Droser Lab

Some Rough Cuts

2010-03-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Spring Break 2010 has taken the Droser lab up the California Coast to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I shot some video footage of the beautiful creatures and plan to edit these clips, as well as other shots from then entire trip, into a longer video journal but take a look at these in the meantime:

Australia

2009-09-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

Sunrise in Adelaide

Nilpena Station: the Shearers' Quarters

Moonrise over the Smithy

My field locality: Tennis Courts

Bed 4: "Mop Bed," bespattered with mop-identifying post-its

Excavation at West Tennis Courts

Jim testing out the furniture masons' wares

Dust Storm!

Sunset in the dust storm

Emmy, stylin' her most recently acquired item of high fashion ("rescued" from the Leigh Creek park)

Double rainbow!

The Cairns rainforest: Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree...

Cairns, viewed en route to the Great Barrier Reef!

On July 2, 2009, the Australian Expedition – Mary, Lidya, R.J., Emmy, Ian, Mary Elizabeth, Matt and D.A. magically condensed their luggage and set off. Although R.J. (and more importantly, his precious burden of laminated photographs) was stopped at security on the suspicious charge of having a watch in his backpack rather than on his wrist and, alas, no one discovered a stuffed isopod during the post-deplaning tidying session, we successfully made it through two flights, SUV and trailer rental and a treacherous system of roundabouts, full of cars driving the wrong way, to arrive two days later at the Princes Lodge, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Our respite was brief, however, and soon we were racing through the most super of Adelaide’s supermarkets, maniacally snatching goods off shelves and dazedly consulting shopping lists.

The next day we embarked on the six-hour drive to Nilpena Station, pushing to arrive before dark (in order to avoid the crepuscular kangaroos – the Australian equivalent of hitting a moose or cow). Through Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Hawker and at last the Flinders, we sped on and arrived with the last of the light. After hauling bag after bag of groceries into the tiny Shearers’ Quarters (Nilpena is a traditional sheep ranch), we finally organized and stuffed into place the last of the cans, greens, dairy, bread, dozens of bottles of wine and massive pile of GORP ingredients and collapsed into bed, only to awaken in a couple hours, as the jet lag caught up with us and vindictively pounced.

We spent our days outside in the elements – ranging from three-layer (“mild”) to six-layer (“uncontrollable trembling” – especially when the wind howled) weather. A couple times, mulish blankets of thick clouds or startling downpours drove us out of the field and into Leigh Creek to resupply and descend upon the bewildered owners of the small-town post office with sheaves of postcards. But otherwise, battling the dust storms and the bitterly-cold winds, cursing the faux sun and working frantically during the few brilliant, cloudless days, we excavated, scrubbed, picked, gridded, mapped, measured, latexed, drew, photographed, prospected amongst the float and endlessly observed the panoply of the Ediacara Biota. At dusk each day we returned to (of course) gin and tonics and a very welcome hot dinner, courtesy of D.A., downloaded each day’s worth of photographs (I accumulated nearly 5 Gb of mop-related photographs by the end of the trip) and sometimes watched movies on the South Australia Museum’s big screen, with Mary’s projector – classics like Mama Mia and Short Circuit (“I am standing here beside myself”). We tasted quandong milkshakes, celebrated Ian’s birthday and the carnivores sampled the Parachilna Hotel’s “Feral Platter” – emu pate, camel sausage and other similar delicacies.

Time passed quickly, and soon we were racing to tie up all the loose ends in our fieldwork, give the house a thorough beating to (very temporarily) free it from its thick coat of red dust (I easily reached my lifetime quota for silica consumption and pack up. We sojourned in Cairns for a few days of decompression - visiting the rainforest by way of historic train, snorkeling and scuba diving in the Great Barrier reef, wandering the gigantic organic farmer's market, basking in the strange and wondrous humidity the whole while. But soon it was time to go home. On our last day we arose before dawn, caught our flights to Sydney and L.A. and, several hours earlier (!!) returned to daily life: Riverside in August.

Its not everyday you cut yourself on a shark tooth...

