Lusus Naturae - The Mind of A Predator

Today's note is a very short one (I've been sick the past week), but upon checking my archives of science news alerts, I found an article featuring fluorescent calcium signalling in the zebrafish brain when it sees a delicious (living) item swimming past its eyes.

It's...fascinating. Especially for someone who has been working with these critters for more than 3 years already...

Leven in Leuven - Spring Snow

I know it's not the Spring Equinox yet, but still, snow during the last days of February is a surprise.  But with the crisp flakes comes the scent of Spring in the air...after all, according to De Druivelaar, "februari is de dooimaand" (NL: February is thaw-month).

The Grapevine Speaketh - February 20th

Date: February 20th
Joke of the Day:
Little Jan went to the butcher's to get some beef slices.
When the transaction was done, the butcher asked him, "So, Little Jan, is that all?"
"No," the child replied. "Maybe some of the scraps for the dog, but not too fatty, since our father became very ill the last time."

(Hmm, maybe his father got sent to the doghouse because he was in the cathouse?)

Dear Labby - Of Mice and Men

From my tumblr.

Welcome to our weekly agony-column for confused (post)grad-students--Dear Labby!  This week's letter is about how we deal with working with animals.

Dear Labby,
I want to cry. It's the first time I've handled mouse models. And I have to kill them to get their liver. I'm just a master's student doing a 3-month internship, so it was really my first time to see them slaughtered.
They're so cute. and I love animals. HOW CAN I SURVIVE DOING THIS? 

WHY SCIENCE? WHY?
-Rodent Murderer

The Sartorial Scientist - Tongue-In-Cheek Stereotypes We'd Like To Avoid

From Inkity and CartoonStock.

I can see the eyerolls already. Everything in the previous TSS post seems to be common-sense, right? Now, the tricky part is this--wearing and maintaining them.  Here are the usual pitfalls of PhD lab students:

• The Real Reason Why We Wear Lab Coats: Primarily to protect ourselves and our clothes from stains, burns and other lab accidents on the bench. But for some folks...it's to hide the fact that they've been wearing the same get-up for two weeks already!  Please, even if you douse yourself with a gallon-jug of Fa Deo, we can still smell you...and did you perhaps have pasta marinara a few days ago? It's on your shirt.
• I'm a Gym-Rat: Tracksuit and sneakers = ultimate comfort? Yeah, in the gym, but not in the lab. Not unless you're a Yanki and a member of the yakuza like Momoko's deadbeat-dad in Kamikaze Girls.  AND you're still fresh from the bath and not fresh with sweat and B.O.
• Sexy Lab Scientist: As much as feminists say that women can wear what they want, I'm sorry but wearing hot little numbers underneath the lab coat just doesn't cut it. It depends, however, if you want your data to speak for themselves during update meetings, or your cleavage can do the talking.  Sure, I'm all for injecting femininity to boost interpersonal relationships at work, but put some class into it.
• Did a Whirlwind Pass By Your Place?  This is the least offensive of all pitfalls--when people just grab and put on clean, comfortable clothes available to them at the moment.  But beware of the color combinations. And, as much as leopard is a standard print, you just can't wear an all-leopard print clothing. Unless you're working in camouflage. 

Now, to put together your everyday work outfit, just remember the three C's: Comfort, Color-coordination, and Cleanliness.  We'll talk about the three C's in detail in the next posts.

For questions and suggestions for TSS, please do not hesitate to leave a comment!

Vrij(e)dag Friday! - Luikse Wafels at Croccantino's

There's nothing like a cheap, hot sugar rush during winter evenings than grabbing a waffle to-go from your neighborhood shop in Flanders.  And there's nothing like noshing on a freshly-made Luikse wafel (Liegoise waffle), gooey with caramelized sugar and oh-so-moist texture, from Croccantino's, located at a side street off Bondgenotenlaan (Leuven's 1-mile long shopping street). For waffles are traditionally held to be a hot sweet treat for winter--for spring and summer, Croccantino's well-known for their gelateria.

But, one day, I will get myself a wafelijzer and make my own batch of Luikse wafel, or perhaps a Brusselse wafel (but for this kind, I'll need a giant set of irons).


--
Croccantino's
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 13-15
3000 Leuven, Belgium

Lusus Naturae - Science Wears A Lipstick

The lab where I'm currently at is predominantly female (approximately 2/3). Even though our chief PI is a man (married to a fellow scientist, with two teenage daughters), most of the PhD students are women (except for one guy, who we've made into an honorary woman just because).  This gender-proportion makes for very interesting lab dynamics, since we handle zebrafish and rodents in routine work, aside from down-and-dirty chemical biology.

So, when someone posted a leaflet (see above) about the current EU initiative on increasing the number of girls studying science, it elicited more than one raised eyebrow and some chuckles.

