Difference between revisions of "Achala Basu"

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                                   '''i Gem 2011'''
 
                                   '''i Gem 2011'''
  

Revision as of 11:28, 27 May 2011

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                                 i Gem 2011

DAY 1, 24th may: The last i remember of science was saying good riddance to it a year ago after my final school examinations got over. Science never really was my cup of tea back when i was in school. The biggest happiness i got out of leaving school was leaving science and pursuing art. HA! who knew i would be spending the first summer vacation of college studying synthetic biology, genetics and DNA? What made me take it up? I'm not sure yet. On my way to class, my mind was still getting over relaxation period and i was having second doubts on taking part. But that seemed to have vanished soon enough after one hour of class with yashas. I never really thought synthetic biology or anything related to science was interesting, thanks to the monotonous teaching in school. But today was different. I actually managed to understand a lot today than i ever did in my entire schooling life. I never really thought how people got blue eyes or curly brown hair from their parents? or what caused these traits? was genes all about x's and y's? I finally understood the structure of DNA, something i'v never been able to figure out all my life. I'm still very confused with many things, like differences between enzyme and proteins. Bacteria and living things. but i'm hoping to learn soon.

DAY 2, 25th may: Our home work was to come up with different functional living organisms or bacteria(form or formless), After much thought all night, Me, Madhul, Manasa and Akshaya came up with 5 different kinds of living organisms. -A bacteria that can change eye colour in the form of eye drops. -A bacteria that can change facial expression in the form of gas. -A bacteria that can control the genetics of a living organisms off spring. -A bacteria that can regenerate cloth. -A bacteria that can clean and heal wounds instantly.

Though the research part of the homework was not fully finished, we worked more on the ideas after sharing them with the class.

Bio-bricks- Something i was totally clueless about, But i figured thats what we need to make by the end of this course to present for the competition.

We extracted our own DNA in class today, which was probably the most fun part of the day. Yashas kept telling us from the previous day that we would extract our DNA, and i was really intrigued on how we would do that. But who knew it would be a simple 3 step process. -Gargle salt water hard against your cheek and spit it out into a test tube. -Add pril dish wash to the salt water. -Add alcohol to the edges of the test tube.

And watch your DNA form on top of the test tube. It was pretty amazing actually. At first i couldn't figure out where it was, cause everything looking gooey. Then Aaron pointed out where it was. It looked insane. After that yashas asked us to do the craziest thing ever, we had to bury it anywhere around campus and give it a ritual. So i took mine to tress near the football ground and poured it in front of the center tree.As i ritual, i cried for it. Cause i was very happy at its formation (birth) and now its dead.

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DAY 3, 26th may:

Today felt a little lazy. We looked into biomedical laboratories and what equipment they require. We had to make our own equipment from scrap and junk. This in hindi is called "juggad". It seemed like a very exciting process. Sohil, Anvita and me decided to make the centrifuge. I had no idea what that even was util Anvita told me. We came up with a few ideas but we were very doubtful about the execution. But i'm sure we'l make it work. In the afternoon we learnt how to make a microscope from a web cam. And we experimented with it too. It was the coolest thing ever! All we had to do is flip the lens of the web cam and it magnifies. But the drawbacks were that the microscope wasn't stable. So with this process, we had to create a more practical microscope where the slides can be moved and the microscope is stable and there is enough light. Madhul came up with the idea of using this desktop light created by an NID student. The light was movable, and there was a base for the slides. Also the microscope could be inserted to the light area because there was a gap there.