research

Some times it doesn't take much to crack my brain to start me thinking n wondering, like why do ppl pursue their masters n phD degrees. For most company researchers they have a motive in mind, so are these masters and phD ppl. but i really wondered, how fun can researchin be?

as they say, researching means, to search and search and search and search and search.....

I used to tell myself, tat's my last resort of job on Earth, i'll never step into it no matter wat. of course, unless if my research would be able change the world. hehe.. which has yet to happen, so rub tat off first.

Sadly and obligatorily, i'm now walking in the line of researching - project. (@#$%^^&&*!) at first i tot that it's gonna be okay.. but one hurdle emerge after another.. and now if ppl ask me, "wat's the title of ur project?" k.. i'll be able to answer tat! =) "to use copepods as biological control for mosquito larvae." but if they start asking, "how do you do tat?" or "wat r u doin?" it kinda dig all the frustrations built up in the process. let me tell you the details.

copepods are actually zooplanktons. well, to make things easy, big fish eat small fish, small fish eat copepods. so imagine how small are they?

procedures

a) the best part is i have to culture these copepods first, but how to culture them? i must first filter the pond water, then observe the 3 litre of water ml by ml under the stereo microscope! ok. let's not mention the hours spent in doing that.

b) after isolating the copepods, i culture them. surprise!! they died. now how does tat happen?

c) i honestly duno, so i'll have to rule out differentials one by one.. which of course, takes time. i really must thank my frens who helped me think of the CODs (cause-of-death). but all these are tentative, and confirmation is done by experimenting. to experiment this, i have to repeat procedure (a) and (b) which definitely takes more than 24 hours.

d) i finally came to the thought tat, perhaps they can't eat the fish powder i gave. unwillingly, i'll have to resort to the conventional paramecium feeding. but how to feed paramecium? culture them.

e) i get the paramecium from the same pond samples.. and look under microscope again.. this time not stereo, but compound microscope (40-100x). gosh.. my eyes.. my eyes..

f) if i did find the paramecium, how to breed them? culture bacteria. how to culture bacteria?

g) tat's exactly wat i'm doing now.

so ask again, wat project am i actually doing now? i cant really answer, i'll lose my breath explaining. some ppl have follow-up questions, like, "why did you choose this project in the first place?"

*gulp* let's cut the long story short.

To the vets, "to reduce the prevalence of heartworm."
To Malaysians, "Let's control the dengue outbreak."
To the researches, "I like challenges."
To the copepods, "You're cute, i like you. Sorry for causing numerous deaths."
To the mosquitoes, "It's time for revenge."