Halloween Happiness

Paul and I had a tremendous amount of fun with the party and we loved having you all over! We finally got round to counting the votes today and so the top costume awards go to....insert drum here...

Most original: Victoria Parisi (Makeup Counter Doll)
Scariest: The Mad Hatter (so scary no one knows their name)
The Cutest: Melissa Allen (Garden Gnome)
The Funniest: Cat and Travis Isom (The Ambiguously Gay Duo)
Best Overall: Chris and Laura Lyles (Cochise & captured inmate)


Congratulations to all!

Update web sites...

Graduate students: please take the time to create or update web pages.

Second Hello!

Looking forward to another great semester! As Kenny Bloggins says: Keep checking periodically for Departmental events. Group outdoor activities have been of interest to many and we will see if we can get something going!

Cycling

Rock climbing

Kayaking

Camping etc....

Get outside and get healthy!

Happy Fall ---

Tori

Long Time No See

Howdy Everyone!
It has been a long time since the last post however, school is about to start and with that comes Football season! Check back periodically for some updates on what's happening!

BOOMER SOONER

Chemists Create Powdered Methane -Nature News

Published online 3 September 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1077

News
Chemists create 'powdered methane'

Gas can be stored in dry water

Click this link for article from Nature News Online

Summary:

Scientists have created powdered methane through a reaction with silica and water. The structure of the powdered methane is like that of a hydrate. Cold temperatures are required for hydrate stability but researchers are working on stability at room temperature with salts dissolved in water. It is possible that powdered methane could be used as an alternative to compressed natural gas (CNG) when production of powdered methane is economically feasible.


My comments:
Where can I get some of this stuff for my research! This is an interesting prospect, especially as we transition from fossil fuels to alternative forms of energy.

Tailgatin' For Cincinnati... BearCat Style (whatever that means)

Hi Everybody we are embarking on a Journey to bring tailgating to the masses of botany and microbiology graduate students!!! So lay down the pipettes, plant samples, save then shut down the excel sheets, and come out to celebrate OU football!!!!!! You don't necessarily have know anything about football it is all about the relaxing for a few hours not thinking about work. So come out and help us by eating some brats or burgers, playing some games, and finally cheering on OU.
Things to bring:
Chair
Beverage
Side dish (If motivated)
Yourself (with OU apparel)
Sunscreen


We will get started around noon and the game starts at 2:30 on ABC. Hopefully we will have the game on TV.


Hope to see you there

Cody

International Socitey of Microbial Ecology (ISME) Meeting 12, Cairns Australia

Hello!

ISME 12 in Cairns, Australia was a terrific meeting. The theme of the conference was "Microbial Diversity - Sustaining the Blue Planet --Where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Rainforest."

This year's winner of the Jim Tiedje award was Norman Pace. Plenary speakers included Bo Barker Jorgensen, Mitch Sogin, Roberto Kolter and Steve Lindow to name a few.

The main focus of the meeting of course was microbial ecology. There were several important talks and a variety of new techniques to apply to ecology on display. If you are interested in specifics, the abstracts are available online for viewing.

ISME 12 Cairns

ISME 13 will be in 2010 in Seattle, Washington USA. Consider this meeting. It gives you a great opportunity to network and meet the leading researchers in the field.

The society has its own journal The ISME Journal, part of the nature publishing group. Check it out.

Tori