The Scale of Science

A research team travels from Moscow, Russia to Yellowstone national park.

To collect a one ounce sample of sediment.

From that sediment, they isolate one bacterium.

The results of the research on the bacterium are published and read by me in Tempe, Arizona.

Since isolation, the bacterium has been commercialized and is available for purchase from a lab in Braunschweig, Germany.

The bacterium is placed in a 20ml vial and shipped to Tempe, Arizona.

Chemicals from Germany, Canada, UK, and United States are assembled to prepare one liter media for the bacterium.

The media is boiled and sparged with nitrogen to eliminate all traces of oxygen.

The media is then heated to 250F and pressurized at 15 psi for 30 minutes.

The bacterium is transferred to a 100 milliliter serum bottle.

Then, placed in an incubator at 140F for 10 days.

Glass, metal, carbon, rubber, plastic, and membranous components for a reactor are manufactured and glass is specifically blown to meet precisely calculated specifications.

Three milliliters of the bacterium are added to a 350 milliliter reactor.

The lifestyle of the bacterium is analyzed by collecting one milliliter samples over 75 days.

The one milliliter samples are then forced through 0.2 micrometer filters.

And stored at -4F for preservation.

The one milliliter samples are then added to a tray for analysis using machinery manufactured in Tokyo, Japan.

Each sample is manually entered into the system and 40 microliters of sample is used for analysis.

All so I can find one intensity peak among hundreds.

So that I can assemble all samples taken over 75 days into one graph (which is later corrected).

So that I can add that one graph to a poster with several graphs, to present my findings during two hours of a three day conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

And travel to Pakistan to present the findings with collaborators.

To finally publish my findings in a seven page article in a scientific journal.