How Can I Fail

[tanarill]

to grow bacteria? They are everywhere! And somehow, I failed to grow live bacteria!

Right. Next time there will be a pipet, and a lot less fire in the area, and we shall see who fails to grow live bacteria.

Also, a Thing called agar-agar. It comes from a seaweed. You can dissolve it in a 1% solution (wt/vol), which means one gram agar-agar to 100 mL water. This can be done by heating the water in the microwave and stirring. The agar dissolves pretty fast. Then you can pour it out, and leave it at room temperature, and it will set up within 20 minutes into a gel. We use it to measure length of DNA.

It's also edible. You can buy it at the the Fillipino store, and it makes vegan jell-o.

Isn't learning fun?

Comments

[everbright]

Agar-agar, the main component in shelf-stable 'jelly' snacks. I ran afoul of a bag of yuzu flavored agar-agar cubes that were somewhere between soft licorice and cold bubble-gum. They were just barely chewy. Ick. I also think jello is an offense against humanity, so I guess I'm just never going to get on the right side of that liquid-but-firm texture.

Sorry about the failure of bacteria! Is it difficult bacteria?

[tanarill]

Well, it is all right. I will just take your share of the jell-o. I like it, but Kosher jell-o is rare and expensive, so agar-agar is a revelation.

Not particularly. Anyway, it turned out I didn't fail to grow it so much as fail to grow it in two hours. Apparently the ballpark number I got from H. was wrong, wrong, so very wrong, and I had oodles of bacteria the next day.

[everbright]

Yay! A round of inexpensive gelatin substance for everyone (but me!):D

That's really quite nice, that it wasn't anything you did wrong. I suppose the bacteria just took a little bit to hit critical mass and start reproducing at a visible rate.

[rtydmartel]

I've eaten candy/gummy-type-thing made of agar-agar and it is delicious. :D

I had no idea that it could also be used in the name of Science! What can't it do?!