conversations of a college TA

a little diary for all the silly shenanigans I get up to as a teaching assistant

[assistancerequired]

accidentally shoved my fingers into a Petri dish full of mystery bacteria today so how’s your day going?

[assistancerequired]

Sometimes being a TA is like dealing with a mildly rebellious dog or toddler:

Me: you’re keeping an eye on the agar, right?

Prof, who hasn’t checked on it in ten minutes: yeah, of course *runs to hot plate*

Me: you emailed the Dean to ask about that poster, right?

Prof, pulling up her email: totally

Me: are those measurements meant to be equivalent? (1m=0.3ft??)

Prof, actively starting to erase the board: nooooooo

[assistancerequired]

pro tip for every new lab class make your lab partner high five you after you’re done. they’ll be confused at first but after a few weeks they’ll start to expect the high five and may even initiate it themselves. never underestimate the power of the high five

[assistancerequired]

Professor: *drinking coffee*

Professor: *spills coffee on shirt*

Me: good job

Professor: thanks…

[holyvomitus]

might be a weird question, but can environmental contamination cause leucistic(? the albino thing) or impact the production of whatever causes color in birds? we've had a leucistic sparrow, who I love, and that was the first we've ever seen afaik despite my family occupying this house on and off for over a century. that was cool but weird. but I just saw a red-winged blackbird with white instead of red? ik it's only been two birds so far but it's so strange. they put in an oil pipeline through some of the rez a few miles away that's leaked and I'm wondering if that could impact bird coloration? I'm not a scientist, I'm just curious bc I love my wild birds + I'm worried that there could be some health implications

[assistancerequired]

biologist here! animals are not my specialty but I can give you my best shot: albinism, and I believe leucism as well, is purely genetic, meaning it’s caused by a mutation in the genetic code that leads to a lack of pigment production. (I did a bit of reading and it looks like leucism can arise during development too possibly but. Point still stands.)

Point is, albinism is something an animal is born with, due to mutations in their DNA. While mutations can arise due to environmental factors, there’s nothing as I am aware that can lead to albinism is that manner.

Also, albinism is decently common in birds specifically! It’s something like 1 in every 1,500-2,000 birds shows albinism, so it’s not all that shocking to see two in the same area.

Great question though! I had to do a bit of research myself to find the answer, but then that’s the fun of science! :))) (also also you should get pictures of the birds and post them on a bird watching group site near you. There are entire scientific publications called “notes” where people can publish rare colorings of animals in their area, you may have something cool on your hands!)

[holyvomitus]

Tysm for the response! That's really interesting + I'm mainly glad to hear that it's generic and not due to something that hurts my bird friends.

The leucistic sparrow is called Beautiful Friend or Pretty Bird and she's my mom's favorite. The white winged red-winged blackbird is new and doesn't have a name yet, but their mate is territorial and bullies the dog.

Anyway, my mother loves the birds and was worried. I'll look more into the notes thing. her and my grandmother are going to lose their shit if I tell them there's somewhere to send cool bird pictures.

Thank you again! I'm glad my birds are okay and that there's a new way we can be bird nerds

[assistancerequired]

Of course!! It’s great that you like birds and are kind to them, so many people ignore their local flora and fauna it’s sad.

I tried to look up a biological notes website and it looks like they don’t exist in that format anymore, or the journals I was familiar with have changed….your best bet would probably to upload it to ebird or contact your local Audubon society/local birding group on Facebook or whatever. Heck I know that if you contacted an ornithologist at a local university they’d probably be thrilled to tell you more!

Anyway, happy birding!!! :DD

[batsandboba]

“scientists don’t want you know” is a phrase that always cracks me up because if you actually meet a scientist they will be shaking and crying like an overstimulated chihuahua with the need to let you know

[holyvomitus]

might be a weird question, but can environmental contamination cause leucistic(? the albino thing) or impact the production of whatever causes color in birds? we've had a leucistic sparrow, who I love, and that was the first we've ever seen afaik despite my family occupying this house on and off for over a century. that was cool but weird. but I just saw a red-winged blackbird with white instead of red? ik it's only been two birds so far but it's so strange. they put in an oil pipeline through some of the rez a few miles away that's leaked and I'm wondering if that could impact bird coloration? I'm not a scientist, I'm just curious bc I love my wild birds + I'm worried that there could be some health implications

[assistancerequired]

biologist here! animals are not my specialty but I can give you my best shot: albinism, and I believe leucism as well, is purely genetic, meaning it’s caused by a mutation in the genetic code that leads to a lack of pigment production. (I did a bit of reading and it looks like leucism can arise during development too possibly but. Point still stands.)

Point is, albinism is something an animal is born with, due to mutations in their DNA. While mutations can arise due to environmental factors, there’s nothing as I am aware that can lead to albinism is that manner.

Also, albinism is decently common in birds specifically! It’s something like 1 in every 1,500-2,000 birds shows albinism, so it’s not all that shocking to see two in the same area.

Great question though! I had to do a bit of research myself to find the answer, but then that’s the fun of science! :))) (also also you should get pictures of the birds and post them on a bird watching group site near you. There are entire scientific publications called “notes” where people can publish rare colorings of animals in their area, you may have something cool on your hands!)

[assistancerequired]

throwback to that time my professor gifted me a fish

[assistancerequired]

going to a conference is really the best way to remind yourself you love science like. there are SO many other people in this field and they are SO excited to tell you what they’re doing and it’s like. yes yes I am doing what I am meant to be I am meant to be with these people

[assistancerequired]

true mortification is accidentally calling the prof at like 4pm in the evening and him PICKING UP I want to die

[assistancerequired]

at the end of a lab

Student: hey do you need any help cleaning up?

Prof: no TA and I need to clean and gossip

[assistancerequired]

i have gotten INFINITELY too ok with just handling stuff in the lab with my bare hands like. petri dishes? not a problem. who cares if we're growing staph aureus on there. bring it to the library and show the children.

[assistancerequired]

my favorite part of being a TA for the botany lab is when we go out into the gardens and I start eating random flowers. always fun to freak students out! (And a good learning opportunity about edible flowers!)

[assistancerequired]

sometimes being a TA feels like I’m trying to wrangle a feral dog into being approachable to society. like yeah this is my rescue S he’s still learning it’s ok to chew your food before you swallow. he only reads primary literature sorry and sometimes he tries to eat random plants

[assistancerequired]

you know you’ve really made it in a field of science when you make a middle aged man exasperatedly say “yes, you’re right. you’re always right” in response to correcting him on something minor