Two very successful weeks in the lab.
We have continued running data on the worms with the blue laser. We changed the scale on the x axis of the picoscope software to collect data in intervals of 10 seconds per frame instead of 1 second per frame. This is the match the data from over the summer. Sadly, we found out that we have been collecting data with the intensity of the laser at too high of a value. Mostly we had been using the laser at a power of about 5mW. Over the summer they ran data with the laser at a power of around 1.5mW. In order to add to the data from over the summer, we must have the same power. Therefore all the trials we ran with 5mW, will not be useful for this data analysis. Hopefully we can find a use for those data sets.
We had to realign the laser some because it happened to somehow be out of alignment. Later in week nine we realized that the picoscope was reading a very low value for the power of the laser. We think it was due to the fact that Brian turned all the photo diodes off one day.
This brings us to the end of the semester. After a bit of a slow start, in order to get accumulated with the lab, I think we had a very successful semester. We came to a realization that we cannot get that much work done in the lab during the semester due to the sheer lack of time. Over the summer, approximately 40 hours a week are spent working in the lab, while we only spent 3.5 hours a week in the lab this semester. I look forward to continuing research next semester, and hopefully starting some data analysis to find out what our data is really telling us!