PhD week 12: Bits and pieces

This week was eclectic, and found me dabbling in a number of different areas. For example, on Monday I entered the locality and collection details for a number of Irenimus specimens into a spreadsheet, which will allow me to keep track of what I look at and what collections they came from. On Tuesday, I designed and ordered primers for PCR, which will enable me to sequence short strands of DNA from my weevils. On Wednesday, I wrestled with details of georeferencing. In particular I had to convert some coordinates from the old New Zealand Yard Grid (NZYG) projection that went out of general use around 1980, to latitudes and longitudes based on the WGS84 datum. Thursday found me looking at Irenimus specimens, contemplating details of their morphology and how best to communicate certain subtleties that I suspect will actually turn out to be rather important. Finally, today I updated my draft PhD proposal for my supervisors to read over before it's due in a couple of weeks.

So this week I have been an artist, an author, a data entry clerk, a geographer, a molecular biologist, and a programmer! This sort of variety is why I love science.

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Read:
Thompson RT. 1992. Observations on the morphology and classification of weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) with a key to major groups. Journal of Natural History 26: 835–891.
    Rosas MV, Morrone JJ, Guadalupe del Rio M, Lanteri AA. 2011. Phylogenetic analysis of the Pantomorus-Naupactus complex (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) from North and Central America. Zootaxa 2780:1–19
   McCulloch D. 2010. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years London: Penguin
   Psalms 60–62, Colossians 1:15–18

Websites:
Plotting Brownian Motion and Orstein-Uhlenbeck models in R
Drosophila yakuba complete mitochondrial genome
Naupactus xanthographus complete mitochondrial genome
IDT Oligoanalyser
LINZ online coordinate conversion utility

Watched:
The Simpsons Season 10