2009-09-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings to the Droser Lab! I hope the Sierra trip was a good one this year and that you're getting settled into the routine of a new semester. Its strange not to be starting that with you.

As the subject suggests, things are going well with me in DC. I have been finding interesting fossils in the parks, although getting used to eastern geology again is quite a switch. My field sites are now along creeks, roads, or in the case of C & O Canal along rock faces blasted or drilled off more than a hundred years ago. I love the green of the city, but I have also been experiencing the ticks and chiggers that come along with the green.

Right now I am writing up reports about what I've found in the parks and making recommendations for future monitoring and protection of these sites. My internship has been extended through the fall, so I'm going to stay on and do some interpretive programs about what I've found for the parks to use. I'm looking forward to the change of pace.

Well here's a picture of me looking at one of the canal locks--they are neat because they're all built of local stone and you can see the same sedimentary structures, sometimes better exposed. And for a change of pace, jousting at a Renaissance fair I went to recently with my park service housemates.

In the east fall is coming, and I'm enjoying the crisp air. Hope you're not being blasted with too much heat in CA!

Drifting Along Splendidly

2009-08-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

Things have been continuing at a fine pace, and the weather has cooled down a lot. Here are some new photos of the workers at their worksite.

(Mis)Adventures in the Desert

2009-08-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Things don't always go as planned when you're living in the middle of nowhere. Yes, our campsite is beautifully desolate, and the only sounds we hear at night are the wind rustling through the juniper trees and the ground squirrels trying to eat our dried oatmeal, and we are most definitely in the back country, but we are also 15 miles from the nearest highway and 60 miles from town. This means, of course, that when your car breaks down, you are completely stranded.

This happened to us last Monday. We'd put a full day of work in and were prepared for a nice evening of letter writing, scrabble and star gazing. We drove back to camp and parked the car in its usual spot. I decided it was time to wash my hair (probably for the first time in a week, I was so excited!) so I went to the tent to change out of my field clothes. While I was in the tent, I heard a giant explosion, so loud that I though the propane tank may have exploded! I ran out to see what happened. One of the tires on the car had blown. I guess we had punctured it on the road and it didn't actually pop until we got back to camp.

I started changing the tire, loosened all the lugs and started taking them off. Things were going fine until I got to the very last lug. I started turning it and it froze. I put all my weight behind it and the lug started bending. I knew there was no way I was going to get it off, so we moved on to plan B.

The only thing for us to do was hike to the highway. We packed supplies (water, food, flashlights, clothes) and started walking. We started our hike at 4:30 in the afternoon and didn't reach the highway until after dark. I was trying to make good time because I knew that once we reached the highway, we'd have to hitchhike into town and I was worried about trying to catch a ride in the dark.

It was surprisingly easy for us to catch a ride. After a few cars drove by, a hippie and his 7 year old daughter picked us up. He told us some crazy stories and when I thanked him for the ride, he said he was glad to pick us up because we refreshed his hitchhiking karma. Apparently he'd be having trouble catching rides lately.

Eventually everything got sorted out. We got the tire fixed and things have returned to normal.

Running Scared

2009-08-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

Ants do like oatmeal. They don't like Roy Orbison.

Adventures in Ibex!

2009-07-24T08:31:00.001-07:00

Work has progressed rather slowly this week. Excessive heat and afternoon thunderstorms have limited our work time to the mornings, and much of our chalking at Hintze's section L was washed away. Frustration runs high but I've re-evaluated my plans and I think I've figured a way around the problems. We can into Delta a day earlier than planned to get new supplies, including flagging, which won't be washed away by rain.