"Science: it's a girl thing," written (presumably) using a pink lipstick.

On one hand, my latent (belligerent) feminist aspect began to raise its hackles at the leaflet.  But nothing was broken or torn--the leaflet is still hanging in the lab.  Just because they chose to use a lipstick to denote femininity is not enough reason to go up to the level of bra-burning insanity.

Whether or not a lady scientist wears lipstick or Chapstick (or none at all) is not important--a lipstick can possibly be considered as a cultural sign of femininity, whether we like it or not. It's the quality of data and incisiveness of thought that makes a lady scientist valuable--lipstick is just incidental, even though it adds a nice visual bonus.

And besides, aren't girls performing better than boys in science exams lately around the world?

Leven in Leuven - An Everyday View

Mild weather days ahead, thus perfect for walking to work (sometimes). I still cannot figure out what in the world is that white pillar at the roundabout of Gasthuisberg.

The Grapevine Speaketh - February 13th

February 13 (Ash Wednesday)
Joke for the day:
"We live in a free land," says the professor.
The two young students at the back of the class looked doubtful.
"Are you not with me on this?" asked the professor.
"No, absolutely not. I am required every single day to be forced to go to school," replied one of the students.

--
With that joke, I hope you folks have a good week ahead of you!

Dear Labby - Well, Excuse Me, Princess~~!

From lorrainefish. Because Hatsune Miku is the only #1 (VOCALOID) princess in the world, according to her.

Welcome to your weekend agony-column for confused (post)grad students--Dear Labby! Apparently, February is the luuuuuuuurve month, even lab rats like us aren't spared by the cheeky arrows of Cupid.  But maintaining that frothy state is dependent on the delta-H (or "work") needed by the system.

Dear Labby,  

I am PhD student currently writing my PhD thesis. Problem is, my boyfriend is doing the same and he's stressing me out! Asking for support, talking about problems and wanting time alone?!? What do I do? Ain't nobody got time for that!  

Sincerely,
Princess PhD Student

Vrij(e)dag Friday! - "Corrected" Coffee Jelly

In a country where tiramisu, javanais, frangipane, chocolate mousse and fruit bavarois are so much de rigueur to appease the sweet-toothed Flemings (and Walloons), these get boring easily, especially when you're a (non-EU) grad student managing the already-tight purse strings of your monthly stipend.  And, as a grad student, you need your dose of the Big Three to function through the day/evening at the lab bench:

1. Caffeine
2. Sugar (or carbohydrates)
3. Alcohol (!) - this is quite tongue-in-cheek, but very applicable for hectic Fridays

I've been missing coffee jelly--a Japanese dessert--ever since I relocated here in Belgium.  And I missed it so much that I tried making a batch when some friends came over for a weekend supper using instant coffee, sugar and whatever gelatin I had on hand. Yes, it was caffeinated and sweet, but the gelatin just did not cut it...it came out more like coffee pudding than jelly.

Then a few days later, I spotted a few packets of seaweed agar powder in a dusty shelf of an Asian grocer.

And when I opened my dish cabinet / liquor box, I saw a bottle of absinthe down to its last quarter (the anata has been using a tablespoon of absinthe for caffe correto before class-time).

Natuurlijk, I just couldn't resist making this:

Ingredients (good for 2 servings) 

3 tsp strong freeze-dried coffee granules
2 tsp absinthe (or any anise-flavored liqueur)
Sugar (to taste), possibly 2-3 Tbsp
500 mL still, filtered water
~ 4 g of seaweed agar powder 

In a clean non-reactive pot, heat the water until you can see wisps of steam coming up from the surface. Stir in the agar powder until it dissolves (i.e., no visible grains of agar in the water).  Then add the coffee, sugar, then the absinthe. DO NOT BOIL. 

Immediately remove from heat and ladle into cups or bowls.  Once set, place the filled cups in the refrigerator.  Before serving, add a dollop of whipped cream and/or chocolate syrup.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can modify it as you see fit. Not a coffee fan? Try using tea.  For extra oomph, you could opt to use different liqueurs to add that flavored punch.  Pun unintended.

And this country being the land of chocolates, I had to layer some chocolate syrup on top and add a cocoa-dusted cacao bean (Ecuadorean, from Miss L) on top.

Liefde in Leuven -14 February 2013

An extra post to greet folks "Happy hearts day"! Much love from Pikachu from its plushie heart.

Lusus Naturae - Women Aren't Rocket Science

Shhh! This is the only time this blog gets provocative in *that* way.

Since the hoi polloi have declared February as the month for luuuuurve (thus spiking the incidence of the "bedside tango", so to speak, ahem), it begs for a potentially NSFW (but not), provocative(ly short) and educational (?!) Lusus Naturae post.

