April 23, 2016 at 01:18AM

Tody I Learned: 1) Apparently much of Chicago was built on swampland and straight-up water. This was accomplished largely by importing vast swaths of nearby dune-sand and filling in the land until it could support buildings. Also, the swampy ground of Chicago forced architects to come up with more sturdy building methods like steel framing, which is how we got skyscrapers. Go building-in-swamps! Cred to Mengsha Gong. 2) The poodle was originally bred for helping waterfowel hunters collect their catches. The traditional poodle haircut is descended from a style designed to keep the poor dog's joints when wet. Also, the word "poodle" probably comes from a german name "Pudelhound", which translates quite directly to "splashing-about-dog". ALSO, there are some ridiculous old drawings/paintings/engravings of old poodles on the Wiki poodle page. 3) Old thermal cyclers are ridiculous. For one thing, their interfaces suck, but I knew that already. Also, they tend not to have terribly many spots for tubes, and many don't have heated lids (which normally keep water from condensing on top of the sample tube -- without it, you have to cover your sample with mineral oil to prevent evaporation). But I kind of knew those problems, too. What I was *not* expecting was a thermal cycler designed for 0.6 mL tubes instead of the usual 0.2 mL tubes (formally known as "PCR tubes", as they're SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR PCR IN THERMAL CYCLERS). Also, you can get a thermal cycler for less than $150 on ebay if you don't care how much space it takes and you're willing to be limited to 24 samples at a time. For a nice (non-gradient) thermal cycler, you're looking at between $500 and $1,200, and for anything with all the bells and whistles, you're looking at dropping more than $1,000.