EEWWWW!

Can you guess what this is?

Before I tell you, let me explain.  For his final exam grade for Biology, Night Owl has to do an experiment, write up a paper with the results, and display everything.  He came to me with what I thought was a great experiment idea.  He was going to test the various cleansers on the market, including the "green cleansers" (like Tea Tree Oil) to see which ones were most effective in killing bacteria.  "Great idea!" I said, because I really want to know. 

But ...  I didn't think about the fact that, in order to test cleansers on whether or not they killed bacteria, he would need to grow the bacteria first.  So, I now have E-Coli growing in my basement!  Yes, E-Coli. This picture was taken when he first set up the experiment.  It's down in the storage room of the basement where the little kids are afraid to go!  We used an old sliding door for a table.  The candle isn't for light, but for sterilizing the metal instrument he had to use to sterilize the Agar before putting the bacteria on it. 

I assure you that he followed strict procedures for keeping the area sterile and the little petri dishes have been well sealed so the little buggers can't escape.  I will be so thankful when this experiment is done with though, and all the E-Coli critters are safely disposed of.  I'm also curious about the cleansers.  I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed about what he's finding so far :(.  I'll post the end results when it's all said and done.