We had some more adventures with wildlife this week. While playing scrabble one evening, I noticed a little snakey peeking out at us from beneath a juniper tree. At first we thought it was a rattlesnake, but we discovered that he had no rattle! I know now that he was a gopher snake. Here's a video of him making his way slowly through our camp:

When packing up our tent to head into town, I discovered a scorpion hiding in the corner! This was probably the most terrifying event of the week, as scorpions are the only creature I'm actually nervous about. I have no idea how it got in our tent or how long it had been there, but I'm glad neither of us got stung. Here's a photo:

A golden eagle followed us down the road for a couple of minutes one morning. It was huge and glorious! We also saw a couple of packs of pronghorn antelope. Katherine got a picture of some of them:

Today is Pioneer Day, a glorious Mormon holiday that celebrates the arrival of Brigham Young and the original Mormon settlers to the Salt Lake Region. I realized yesterday that this holiday also marks the 1 year anniversary of my move from Ohio to Riverside. Here's a photo of Katherine looking a little bit like a pioneer:

Journey Through the Past - Pt. 2

2009-07-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

The Confusion Range is incredibly beautiful. This photo was taken on the hillside above our campsite the first day we arrived.

Things are going really well. Katherine and I have managed to not go completely insane from the isolation, and in fact, I've been enjoying the remoteness of the region.

We spent most of the week at one locality, "CAMP." All of the localities that I will be collecting at were established in the 50's and 60's by an old time geologist named Lehi Hintze. He measured and marked each section. Here's a photo of me at the start of his CAMP section, measured in 1965.

So far we've measured and described the CAMP section. Collecting and sampling won't begin until we've measured and described all of the localities we'll be studying.

There's actually been some excitement out here, despite the fact that we're totally isolated. I've encountered two rattlesnakes, both while I was trying to find a place to pee. I startled the first one and he slithered into the bushes and rattled angrily at me. We documented him:

And here's the second snake I ran into. He's snoozing under a juniper branch.

We've seen tons of cute lizards and hear coyotes howling every night. There stars have been so beautiful every night. I love it out here.

Today was our first day in town since last weekend. We desperately needed showers and contact with other humans has been good for us. Unfortunately we're deep in Mormon country and I can't help but feel creeped out by most of the people here in Delta, UT. Deseret, UT is only a couple of miles from here.

Here are some more photos from the field:

Katherine "Snakeface" Steelman hanging out in camp.

These are some of clams that I'm studying.

Katherine and I signed up for PO Box in Delta so that we can receive mail. It would be awesome to get letters! Here's our address:

P.O. Box #119
Delta, UT 84624

Journey Through the Past - Pt. 1

2009-07-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Field work is about to begin!

Yesterday my field assistant Katherine and I began our Ordovician adventure. We left Riverside and headed up to Ely, NV - a wild west town if there ever was one. On our way, we passed through Sin City and skirted the NV-375, the Extraterrestrial Highway, which runs through central Nevada and past Area51. Here's some documentation:

I'm excited to begin the actual field work, which will take place out in the Ibex region of the Great Basin, in Utah. I'm going to be studying aspects of the Ordovician Radiation by examining the diversity of gastropods and bivalves through a Middle Ordovician succession of rocks.

Here's the non-paleontologist description: Life in the oceans experienced a major radiation during the Ordovician period (roughly 480-440 million years ago). I'm going to study this radiation event by collecting fossils of ancient snails and clams preserved in rocks in Utah, which was equatorial beachfront property during the Ordovician. I'm also going to try to reconstruct what the overall environments and ecosystems that these clams and snails looked like, in order to better understand how marine ecosystems have changed through time. The ocean looked a lot different back then but understand the ancient systems can help us better understand modern ocean ecosystems.

Here are some more photos!

This is Katherine checking out the menu of a surprisingly good Chinese restaurant in Ely, NV.

This is the wonderful Hotel Nevada, where we stayed last night.

We're going to be camping way out in the middle of nowhere by the outcrops so we won't have an cell phone or internet service, but we'll be heading into town once a week for showers and resupplies. I'll update the blog and my flickr photos as often as possible. You can check out the flickr photos here.

I also made a google map of the field localities, which you can check out here.

2009-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

I know you can't watch the video here, but you can go to the youtube page and see it!

Coast to Coast

2009-07-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

The absolute best billboard of the drive back, I sadly did not snap a picture of. But it was for an "indian

trading post" and we had seen a lot of ads for various things there. My favorite was a plainly-painted board that proclaimed "LIVE CACTUS"! Can't get much better than that...

