Oh science....this week made me think of a quote I was told
by my up and coming scientist buddy Jamie, it goes: “Science-if your experiment
works the first time around, you’re not doing it right.” That sums up my week.
I spend an entire week writing and testing the protocol for my experiment,
Novel Object Recognition. It has never been done by anyone in my lab so I’m in
charge of figuring it out. I was careful to make sure I had everything perfect.
Finally, after a week of preparations, I did my first ‘real’
test in which I would actually collect
data. Of course, it did not go as planned. The camera was having difficulty
tracking the mice, the mice were running around as if they had never seen the
arena (completely ignoring the objects), and the software was switching around
parameters at random. Thus, I’ve spent this week reviewing my protocol with a
fine toothed comb. Even though I was very distraught at my failed experiment, I
remain optimistic that when I re-test it on Saturday, everything will go according
to plan!
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