Adventure Time

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

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!

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!

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

Rosemary Nuts

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:

1. Spread nuts evenly on baking sheet.
2. 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.
3. While nuts bake, chop rosemary and mix with remaining ingredients in a small-medium bowl.
4. Add nuts and stir.
5. Serve hot!

Makes ~4 cups

Kiwis...or Hox Genes Gone Awry?

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

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

Science Tattoo Emporium