A few other pictures from the journey including a giant cow in Flagstaff, Sunset Crater and lava flow, Meteor Crater (I can totally see why they didn't get what it was at first) and Petrified Forest National Park, AZ. Robyn would be glad to know we ate in some fun diners as well, my favorite was the scorpion sandwich I had in New Mexico...

A few more pictures from our day in the field at NAPC and every Headlines TA's favorite, "Dunky" from the Cincinnati Museum.

More from green, leafy DC full of thunderstorms and lightning bugs at some point...

NAPC2009!!!

2009-07-02T14:54:00.001-07:00

I posted some pictures from NAPC on my flickr account. Check them out!

Adventure Time

2009-06-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the spring quarter has come to an end and summer is officially here, which means it's time for adventures!

Mary, Lidya and our newest labmate RJ will be heading off to Australia for some quality time with the Ediacaran fauna.

Erica's already headed off into the sunset, bound for Washington DC to work as a park paleontologist.

Aaron will be back and forth between teaching GEO101 at RCC and his precambrian tubes in Death Valley.

Daniel will be defecting to the Love Lab for the summer, but we forgive him because he'll be going to the Burgess Conference in August.

Kristin's wrapping up her doctorate.

I'll be out in Utah befriending Ordovician clams and snails and filming a documentary about the Ordovician Radiation with my good friend Samantha Mitchell (check her webpage out).

All in all, the summer should be good. We've all decided to update the Droser Lab Blog with tales from the field. I'll hopefully be posting weekly from the Rancher Motel in Delta, UT. Have a happy summer!

Parmesan and Root Vegetable Lasagna

2009-05-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Serves 10

- 6 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 2 1/2 pounds)
- 2 1/4 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato (about 1 pound)
- 2 cups coarsely chopped onion, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Cooking spray
- 4 cups 1% low-fat milk
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 bay leaf
- 1.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/3 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 9 packaged no-boil lasagna noodles
- 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Combine squash, potato, 1 cup chopped onion, and oil in a roasting pan coated with cooking spray, tossing to coat vegetables. Bake at 450° for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once; set aside.

3. Combine remaining 1 cup onion, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay leaf in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a simmer. Remove from heat; let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl; discard solids. Return milk mixture to pan. (NOTE: the magazine noted the importance of cleaning the pan well before refilling it with the milk mixture.) Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add flour, salt, and pepper to milk mixture, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently with a whisk. Remove from heat; stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

4. Preheat oven to 375°.

5. Spread 1/2 cup milk mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over milk mixture; top with half of squash mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella, and 1 cup milk mixture. Repeat layer with noodles, squash mixture, mozzarella, and milk mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles. Spread remaining milk mixture over noodles, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.

-From Cooking Light

Bead Party!

2009-05-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

The women of the earth sciences department enjoyed cooking and sampling traditional food while admiring hundreds of beautiful paper beads made by Ugandan women. The fair trade organization, Beads for Life, allows women to earn enough to feed their families. A wonderful afternoon was enjoyed by all
and you can find someone modeling their
carefully-chosen purchases in a hallway near you!

Droser Lab ON TOUR!

2009-04-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Great Basin...
#1 SPRING BREAK DESTINATION IN THE US!

Rosemary Nuts

2009-04-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Nuts (from The Italian Vegetarian by Jack Bishop)

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. raw whole almonds (with skins)
1 c. pecans halves
1 c. walnut halves
1/3 c. pinenuts
2 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. melted butter
1 T. (or more) minced fresh rosemary

DIRECTIONS:

Spread nuts evenly on baking sheet.
Bake nuts for ~10 minutes in oven preheated to 350 degrees F. Once the pinenuts reach a golden-brown color, the nuts are probably done.
While nuts bake, chop rosemary and mix with remaining ingredients in a small-medium bowl.
Add nuts and stir.
Serve hot!

Makes ~4 cups

Kiwis...or Hox Genes Gone Awry?

