Author Topic: The Good News Thread (Read 1165443 times)

Canardly · « **Reply #6025 on:** 05 October, 2013, 03:52:32 pm »

Well done.

perpetual dan · « **Reply #6026 on:** 05 October, 2013, 06:53:01 pm »

Quote from: Dr Bunbury (subject to minor corrections) on 04 October, 2013, 04:21:10 pm

Observe the name change.

Well done.

clarion · « **Reply #6027 on:** 05 October, 2013, 07:56:50 pm »

Congrats!

Ham · « **Reply #6028 on:** 05 October, 2013, 08:14:26 pm »

Oh could you look at my feet? I have this pain that keeps appearing...

Congrats an all that.

David Martin · « **Reply #6029 on:** 13 October, 2013, 09:34:13 pm »

Our undergrads just won the regional iGEM competition in Lyon. Best project and best presentation on the night.

Next stop the grand final in Boston.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #6030 on:** 13 October, 2013, 10:07:53 pm »

Congratulations, but Lincolnshire will be a bit disappointing after France. A bit flat even.

David Martin · « **Reply #6031 on:** 13 October, 2013, 10:22:26 pm »

Unfortunately not Lincolnshire..

They engineered a bacterium that mops up the toxins produced by algal blooms, and machinery for monitoring it. In 10 weeks.

clarion · « **Reply #6032 on:** 13 October, 2013, 10:27:10 pm »

Toxins? Algae? Sounds like Lincolnshire to me.

David Martin · « **Reply #6033 on:** 13 October, 2013, 10:37:57 pm »

The local reservoirs are closed to watersports every summer due to algal blooms. Only some algal blooms are toxix. They require three clear tests before reopening, but only test once a month. The students work would provide real time monitoring and quantification of microcystin levels.

It is only a prototype but proves the concept well and has a nice blend of biotech, it tech, mathematical modelling and so on.

google moptopus.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #6034 on:** 14 October, 2013, 12:02:49 am »

Maybe one of the judges will be a water skier and they'll earn Boston brownie points.

I'll wear it, thanks, it's raining again.

matthew · « **Reply #6035 on:** 14 October, 2013, 08:31:23 am »

Neat, a couple of simple questions:

Ph probes are notorious for drifting, such that most water works would have 3 analysers at any given location and use a votive method of determining that one has lost accuracy. Have they got a buffer they can use as a reference onboard or is this more proof of concept? Similarly what's the reliability of the DO sensor?

I suspect my local water companies in the SE would love to be able to predict algal blooms as the loss of a surface water reservoir from service in a high summer drought is a major inconvenience.

Further what is the culture life of the ecoli? would the sensor have to be reinoculated every couple of weeks or could it be installed in April and left to be retrieved and recalibrated in October once the algal season had passed?

ETA: What are the implications of release of the EColi into a drinking water source?

David Martin · « **Reply #6036 on:** 14 October, 2013, 03:32:20 pm »

Good questions.

I'm not directly involved with the project so cannot comment very much. The project is a proof of concept. They can demonstrate the E.coli removing microcystin form the water (but it is not very efficient - works well as a biosensor)

Culture life - not sure. Depends on the conditions. It should be a persistent culture.

The E.coli used are the K12 strain which is not really viable outside the lab. It is also essentially harmless. The pathogenic strains (a small handful of the many hundreds of E.coli strains you are in contact with daily) are not used. It would be used inside a semi-permeable membrane that does not allow the E.coli to escape. It is also possible to engineer the bacteria with a 'kill switch' so they self destruct outside of a suitable environment.

It isn't about predicting the blooms, it is about identifying them (which requires calibrating the measurements to diurnal measurements) and determining which are toxic and which are harmless.

matthew · « **Reply #6037 on:** 14 October, 2013, 05:17:20 pm »

Quote from: David Martin on 14 October, 2013, 03:32:20 pm

It isn't about predicting the blooms, it is about identifying them (which requires calibrating the measurements to diurnal measurements) and determining which are toxic and which are harmless.

Just as useful, I believe that currently in the event of an algal bloom the reservoir is taken out of service until the bloom is identified as safe / dies off.

