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by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

So long, Vancouver.  It’s been a good two weeks, steeped in Olympic excitement (especially when we could get the student lounge TV to work). And this year I got that much closer to actually understanding curling.  But before we go back about our daily business, free of snow and ice sporting distractions, here are a few more parting shots to honor MLML’s proud Olympians and  glorious events:

Did you know that hula hoops have their own proud place in science?  We actually use them in the field as quadrats (sampling areas) because their round shape has the smallest perimeter to area ratio, and minimizes the possibility of  pesky “edge effects.”  But they are also great to test your skill at the ring toss!

This game of skill is after any grad student’s heart: long-distance beer identification.  That white dot in the distance is a cooler, next to a table of bottles.  While seated on the couch, contestants had to identify each beer by its label, and the city of origin.  Though most could only offer best guesses, a few players swept this field…

Lest we be categorized as wimpy scientists, we do throw in the odd event of  stamina (not counting the Wii “virtual athlete” competition).  A few hardy contestants make off on the 2-mile foot race, setting the pace for the next year of Olympic games.

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab (and former MLML Olympic champ…)

With the Winter Olympics well underway in Vancouver, I thought it was time to focus some attention on the lesser-known games of glory in the marine science world – that is, the legendary Lab Olympics at MLML.  Once a year, the student body gathers together in a battle of skill, speed, and smarts to decide which lab is deserving of MLML gold.  Here’s a look at some of the daring events:

Science gear in action is a popular theme for variations on the quick-change relay:

Combining frisbee and accuracy with a science flair is the true essence of grad school:

And any true marine lab event would require some brain power as well:

For all our years of training, we have yet to take our competition to the regional level.  Any labs out there willing to challenge?

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

These photos come to you straight from the fish gut detective files – and are a diet scientist’s (sadly nerdy) dream come true.  Most of the time, we peer under microscopes to poke and prod at mashed, chewed, digested bits, trying to figure out what animal they once resembled.

Rare are those those idyllic occasions when, behold!  A perfect little specimen appears in your gopher rockfish stomach, as intact as if it had crawled out from under a rock…AND you just so happen to find an identification key from 1921 for tiny  crab specimens under 2 cm.   That is what we in the gut world would consider a “good day.”

The crab snack above was pretty easy to identify.  Cancer productus, the red (yes, red) rock crab is distinctive in its crazy juvenile color patterns, including bright white.  My real triumph as also identifying this widdle guy (Cancer jordani, the hairy rock crab, should you care to know)…

The running joke of the diet world is that people who poke at guts become more familiar with the prey species than their predator of study.   Hence, despite being in the ichthyology lab, I will be one crackerjack invertebrate identifier when this is all through, since gopher rockfish love to chow down on all things spineless.  At least, I’ll have the market on identifying 1-inch Cancer crabs cornered!

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

Unwrapping a jumbo-squid-sized mail delivery was but a dream for marine scientist hopefuls of yesteryear.  Now, thanks to our pals at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, your students can have that experience in your own classroom!

The Squid-4-kids program, run by graduate students out of the Monterey-based Hopkins Marine Station, can provide your students a one-of-a-kind learning experience to poke, prod, and dissect a giant of the deep.  The squid and lesson plans come free, you just pay for shipping.  All Humboldt squid are collected in conjunction with ongoing research or by sport fishermen who donate their excess catch.

For more information, check out  the Squids-4-Kids website, or click to down load the Squids4Kids Application.

And while you’re at it, check out the awesome squid research these Hopkins students are doing!  This great podcast and photo slideshow on searching for squid with the Hopkins crew was put together by Cassandra Brooks, an MLML alum working for the National Park Service.  And Hopkins student Danna Staaf is not just a squid researcher but also a squid blogger extraordinaire.  Give her a visit and get your dose of Squid-A-Day!

What do you do if you want to measure the properties of water in realtime?  Take out your portable Underway Data Aquisition System (UDAS), of course!  This week’s photo comes from Physical Ocenography student Tanya Novak.    Tanya drove the boat pictured above in a back-and-forth transect in Monterey Bay with her UDAS in tow,  trying to characterize the water that flows from the mouth of Elkhorn Slough.

That UDAS contains a whole suite of impressive-sounding instruments:  a thermosalinigraph, to take automated measurements of temperature and salinity, a transmissometer, which measures the fraction of light transmitted through the water (to determine water clarity), a fluorometer which measures fluorescence (the light emitted from chlorophyll in phytoplankton), and an ISUS, or In-Situ Ultraviolet Spectromter, which measures the amount of nitrate in the water.

What do you get when you put all those measurements together? Click here to see the plume Tanya traced (and the information she collected) on the MLML public data portal.  Thanks for the photo, Tanya!

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

Moss Landing Marine Labs students, faculty and staff turned out in every hue of true blue on January 13th!  Wear Blue for the Oceans Day is part of an effort to create a national ocean policy for the ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems.  Find out more at http://wearblueforoceans.org/ with the characters from Sherman’s Lagoon, and share how you wear blue for the oceans! (Can you find our MLML photo?)

Life as a graduate student can seem overwhelming.

by Nate Jones, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

We must constantly extend our gaze out from the familiar, into a void of unknowns – where to start? – which courses? – what research is relevant, yet approachable? – how will we find funding? – is our study design robust? – are the data sound? – which condiments in the student fridge have gone bad over winter break?

Seemingly heavy questions.

But we must remember that all endeavors start with an, idea, a hunch, a dream (or, an ultimatum?).  The best we can do is take stock of our knowledge, double-check our equipment, and jump into things.  We wouldn’t have made it this far in school if we weren’t fully capable… and more than a little crazy!

Here’s to a productive 2010 !!