As featured in a New Scientist article a few weeks back, scientists have mapped out the precise parts of the brain's sensory cortex upon *cough, cough* stimulation in women.  How's that for edification?

In other words, women aren't rocket science.

They fall under the purview of neuroscience, and this is just one aspect to the "being brainy is sexy" adage.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, discuss!

Leven in Leuven - Self-Evident

Studying Dutch on during weekly evening classes at Groep T often benefit from an extra boost of glucose courtesy of Pocky.

The Grapevine Speaketh - February 3rd

February - "thaw month" (dooimaand)

Date: February 3, 2013
Feast day: St. Blaise (patron of throats); St. Ansgar (patron of Denmark)

Reverse side--

"Uit 'T Manneke Uit De Mane" (From the Man of the Moon):
A glowworm spoke to another, "I absolutely must see an eye-doctor."
The other replied, "Yeah? Your eyes hurt or something? Or it's something that I know of."
"Not really...but, yesterday I made love to a cigarette butt."

(Seriously? It's a bizarre joke.)

"Alles" (For All)
Jef stood before a shop's display window which had a sign: "All articles for smokers". He went in and asked...
"I'm looking for a pair of underpants, miss."
The lady shop-clerk replied, "But, sir, have you not seen the sign at the display window?"
"Ah well, but do you think maybe smokers don't wear underpants?"

(Corny, but it actually made me crack up a bit.)

Dear Labby - Love in the Lab?

From flatworldknowledge. Because, you know, the enzyme-substrate complex is the same as l'amour.

Welcome to your weekend agony-column for confused (post)grad students--Dear Labby!  This week's post involves a potential love-in-the-lab situation which can do some mean matter-phase shifts.

Dear Labby,
My Master student came in this morning for the first time. He is a very smart and likeable guy from Frankfurt. We seemed to complement well with skills as he's well-trained in molecular biology while I am more into physics and chemistry. While doing some work on the bench, I noticed him standing really close to me. I didn't think of it as anything, but during our  break time he seemed to sit really close and our knees were hitting all the time. As he was about to leave, he gave me a quick hug. I am getting freaked out. Germans are supposed to be prim, proper, distant and all professional. What should I do?  

Distressed Biophysicist 

PS. I do admit that he's quite a hottie too!

Vrij(e)dag Friday! - Slow-Food Take-Away at L'Inizio

I had to do a double-take when I saw the clapboard sign outside the hole-in-the-wall along Parijsstraat.  Slow-food pasta dishes for take-away? Is that even possible?  But L'Inizio does all of that, and more.

This brave little establishment is a one-man enterprise, serving fresh pasta with made-from-scratch sauces (hence, the Slow Food philosophy) during the lunch-rush and the evenings--located right behind the Oude Markt, this place never runs out of student clients needing a bite of carbs with some good quality olive oil to tide over their Stella Artois binges.  During summertime, the chef actually sets up ONE tiny square table and two folding chairs in front of his counter, for lucky diners who want to enjoy the rare Flemish sun while taking forkfuls of spirelli alla puttanesca or rigatoni bolognese.

And since I was too tired this week to even bother cooking for myself, I picked up a serving (a very generous portion! I even brought the leftovers for lunch) of spirelli alla sasi. And I was rewarded with a good flavorful mix of fresh pesto, peperoncini, toasted pine nuts and grilled slivers of zucchini, with immoderate flakes of parmesan to top off the order.

When I was halfway through the pasta, I realized that I was full and I forgot to take a "before" photo of the food.  So here's the "leftovers" for the next day...

--
L'Inizio
Parijsstraat 39
3000 Leuven, Belgium
+32 16 202056

Lusus Naturae - Of Mussels and Men

From  privedesigngroup.

Eating mosselen met frieten (mussels with fries) is quintessentially Belgian, especially when done during mussel season (September to April), with mussels fished from the Zeeland region of The Netherlands (Belgium may have a coast, but its demand for mussels exceeds local supply).  But, could this hunger for Zeelandse mussels be whetted by some less-savory news about its freshwater cousin, the zebra mussel?

A news item from Spectroscopy Now talks about a proteomic study on freshwater mussels exposed to metabolites of illicit drugs found in waterways (think rivers, canals, etc.). One of the (unsurprising, but) interesting results is that these little critters suffer from oxidative stress and damage not just from the drugs themselves, but also from the metabolites of the drugs.  Researchers from Milan (Italy) and Cork (Ireland) demonstrated that zebra mussels are susceptible to oxidative stress upon exposure to benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite of cocaine, which can be found from roughly 500 ng/L to 3 µg/L in water.