2009-02-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

Title: An Experimental Analysis of Genetic Multiplicity in Local, Not-for-Profit Kiwis Nurtured in the Groves of the Inland Orange Conservancy, California: A Case of Mutational Hox Gene Repression

Materials: Wooden cutting board, snowflake-bedecked steel chopping knife (Fig. 2), the Subjects: to wit, one set of Kiwi Siamese Triplets (Fig. 1)

Methods: The subjects were incrementally cross-sectioned under strong lighting. Following parisection, innards were meticulously prodded with a steel knife tip. Process was photographically documented and researcher consumption of subject samples was supervised by researcher's roommate.

Results:
1. The first incision, into the proximal end of the firmest and smallest kiwi-triplet (Fig. 3), did not reveal any indication of a genetically mutated state. Rather, the subject appeared, although of unusual growth habit, to be no more than an ordinary kiwi.
2. After surgical removal of the subject from its fellows, further examination yielded no extraordinary findings. The cross-sectioned kiwi was as lustrous, finely and elliptically-radially laminated and seeded as a kiwi, according to the agricultural experts of any local grocery store, aught to be (Fig. 4-5).
3. However, dissection of the remaining two triplets yielded more interesting results, in the form of extreme mushiness and some aberration from typical kiwi coloration (Fig. 6). Slicing proved extremely difficult, due to the overly-softened state of the subjects.
4. Carnage. Alone in the jungle of oozing overripe kiwi blobs spattering the cutting board surface and dripping from the chopping blade, a lone Dickinsonia stands, propped against one of its fallen fellows (Fig. 7).
5. A perhaps healthier alternative approaches (a gargantuan Not-for-Profit Riverside Navel Orange), preparing for hostile takeover of the researcher's breakfast (Fig. 8).

Discussion: Upon examination, it would seem that, apart from the inevitable encroachment of mushiness, fermentation and rottenness, each of the kiwi-components in question is sound. Deviation from kiwian "normal" internal morphology was not observed. However, the cause and nature of the embryonic split of the Hypothetical Ancestral Kiwi (HAK) into the observed triplet-form merits further investigation.

Conclusion: To Eat or Not to Eat? That is the Question (Fig. 9).

Nerd Tattoos

2009-02-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

If all the nerds of all the world got tattoos, they might look something like this:

Science Tattoo Emporium

Indio Date Festival

2009-02-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

Despite the driving rain, wind and unseasonably (by seasonless southern Californian standards) cold temperatures, Day #2 of the National Date Festival of Indio was well-attended by young and old, the mildly-curious and the self-acknowledged-fanatic. The day started off with the annual Date Parade, starring the Mayor of Indio (His Augustness was ushered in by Indio's finest Bedouins and belly dancers), marching bands, cadet corps, a sheriff ATV fleet, little old men from El Bekal shrine tooting about in motorized cars and scooters (note the lovingly plastic-wrapped fezzes), a giant blow-up recycling bin lurking amidst palm trees, and mounted Mariachi bands. After battling the boisterous crowds of the parade, our intrepid explorers (Erica, Erica's mother Anne, Cassy and yours truly) traversed the labyrinthine ways of the Indio highways and high streets, and at the last found parking and the fairgrounds, guided by the lowing of various exotic Middle Eastern beasts (i.e. prize-winning goats, lambs, pigs and cows). We journeyed through the unending array of rather banal fair booths, adorned with Middle Eastern flair (the sunglasses hut proudly boasted its wares upon the head of a grinning camel). Bedraggled, parched and near-despair, we finally stumbled upon an oasis of incomparable fairness: two stands devoted to the peddling of that noblest of fruits, the Date. The friendly natives of this oasis refreshed our weariness with samples of Medjool, Bahri, Deglet Noor, Honey, Abbada, Halawi, Khadrawi and Zahidi dates; sated our hunger with scrumptious date muffins, bars and macaroons; and slaked our thirst with date milkshakes. Laden with provisions and shivering violently, we entered the tempest once more and, trudging stoutheartedly through the muck, arrived at last at the Grand Stadiums, testing ground of the Speediest and the Strongest - the champions of the Ostrich and Camel Worlds. First appeared the ostriches, strutting proudly, beaks aloft and eyes aflame. Ah, the bugle call! Ah, the grace of those towering, rotund avians! One, two! One, two! And into the fence the rider went snicker-snack! Alas, only one doughty pair of rider and steed reached the finish line intact. Next: the Ostrich Chariot Races (with red, white and blue cloak and plastic helm-clad charioteers). Then, the Camels. These daring beasts feared neither mud nor rain (as their jockeys assured us) - they would gallop onwards, heeding no obstacles! Ah, once more the thrill of the bugle call, and gallop they did - into the concrete stadium wall and onto their heads. Chilled but cheered, we persisted on our journey, taking in the Date and Citrus Expo (to see but not to eat, alas), little girl dancing troupes, fish taco and pretzel stands. And then, as the afternoon waned, we left this City of Jubilation and embarked upon our next adventure...

