Working on a thesis can be frustrating, all-consuming, and character building, amongst other adjectives. I didn't realize it could also be physically harmful. This week has been a whirlwind of near death experiences.
First, I poisoned myself with formaldehyde in the lab. After one day of actually running the experiment I had a splitting headache. The next day I couldn't breathe. The day after that I was vomiting all over the place and fell asleep at 5 pm. I am loathe to even go close to the experiment now. Fortunately, my lovely lab mate brought in an ancient-looking gas mask. I can't wait to wear that and have my advisor walk into the lab.
Then I went and hiked Longs Peak. It was a slow, arduous process that I did not quite finish, thanks to my doubtful balance. I should mention here that I didn't learn to ride a bike until college, and the process is still not very comfortable for me. There were several occasions where I nearly fell off the edge. After the third, I decided to turn back and live another day, if for no other reason than to complete my thesis. The formaldehyde must be adsorbed!!
I was also almost hit by a car while running, almost impaled while playing basketball and nearly crushed under a semi while driving to the grocery store. But that all happens on a fairly regular basis.
I understand that none of this is particularly coherent. I'm trying to convey how much I feel like Marie Curie this week, slowly poisoning myself for the sake of science. To do this more effectively I should probably explain my experiment first.
The main goal of my thesis research is to determine the fate and transport of formaldehyde sorbed to hydroponic growth media. What does this mean? Say you live in a trailer or in a really industrialized part of town. There's a high chance that the air you breathe contains a dangerous level of formaldehyde (I learned this week exactly how low a dangerous level is). Formaldehyde is the stuff they use to preserve dead bodies, like at funeral homes or for frog dissection. Formaldehyde is extremely toxic and can cause headaches, nausea, breathing problems, and even death. Most notably, though, extended low dose exposure leads to cancer. Basically your lungs get pickled and then you die. It's a pretty scenario. So, you live in this poisonous air...what can you do to clean it up? You can buy an expensive air filter. Chances are, though, that if you live in a formaldehyde contaminated area you aren't exactly rolling in the dough. So you buy a plant. Plants are fantastic at cleaning the air, because that's how they grow. Carbon dioxide goes in, the carbon gets assimilated, oxygen goes out. Boom. The same works for a lot of common air contaminants such as, you guessed it, formaldehyde.
So what I do is figure out exactly how much formaldehyde each plant can uptake and degrade. This is basically akin to running a filter through to saturation, except I'm doing it with the hydroponic growth media (what the plant is rooted in). We're looking at hydroponic plants because they're easier to distribute and the media is a lot more consistent than soil.
So yes. I was poisoned by formaldehyde this week in order for people to breathe clean, cancer-free air. I'm such a martyr. But no more, ladies and gentlemen, because we now have a GAS MASK! Cue the triumphant horn music.
On a side note, I made a presentation to 200 new Indian students on campus this week and I didn't die! This week's just been all kinds of crazy survival.
On another side note, my friend Morgan and I collaborated to make this masterpiece:
First, I poisoned myself with formaldehyde in the lab. After one day of actually running the experiment I had a splitting headache. The next day I couldn't breathe. The day after that I was vomiting all over the place and fell asleep at 5 pm. I am loathe to even go close to the experiment now. Fortunately, my lovely lab mate brought in an ancient-looking gas mask. I can't wait to wear that and have my advisor walk into the lab.
Then I went and hiked Longs Peak. It was a slow, arduous process that I did not quite finish, thanks to my doubtful balance. I should mention here that I didn't learn to ride a bike until college, and the process is still not very comfortable for me. There were several occasions where I nearly fell off the edge. After the third, I decided to turn back and live another day, if for no other reason than to complete my thesis. The formaldehyde must be adsorbed!!
I was also almost hit by a car while running, almost impaled while playing basketball and nearly crushed under a semi while driving to the grocery store. But that all happens on a fairly regular basis.
I understand that none of this is particularly coherent. I'm trying to convey how much I feel like Marie Curie this week, slowly poisoning myself for the sake of science. To do this more effectively I should probably explain my experiment first.
The main goal of my thesis research is to determine the fate and transport of formaldehyde sorbed to hydroponic growth media. What does this mean? Say you live in a trailer or in a really industrialized part of town. There's a high chance that the air you breathe contains a dangerous level of formaldehyde (I learned this week exactly how low a dangerous level is). Formaldehyde is the stuff they use to preserve dead bodies, like at funeral homes or for frog dissection. Formaldehyde is extremely toxic and can cause headaches, nausea, breathing problems, and even death. Most notably, though, extended low dose exposure leads to cancer. Basically your lungs get pickled and then you die. It's a pretty scenario. So, you live in this poisonous air...what can you do to clean it up? You can buy an expensive air filter. Chances are, though, that if you live in a formaldehyde contaminated area you aren't exactly rolling in the dough. So you buy a plant. Plants are fantastic at cleaning the air, because that's how they grow. Carbon dioxide goes in, the carbon gets assimilated, oxygen goes out. Boom. The same works for a lot of common air contaminants such as, you guessed it, formaldehyde.
So what I do is figure out exactly how much formaldehyde each plant can uptake and degrade. This is basically akin to running a filter through to saturation, except I'm doing it with the hydroponic growth media (what the plant is rooted in). We're looking at hydroponic plants because they're easier to distribute and the media is a lot more consistent than soil.
So yes. I was poisoned by formaldehyde this week in order for people to breathe clean, cancer-free air. I'm such a martyr. But no more, ladies and gentlemen, because we now have a GAS MASK! Cue the triumphant horn music.
On a side note, I made a presentation to 200 new Indian students on campus this week and I didn't die! This week's just been all kinds of crazy survival.
On another side note, my friend Morgan and I collaborated to make this masterpiece:
Have a nice day.
