Aditya Srinath

It has been an eventful few weeks...

posted July 20, 2016

It has been an eventful few weeks since my last blog post. After that post, our Biodiversity group has been on numerous trips, where we actively studied in the field, learning the geology of volcanic rocks, or digging up and observing fossils. Our first trip was to a rocky cliff side near a raging coast side. That day’s cool, foggy morning was the perfect time to be looking and observing fossils. The sea cliffs were majestic and told a million year old tale of prehistoric shellfish. Although we were not allowed to take the preserved specimens with us, we took many great pictures! Our latest adventure was actually an overnight field trip where we pitched tents and resided in Pinnacles National Park. On our first day there, we stopped twice to find AND ACTUALLY KEEP the fossils we found! One cliff was filled with the fossils of molluscs and other shellfish, while the other cliff contained fossilized crabs, which were unique. On the second day, we climbed Mount Vesuvius, or at least it felt like it. Going up and down the mountain was around 3 miles in the blazing heat, but it was worth it.

An important topic that we started on was our Research Projects. These end-of-the-internship projects allows us to separate into small groups and use the knowledge we have learnt over the summer and utilize it to answer the claim. What my group’s project topic is is the contrast in species longevity and mass between mammals and reptiles. Well, those were the main topics with what's happened so far. I have not realized how quickly the summer has gone by, and I will miss this internship!

An Internship of Interest

posted June 29, 2016

Just before starting, I’d like to say that this internship blew me out of the water. This might be due to it being my first internship, but its still extremely awesome.

My first 2 weeks at Stanford in the Biodiversity program have been a fun introduction to the beginning of summer. I came into this internship to learn about the wonders of paleobiology, and I definitely got that! After the first day of orientation, we quickly got to work. Our main goal these last 2 weeks has been Data Collection for Nematodes. Nematodes are microscopic “worms”, and although they may seem insignificant and simple, they are very interesting and diverse. With partners, our task was to catalog the different scientific information of different species of nematodes by looking through multiple books. So far, my partner and I have typed down 280 different species of nematodes, and we’re still not done. The Data Collection has opened my eyes to a whole world of microscopic life that I would have overlooked previously.

Along with the Data Collection, another highlight was learning the new programming language. R is a code used for statistics, and we will be using it to possibly aid us in Data Collection. I have practiced with programming before, so I’ve had a little experience. R seems interesting and Im looking forward to use it more.

Well, that’s been the main things for 2 weeks so far. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s coming up over the next few weeks, including the upcoming field trips!