People of Earth!

Here is an official update on the Fortuna situation.

With the help of Jim Dalling and Arturo Morris I was able to locate and identify the species I am interested in studying. I collected these and brought them back to the STRI-station and planted them in soil. After the construction of the grow-house, I was eager to start the experiment, but a number of things prevented this. Including:

1. One of the chemicals I wanted to feed to the plants--RNA--proved utterly insoluble in water. I'd never have guessed this looking at the MSDS and Sigma-Aldrich spec-sheets, but its true. So I had to go back to Panama City, via an 8-hour bus, and spend some time at the Tupper labs figuring out how to dissolve it.

After contacting another researcher--Alex Cheeseman--at the University of Florida, and working with Ben Turner, we decided to try a 1% dillution (10 mg RNA/1 mL water) in a solution containing EDTA. EDTA is a molecule that surrounds stubbornly insoluble ions with charged groups and pulls them into solution. But EDTA and increased dillution wasn't enough. I also used a sonicator--a device that produces high frequency sound, to shake and heat the solution into submission. Judging from the headache I got from using the device, it is also an implement of torture. The yellow-tinted product was the source of much mental taxation.

2. I didn't have enough pots for the plants and these were late in being sent

3. I didn't have enough deionized water and foolishly waited for it to be sent along with the pots

4. The sand needed to be re-washed in acid to ensure I'd gotten rid of all the calcium carbonate.

5. One of the species has a very high mortality rate from transplant shock. This had to be recollected.

Every time I think I'm out, something seems to pull me back in.

Luckily, McKenna's visit provided a means to get another biologist on the case. Together we were able to get the experiment started. We collected species that had died waiting and transplanted three species into sand. The protocol for feeding the plants hydroponic solution with one of four different types of phosphorus was calculated before-hand. Viola!

Of course, some of the plants are dying from transplant shock. In particular, one species (Oreomunnia mexicana) is almost entirely dead. The experiment is running but all of the species have yet to be transplanted. The key is every day to build it more than it fell apart the day before.

The above rhyme was entirely improvised and makes a good mantra. My other mantra is "chill out". Other mantras have been suggested, such as "be patient and stay calm, good things will come to you." My brother suggests "Rome wasn't built in a day."

My response: "Rome wasn't built in six months either."