OUR Bio Labs here at Taylor are fantastic. We come into lab on our own time and do the work. Not much different than home schooling. Black counter tops serve as platforms for the most expensive microscopes I've ever seen. They're about $2,300 dollars each! The whole laboratory is beautiful. Each counter top has a jet like sink. It takes pleasure in getting you wet at every chance. Our chairs have wheels and seat adjusters. Five enormous windows give us sunlight and a gorgeous view of the Taylor campus. Trees surround us for miles and miles. Looking past the little green sprouts that the plant bio class is growing, I see the prayer chapel outside. Not far from that is the TU bell tower. It plays the most beautiful music before Chapel. I'm taking Cell Bio this semester, so what else would we explore but cells. Though we come into lab on our own time, we follow a lab manual. At first I didn't know what to expect. A thin sliver of carrot under a 40X lens meant nothing. Little did I know that I was about to enter the amazing microscopic world.
Following a lab manual is no different than following a cake recipe. You read it over a few times to get the idea and just follow the steps. My favorite thing to observe in lab this week was an onion. The sliver I cut was so thin that I would see clear through it. Under the microscope I saw a million little cells squished together, all different shapes and sizes. I put a few drops of blue dye on my slide and watched it seep under the cover slip. Like a rushing river I watched the dye collide with the water covered onion. Gazing through my oculars, or lenses, I observed swirling waves like those under the deep blue sea. I half expected to see little whales causing the swirls. The dye enhanced the onion cells as a beautiful, colored, piping design enhances a cake. I must admit it was hard to take my eyes away.
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