An Amazing Find!

2009-02-19T10:23:00.001-08:00

While building a new underground parking garage for the LA County Museum of Art, a construction crew unearthed a bunch of Rancho LaBrean fossils. The find includes a complete Columbian mammoth skeleton - the first 100% complete fossil of its kind!

Read the LA Times article here.

Delicious!

2009-02-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

Device of the Devil

2009-02-18T00:03:00.000-08:00

“I found a paper by Professor K. Wadati of Japan in which he compared large earthquakes by plotting the maximum ground motion against distance to the epicenter. I tried a similar procedure for our stations, but the range between the largest and smallest magnitudes seemed unmanageably large. Dr. Beno Gutenberg then made the natural suggestion to plot the amplitudes logarithmically. I was lucky because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil.

I saw that I could now rank the earthquakes one above the
other.”

--Charles Richter

Happy Birthday!

2009-02-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

A very happy birthday to Charles Darwin!

Abraham Lincoln's birthday is also today, and he and Mr. Darwin are exactly the same age!

Other notable celebrities who are celebrating their birthdays today include Christina Ricci, Arsenio Hall and Judy Blume!

Mary's Prime Time Debut

2009-02-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

Animal Armageddon!

on Animal Planet this Thursday 2/12 at 9pm

Cucumber Sandwiches

2009-02-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

"The traditional cucumber sandwich is composed of paper-thin slices of cucumber placed between two thin slices of crustless, lightly buttered white bread.

"As the thinness of the bread is a point of pride in the kitchen, a dense-textured white Pullman loaf is cut with a wide-bladed knife, which guides the cut; daylight should pass through the resulting fine pores. The cucumbers, if sliced thin enough, should permit a newspaper column-heading to be read through one. The peel of the cucumber is either removed or scored lengthwise with a fork before the cucumber is sliced, and the slices are dried gently with a paper towel before use. The slices of bread are carefully buttered all the way to the edges in the thinnest coating, which is only to protect the bread from becoming damp with cucumber juice, and the slices of cucumber, which have been dashed with salt and lemon juice, are placed in the sandwich just before serving in order to prevent the sandwich from becoming damp enough to moisten the eater's fingers. The crusts of the bread are cut away cleanly and the sandwich sliced diagonally twice, creating four small triangular tea sandwiches.

"The traditional cucumber sandwich is of British origin. Modern variants (largely of American origin) exist, involving cream cheese, chopped dill or spices, brown bread, salmon, and even bread with crusts left intact. One specific American variant includes benedictine, a green soft spread based on cucumbers and cream cheese. British cucumber sandwich enthusiasts conventionally frown on these variants and many would not consider the modern variants to be variants at all, but simply a different sandwich."

(Wikipedia, "Cucumber Sandwich," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber_sandwich)

Charles Darwin Afternoon Tea

2009-02-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the close of Charles Drawin's 200th year, the department will be hosting a traditional British afternoon tea on Thursday (2.12.09). Swing by the conference room at 4pm for tea, cucumber sandwiches, scones and a celebration of Darwin's legacy.