Australia's Science Forum

I asked our supplier which oil to use a few years ago and he sent me this. (The vacuum pump looks the same as MissKat's).

I did it a couple of years ago. Got selected for 2 short (4--5 day) trials. Some people did nothing but come and go. They predict the length of a trial and ask if there's any problems. One was predicted 7 weeks, and I had an interstate holiday booked 8 weeks away. I still had to go into court for se...

On the subject of nuts We are not 'nut free' but students are encouraged not to bring nuts or nut products to school. However, nuts are used in Home Ec for cooking. Do 'nut aware' schools use nuts in Home Ec.?? What about senior classes where students and teachers are aware of allergies and act acco...

Went to a CSIRO excursion with biology students, and they plated samples of E.coli, which are now in my incubator. The facilitator used parafilm around the edge of the plates to seal them, one peice stretched the whole way round. Had never thought of this, we just use sticky tape. Does anyone else u...

I put my microwave in the fume hood when nuking the plates - no nasty smells or aerosols. I used to find the oven bags occasionally broke when using a pressure cooker, and the steam and stench when I removed the lid! :yuck: The pressure cooker here is quite shallow, and one day the bag blocked the s...

Hi all I also love the microwave for preparing agar, but don't go so well at 'nuking' the plates after use. How do you stop the oven bags from exploding!!!! :yuck: On high power they blow up, but on low power it doesn't boil. I use two oven bags but still manage to have a disgusting mess if I don't ...