Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Germs from Calvin's Jar

Back during the summer, Calvin put water and various plant material in a sealed jar and left it in the sun for all these months. We finally opened it up and decided to see what was inside. Our first discovery were these red and green balls--perfect for Christmas. I think they're bacteria, and I think some are red because I added Eosin Y which stains the outsides of cells red.

This one is at 400x.

And this one is at 1000x. There's one in the lower right corner that appears to be in the middle of dividing (it's bigger than the other red ones). I think the two dark spots are the two copies of the DNA which get separated before it divides into two. In this picture, I think the green ones are a different type of germ.

We haven't found anything moving in it yet, but we'll keep looking and take a movie if we find something.

If anyone knows what these things are, please post it in the comments.

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