Great question! I really enjoy the work I do examining samples from animals to see if they carry a particular parasite. I bet you are surprised to hear that my favourite thing to examine is poo! ?
I find it really interesting that I can take a sample of smelly poo from a dog, and even if I canβt see a parasite there, I can do some tests to remove the DNA (material from the genes in the cells) of the parasite from the poo, multiply the DNA in a machine and then separate it from all the other DNA in a gel! This process has an incredibly long name, called a Polymerase Chain Reaction, but we call it PCR for short. Many areas of science will use this test to help identify DNA from a particular plant or organism if they are searching for it. It allows us to find it, even if there is just a tiny amount of DNA in a sample. Did you know that PCR is also used by forensic detectives to identify the DNA of criminals in a crime scene?
One of the first experiments that I remember doing was about shining light through a prism and seeing how it separates into different coloured light, and how we see different coloured things.
I also remember when we got to heat up magnesium strips in a crucible, and then exposed it to oxygen in the air and it glowed bright white! This experiment was about ‘oxidation’ and was a type of reaction. Really cool!
My favourite study that I’ve done is I looked at 2,000 leg bones from different people across the world – from Canada to Argentina, from England to South Africa, and from Japan to Australia… literally everywhere!
I found out that people’s leg bones are different shapes and sizes depending on where people live. If someone is from a cold place (like the Arctic Circle), it’s likely they have a fatter, shorter leg to keep all their body heat in as much as possible. If someone is from a hot place (like the African savanna), it’s likely they have thinner, longer legs, so that body heat can leave the body more easily into the air! Isn’t that interesting?
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