What could be the implications?  Culinary-wise, zebra mussels (although edible) are not usually eaten because these creatures accumulate a lot of undesirable things through filter feeding.  Think heavy metals, drug metabolites.  However, these mussels are not the only filter-feeders in the aquatic food web.  That is, there are other shellfish which may be also be vulnerable to such events (such as actual mussels used for mosselen met frieten, which grow in brackish coastal areas).  And by being such efficient bioaccumulators, predators (e.g., large gamefish) may also be affected by the "gift" of zebra mussels.

But I still look forward to digging into a casserole of mussels (certified clean by rigorous EU standards, at least!) sometime before April.

Leven in Leuven - Parenthesis

At home on a Monday because it's a university holiday. Will do some catch-up writing work on my antique secretariat with Jean-Luc Roshambo the nutcracker glaring at me.

The Grapevine Speaketh - January 30th

Day of the week: January 30th

Joke of the day: "Doubting Thomas": It had snowed a lot, and, on her way to work, Sanne saw an old road sign which said "closed road".  But the snow was cleared, and so she decided to take the same way. But a large snowbank rose before her, thus she chose to turn back...and when she passed by the road sign, she saw that behind it was "You see!"

Quote - Those who have good neighbors can sleep peacefully.

(I love the quote because I have neighbors who are such nuisance to the building. >_<;)

The Sartorial Scientist: Everyday Clothes for the Everyday Researcher

Miss J (one of my best gals and a talented geekette specializing in semiconductors) and I would sometimes have online conversations that do not entirely refer to our own research projects.  We would eventually end up talking about sartorial issues in the (lab) office and workbench because we're women.

She would always despair on a few things on that matter, pertaining to her labmates, with a matching facepalm and sweatdrop.  Because they would be in either of the two modes: fashionable skank, OR a recent-flood victim.  And I've seen a share of those two modes myself in other lab groups (not in mine, by golly!), with some variations (e.g., Just Got out of Bed in Pyjamas, A Rat in a Gym-Suit for Meetings, Sex, Lies and Lab Recorders).  These sightings got the collective The Sartorial Scientist a-thinking--what would be considered as proper "everyday clothes for an everyday researcher"?

Three Basic Groups to consider: Jeans, Sleeved Shirts/Tops, Sensible Shoes.  These are nice basic denim pants from C&A; shirts from C&A, H&M and Pimkie; and shoes from Deichmann

Dear Labby - Dealing with Lab Rage

Welcome to our weekly agony-column for confused (post)grad-students--Dear Labby!  This week's letter is about how we deal with pushy colleagues with a rage problem.

Dear Labby,
I think I'm going to go crazy. There's this one PhD student in the lab who demands a lot from other students but never contributes anything. She wants everything done her way and she doesn't communicate well (since her English is really terrible). One time I asked her for some help with the protein purification since she's supposed to manage the HPLC, but she says she has no time and locked her office door on my face. Another day, she came up to me for some network problems because I manage the lab network/computers/webpage and when I told her I had no time, she kept on bugging me every 5 minutes and shouted at me, telling me it was my job to fix these stuff.
I am totally going berserk, I want to slap her face and kick her ass.

Raged Geekette

Vrij(e)dag Friday! - That Egalitarian Vibe of dewerf

I have no clue why the owners specifically chose the theme, but hey, it works!  Egalitarianism just became hip and chic in dewerf, one of Leuven's cheap and cute watering-holes.  Where else can you find (in Leuven) a cafe where instead of napkins or paper serviettes, they just plonk down rolls of kitchen paper in tin pails?  Or use raw construction tools as decor?  Or even offer blankets to the most intrepid of diners who want to have their drinks outside in the cold winter air?


The proof is in the pudding, or dare I say, in its clientele--as Leuven is a student town, the expected customer base is composed of students...and on any given weekday, this little eatery / bed & breakfast is jam-packed with youngsters goofing-off unwinding after a day of lectures, huddled under blankets on the terrace, or in its cluttered-yet-cozy rooms while sipping do-it-yourself hot chocolate or nursing cold glasses of Belgian beer.

A brief perusal of the menu (printed on A4 bond paper, in a worn plastic folder) reveals simple classics.  Think student, think plebeian--sandwiches, salad wraps, pasta and a selection of desserts...none exceeding 10€.  Regulars often order the pastas and salads, but their bestsellers are the DIY hot chocolate drink and their dessert menu. A plus for the bio/organic hipster-fanatics out there--all of these items are bio-certified.

And on times that I'm able to drop by this place, it's the dessert menu that draws me back again and again.  That and their mug of lavender tea. Or just the experience of sitting outside in the evenings, wrapped in a blanket while inhaling the sweet aroma of milk and chocolate.

--
dewerf
Hogeschoolplein 5  3000 Leuven, Belgium
+32 16 23 73 14