December 23, 2018 Sunday
Bedtime Story
The Data of Global Ocean Sampling Expedition
Many of us use fiberglass for glass fiber
which I think is all right in the sense that no one is too keen to get the
accurate chemistry conveyed rather than the general idea put across.
For the sole or if not the sole but the
most important purpose of a language is to transmit information from one
person/thing to another person/thing.
You will understand why I use the forward
slash; in today’s world we perhaps spend far more time with our devices running
on intelligent algorithms rather than fellow ape.
The expedition of Sorcerer II would turn
out to be an almost two-year expedition that started in the March of 2004 in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and after a complete circumnavigation of the globe
ended back in the United States.
The expedition might have been inspired
from two famous historical scientific expeditions of the past: one being
Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle in 1831 to 1836 and HMS Challenger Expedition by
Vice-Admiral George Nares of 1872 (to 1876) that laid much of the foundations
of the oceanography
The data that was collected by Venter and
his team was analyzed by CAMERA or Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced
Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis.
What exactly was the data collected by the
Venter team during the expedition?
Well the team on its expedition route would
collect samples of water ranging from 200 ml to 400 liters roughly every 200
miles.
These samples were marked and were made to
pass through a series of filters of progressively smaller size so as to segregate
organisms of various sizes compartmentally.
These captures microorganisms on the
filters were then frozen and sent back to the J. Craig Venter Institute in
Rockville, Maryland which is less than hour drive from Johns Hopkins Hospital
on the Orleans Street where I spend 10 unforgettable months.
Samples were also sent to his second
institute at La Jolla in California that is a mind blowing scenic seaside
community lying within the city of San Diego on the curving coastline on the
Pacific Ocean.
Again coincidentally, this happens to be
just an hour drive from University of California, Irvine where I spent even
more unforgettable 24 months of my life.
It is a pity that during those days (2007 –
2010) I was not aware of Craig Venter and his feats otherwise I surely would
made a point to visit at least one of his institutes if not the both.
Those were also the days when my general
ignorance was blissfully sky high (price that one has to pay for being too focused
on his professional demand) and I was an unsettled person still struggling to
find my place in any society.
Most importantly I perhaps lacked the
luxury (mostly in the form of mental satiety rather than in terms of finance or
time) to be able to read and write as Pan narrans or the story telling
chimpanzee.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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