Showing that the reservoir can remain in use, though with greater load on the screens / filters, in a drought scenario would be very useful.

Gus · « **Reply #6038 on:** 14 October, 2013, 08:01:27 pm »

I have just been approved for a 6 weeks mindfullness course with everything paid. Hopefully it's a progress out of unemployment.

barakta · « **Reply #6039 on:** 14 October, 2013, 08:52:33 pm »

Ooh good luck with that. Mindfulness seems to be a really big thing in counselling/therapy worlds and I know people who find it very helpful.

David Martin · « **Reply #6040 on:** 17 October, 2013, 01:31:32 pm »

Got some feedback from a student about the stats we have introduced (in a big, in your face, you need to know this and will be using it lots way)

Quote

Good afternoon!

There are many things in life I dislike; statistics is no longer one of them. (Well, kinda.)
R has saved my life, R is the future of my laboratory reports!

Thought I'd share,

Thank you!

little miss mac · « **Reply #6041 on:** 18 October, 2013, 09:55:59 pm »

Not having cycled further than my office - about six and a half miles away - for several years, I volunteered for a charity London-Brighton ride with my team at work which happened this Weds. The most pissingest-down day of the month, for a 75 mile route which took in Devil's Dyke (happily avoiding the Beacon) and a couple of felt-brutish-but-probably-not-too-bad-for-reasonably-fit-people Surrey hills.

To my surprise, despite almost zero training and being as wet as it is possible to be wet for most of the day, I made it with pride vaguely intact, in a bunch that included greyhound roadies and game people on hybrids and - on balance - enjoyed it. I thought that I'd stiffen up madly over the last couple of days but in fact not at all: just a bit tired (and it's been a very intense week at work anyway).

What's alarming is that I've just realised I could probably swing another Dun Run. Last time was - I think - 2009 so it's probably time. Hmm.

(And we raised Â£10k for Haven House, which is the other bit of the good news story

).

Ruth · « **Reply #6042 on:** 18 October, 2013, 09:59:13 pm »

Now that is what you call good news!

Congratulations on your bike ride

It sounds like you almost enjoyed it!

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #6043 on:** 24 November, 2013, 03:56:40 pm »

It looks like the local 20mph zone is finally starting. No official announcement yet, but lots of repeater signs up (in fact too many and too close together I'd say, but hey, it's happening and let's not quibble at details).

This is almost thread-cromancy. Has no one had any good news since 18th October? !!!

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #6044 on:** 26 November, 2013, 01:19:19 pm »

More good news. On 4th November I reported a hole using fillthathole.org.uk. On the 15th I received an email saying it had been fixed. And on Sunday I saw with my own eyes that it had been. Which is pretty good as it was massive, right in the middle of the road and had been there for months. Unfortunately the road is now unusable as the end of it is blocked by Bristol Water installing new pipes! Whether the council got BW to fill the hole too I don't know, I expect it's just coincidence.

Nuncio · « **Reply #6045 on:** 29 November, 2013, 02:29:04 pm »

OK, not quite as good as most of the good news on here, but I'm (inordinately) happy that I've just won a month-long Twitter pun competition.

hellymedic · « **Reply #6046 on:** 29 November, 2013, 02:51:17 pm »

Quote from: Nuncio on 29 November, 2013, 02:29:04 pm

OK, not quite as good as most of the good news on here, but I'm (inordinately) happy that I've just won a month-long Twitter pun competition.

Was that the one about the PUN-IC wars?

Nuncio · « **Reply #6047 on:** 29 November, 2013, 03:20:44 pm »

That was one of 20-odd (daily submissions between 13:00-13:10), Mon-Friday. That one didn't win me any points. As Salvatore pointed out, it should have been 'Pun XC1X Wars', which would have been even less funny.

kombokim · « **Reply #6048 on:** 29 November, 2013, 06:02:15 pm »

Been out on the bike after my back decided last week that I was not able to move one inch unless I wanted some intense pain. Might not be good news for most people but I was ridiculously happy I could get back on the bike.

Pedaldog. · « **Reply #6049 on:** 29 November, 2013, 11:36:20 pm »

Happy for you kombokim!

Author Topic: The Good News Thread (Read 1165443 times)

Ruth