Science at the Crary Lab

December 2nd, 2007 andrea Posted in news | Comments Off on Science at the Crary Lab

Yesterday Crary Lab supervisor Cara Sucher gave me and another McMurdo newbie a tour of the Crary Lab. What is unique and exciting about Crary is that scientists of very different disciplines work side by side in one building, and sometimes even share the same lab. My studio is also located in Crary, and it is great to be in such close quarters to the scientists.

Crary is divided into 3 ‘stages’. The first stage contains several biology labs including temperature controlled labs that look like large meat lockers. In these labs, specimens from the field are analyzed, and because transportation of specimens can be so difficult, a large amount of lab work is done in these labs.

The second stage contains geology labs, and is currently filled with scientists from the Andrill project, the deepest earth core drilling and paleoclimate analysis that has ever been done.

The third stage contains tanks for living specimens: fish, snails and other animals. Pictured here is a snail that has its shell inside. It looks like a yellow plastic toy, but when you hold it you can feel it moving, pretty amazing.  Click the image for more pictures of the lab.