Seahorses, cuy, and hero pigs

Morale at work is an important factor to an individual's satisfaction with life. Quote me if you want. I stand by my words. I have enjoyed the best of company over the years. For as long as I have worked in a lab, I have been surrounded with bright, engaging, curious minds. This includes the post-docs and graduate students that introduced me to the world of science research at the University of Arizona in Dr. A's lab. It includes the cherished friendships made during my graduate school years in the Kelekar lab at the University of Minnesota. The Kong lab is no exception. They surpass all expectations in every positive way you can imagine. It should be no surprise that I wish to blog about our lab meeting discussions, take pictures for a week in the life of a scientist, or share the adventures outside of the lab (there have been many). For a snapshot of our fun, I share only a snippet of the exchange of links, videos, and conversations had during the last 24 hours.

Story 1: For the past couple days, I have been occupied with instrument training and data analysis related to metabolic stress assays. I was given a stress “ball” in the form of a yellow seahorse. It was cute. I returned to the Kong lab and displayed it at my bench. A lab mate, who attended the training last year, revealed his much larger pink seahorse. 

The pink seahorse has a mustache and stern eyebrows. 

Someone exclaimed, "Aww! It's a baby seahorse with its mom!" 

Another person corrected by saying, "It's a dad because of the mustache." 

I then chimed in with, "It's perfect! Male seahorses give birth, so now we have a dad with the child it has birthed." 

This led to an educational moment for a couple people in the lab with the following video. 

Story 2: This morning, I arrived to the lab and was promptly asked the question, “have you eaten breakfast yet?”

I replied, “Yes, I had some cookies and fruit. Why?”

My lab mate responded, “What do you think they eat in Peru?”

Me: “Llama?”

Labmate: “GUINEA PIG! Check this out!”

As I was grossing out over the idea (and the picture), another lab mate came over and added her input of how it could be made more edible (e.g. cut off the head and the limbs). Ha ha... this led to the original person (who brought up the guinea pig cuisine known as cuy) to mention his favorite animal--the pig. 

It was then my turn to be schooled in this remarkable animal. They are among the most intelligent animals in the world! We had quite the debate about elephants, sheep, dogs, dolphins, and pigs. I learned of the hero pig, Lulu (see below). I encourage all to re-evaluate their respect for pigs.

Lulu, the hero pig, who saved a life. True story.