Yes this was my lunch and eating it led to a new research project that overturned a 100 year old dogma about triatomine bugs. Thinking about our research in a playful way has become easy after many years working with the arts and engagement. A question ‘hmm wonder if sandflies like cherry tomatoes’ led to another question by my friend and colleague Fernando Genta:

‘hey what about triatomine bugs?’

‘yes but everyone says that they only feed on blood’

‘i know but did anyone really look at this? let’s try them on cherry tomatoes’

Result a few years later was a publication: Everybody loves sugar; first report of sugar feeding in triatomines

https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-016-1401-0

 

 

 

 

Standing waiting for an autoclave to finish its cycle the other day I was struck by how our lab lives are ruled by digital displays.  I know its obvious in a way; waiting for instruments to do their thing, finish a cycle, complete sterilization and that heart thumping moment of a read out for an experiment that suggestive of exciting results.
We wait and watch machines. We are told to wait, no please, no apologies for the time taken. I did a quick of the lab and this slide show gives a quick snap shot of the number of displays in a lab which has what some might regard as the basic amount of gear.

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