charismaticmicrofauna

After two layovers, three flights, and a 1 hour taxi ride through the tropical heat we, a group of 16 scientists who had in some way or another found their way to the Manzanillo airport, converged on the Hotel Colonial by the Manzanillo harbor with luggage and miscellaneous last minute science equipment crates. Over a few beers and some local fare, which I don’t recommend as a foodie, we discussed our game plan for the next day. The Harvard group would go to the ship and survey their laboratory plan. My boss would do the same while I would go to the market to buy some fresh livers to grind up for an experiment that we must obtain a standard for to compare to our specimen samples.

Microbial physiology is a lot like biochemistry. We develop experiments to isolate proteins and enzymes that are used in metabolic processes to decipher whether or not a step in a pathway exists, and then we can begin to determine why, how, and in what way the pathway or metabolic mechanism of interest is being used by the organism. So back to chicken livers…..Chicken livers share a metabolic pathway with the deep sea bacteria that we are studying which has given us reason to have a National Science Foundation grant to be here on a ship with a fabulous chef in the East Pacific ocean.

I found my higado de pollo at the local market after stopping to take snapshots of the many stray cats and dogs that the people of Manzanillo live among and returned to the ship to chop it up to a pulp, wrap it in foil, and throw in a -80c freezer for later use. Having finished my task I was able to help set up the radioactivity van that I will be spending a lot of time in during the next three weeks and went out into the city to enjoy the Dias de Los Muertos celebrations around the docks. The Atlantis, being a U.S. Navy ship, is a dry boat, so we were all happy to have one final drunken night on land before 3 ½ weeks of sobriety and super science.

We set sail the next morning heading between two tropical storm systems, one high and one low, toward our hydrothermal vent site called 9degreesNorth. The first day at sea was rough. More than half of the science team spent the day in their bunks, and those who had not succumbed to the heaving of the ship the first day were taken down on the second day. Meetings, briefings, safety videos, and emergency fire drills stopped for no body.

Last night saw us through the climax of the storm systems. We woke to find a young flying fish on deck that had apparently been thrown aboard by the swell. We should be on site tomorrow, but we’re headed toward another tropical depression.

The highlight of the trip so far has been getting to sit in the Alvin submersible and getting a briefing from the pilot about the safety do’s and don’ts of travelling two miles below the surface of the ocean in a research sphere.

P.S. The band width of the ship is low, so pictures may have to wait until I get back to land. Stay tuned!