Why hello there I thought I’d take this opportunity to re-introduce myself. First of all, welcome to my Blog, ‘A Bug’s Life’. I started this Blog two years ago while I was still doing my Ph. D in Bacteriology, with the intention of writing about what life was like as […]
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
I’ve written about the logistics of doing a Ph. D before. In it, I mentioned the need to get a scholarship that gives you a fee offset (so that your degree is paid for) and a stipend (so you can actually live). Not everyone can get both, or even one […]
Estimated reading time: 16 minutes
So, a little while ago, I posted about an experiment I was developing as a STEM education program aimed at high school students… Involving yeast. And balloons. 🎈 And I called them the Yeasty Bois. If you didn’t catch that post, I recommend reading it first before reading this one. […]
Estimated reading time: 23 minutes
Bloody hell it’s been a little while since I’ve written a blog! This year is flying by. 😵💫 Where to start, really? Let’s go with the latest changes to the fish tanks… 🐟 First the sad news. Our dear snail Gary has passed on 😞 (24.4.22), which was a bit […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Ever wondered how a rapid antigen test (RAT) works? Or better yet- ever wondered how a PCR test works? Well look no further, because I wrote about it a little while ago! 😂 I tried to make it as lay person friendly as possible and there’s lots of diagrams to […]
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Phew! Apparently it’s been three weeks since my last post (which was about people stealing my work! 😠). That’s almost like a whole isolation period and a bit! Because it was. 😅😂 A couple Sundays ago, my partner and I went to a birthday lunch, followed by some shopping. I […]
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
I just realised that my figure depicting the intracellular infection cycle of my Honours/Ph. D bug, Coxiella burnetii, has actually been stolen and used in other websites. 😂 I guess this is why people watermark their work. I’ll be careful to do this from now on. Oops! If anyone sees […]
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Well, it’s official- I’m going to have a lot of chillies. 😅 The first one is starting to go red. I’ve already started offering them to other people, so hopefully they’ll end up in happy bellies. As mentioned, I’m not much of a spice head, so I definitely won’t be […]
Estimated reading time: 41 seconds
Well, as predicted, it’s been a very mild summer thus far. I’m not complaining- I hate warm weather, so this is great. 😂 So far the heirloom tomatoes I planted are growing like crazy. No 🍅 as of yet, though. You can see strawberry plants either side, but so far […]
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
We’ve had quite a monster run on this COVID PCR test explanatory series. Part 1 covered how to extract genetic material from your swab sample. Part 2 covered the basics of a standard PCR. Part 3 went over the very basics of an RT-PCR, which is what’s used for COVID […]
Estimated reading time: 35 minutes
So far in our little series, we’ve covered how genetic material is extracted from a swab, and how a very basic PCR works. This third part will cover how the theories of a basic PCR are then applied to the fancy type of PCR used for COVID testing… Which is […]
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
You must be logged in to post a comment.