harper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Hitomi, Eden, Trevor and Harper This morning, we enjoyed a short walk a few blocks to Friday Harbor High School where we helped Sam Garson with his Invasive Mussel Project. In groups we were given mussels collected from the local area (native) and a mussel bought from the grocery store (invasive – Mediterranean mussels). Using PCR and electrophoresis, we identified if the mussels we had were invasive, native or hybrid. The data we collected will be used to further Mr. Garson\u2019s study which is cool! We also tested a new and faster method for data collection, shortening the data collecting process from multiple days to 90 minutes! While we … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8569"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8580,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8569\/revisions\/8580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}