Australia's Science Forum

Hey, Just wondering. I've had the eggs in from the beginning of the day, how long does the process usually take to complete? And is it bad if I leave them in the fridge still in the vinegar over the weekend to complete? Or will this just further break them down? Thanks! We've had ours soaking for a...

Shell1 wrote: ↑06 Jun 2019, 15:09 Try dissecting a cherry tomato. See the image in the link below (scroll halfway down). Good for ovary etc
http://www.geochembio.com/biology/organisms/tomato/

Thanks, Shell1!

Hi everyone, our HOD is at a loss of ideas for interesting reproduction pracs for her Year 8 class. May I know if you have any fun ways to teach plant & human reproduction? Besides the flower dissection, I mean.

Thanks in advance!

Hi! Has anyone tried using elodea leaves instead of spinach leaf discs for this prac? I was wondering if it would work as well, and save me time punching discs.

Hi, Can anyone recommend a first aid training provider in Brisbane for our role in the school? I am keen to go and I can't find one that caters for our unique position of dealing with both laboratory-related risks as well as student injuries/episodes that may not be science/lab related. I saw one sp...

Hi everyone, do you ever add sodium hydroxide when making up sodium thiosulfate? I made up a 0.2 M solution the straightforward way, 31.6 g in 1 L H2O, and my colleague who has been doing the job for more than 15 years said the proper way was to add 0.8 g of NaOH but she couldn't say why. I did a go...

Has anyone here had experience using these PE test tube stoppers from LabFriend?

https://www.labfriend.com.au/stoppers-for-test-tubes-pe

Seems too cheap to be any good, but was wondering if it's worth a try.

I give the senior students cut lengths of dialysis tubing The junior students get small freezer bags from Woolworths as they do the job just as well for junior students at a fraction of the cost. We do have 7 or 8 junior classes in each year group so dialysis tubing can get rather expensive for the...

Yes just cut them to size and the students do the rest, hopefully with proper guidance from the teacher. It is just useful to know how to set up the dialysis tubing in case you see a student struggling to get it done. I was originally shown by another lab tech to wet the tube under running water wh...

Her exact words were they will turn dry & yucky (not very scientific, I know). I've left out a couple of tubings that I've already tied, soaked & opened, & now letting them dry on a rack as described by @smiley. Will test them tomorrow & try to prove/disprove what she said. Yup, I ca...

Hi everyone! So I was just getting the dialysis tubings ready based on what I've learned here for a prac scheduled tomorrow afternoon, and as I was doing so, the teacher saw me & told me not to do that as it will turn dry & yucky by tomorrow & they won't be able to use it. Is that true? ...

Yup, it's open - left over from a prac. Our fridge is full of stuff that has expired so long ago & we're not encouraged to throw anything out as they may still be useful

Thanks for your replies!

Hi everyone,

This may seem like a stupid question to some but here goes... will old milk work for the junket prac (optimum temperature for enzyme action)? I have left over milk in the fridge from last year (expiry date: Sep-2017).

We use lab coats but don't hang them in racks, just kept in large plastic containers which are stored in the prep room. We put around 25 coats in 1 container (nicely folded only after they come back from washing, but after being used by a class, the students just dump them back in the container &...