More Science

I'm getting a sinus headache.  I blame Vanderbilt.  I had to spend 4.5 hrs there today working on figures for the paper Calvin and I are getting published.  He was there too, with his dog, Bosco.  Josh said it perfectly the other day, when you think of the word "dog" you think of Bosco.  Bosco is just a regular dog.  He's bigger and good for hugging.  He's happy, he barks when people come over, and he generally obeys commands.  He's blond with short hair, but he's not a specific type of dog.  Bosco is my favorite dog in Nashville.  Bosco would sometimes wander from Calvin's office and visit me in the computer lab, then wander back.

On Friday I took my personal day I got for working one year to work on figures then too.  I also got to see a good speaker talk about supervolcano eruptions/formation.  That night Josh and I were invited to Calvin's for dinner with the research group and the speaker.  I ate 1 sausage and 2 pieces of lamb.  I only eat lamb with Calvin, and I only eat that much with him too.  He always overestimates how much food people (girls) can eat, and then hates to see food going to waste.  He also cooks lamb a lot...therefore, I have to eat all of my food.  I had a really great time there.  I told everyone this story/scientific fact that Josh had told me that morning.  With Josh sitting there next to me.  This was the story:

"Josh told me that when babies are born premature...before 6 months and after 4 months...doctors have a hard time inflating the baby's lungs" *Insert air pump motions* "because the baby hasn't formed lung surfactant yet, so there is too much surface area and the lungs stick together.  What they do is get some lung surfactant from the mom, put it in the baby and give it a little shake!"  Which is pretty much a quote from what Josh told me that morning.  Maybe you don't find it that amazing of a story, and I certainly didn't' that morning, but then I realized it was the perfect story to tell scientists.  It was science-y so they were learning, it involved the word "surfactant" which is apparently is amusing to scientists, and it had baby shaking.  Yeah...maybe you need to be a grad student and slightly crazy to get it.