Ocean Science Meeting 2014

5400 participants, over 3000 posters, 17 oral sessions in parallel, this Ocean Science Meeting is huge. But it is a great opportunity to learn on progresses in marine research in various fields from geology, physical oceanography to ecology and molecular biology.

The poster sessions, although huge, were great to exchange ideas and perspectives and discover so many different research, sometimes very related to our own research but in a completely different field of science.

Keeping the best for the end, the last oral session on this meeting (well one of them) will be the mesophotic coral session, and after seeing the exciting posters at the poster session yesterday, I am really looking forward to hear the last updates in the field.

Otsukaresama and Sensei's birthday party

Yesterday (Feb 19th), we had a cheerful otsukaresama party with delicious foods and drinks. Congrats to our hard work this semester especially to Taiga, Kaito, and Yu who have finished their final defense. Wishing you all the best in your next study / career.

At the end of the party we were surprised Sensei with a small-nice birthday cake. We were celebrated her birthday although it was 1 day earlier. Happy birthday Sensei!! We wish you a wonderful day and may all your wishes comes true.

Birthday month

December is a party month, not only the year-end parties are approaching but we have two birthdays in the lab. Last week was Van and today is Camille. Happy Birthday Camille!
In the last meeting we enjoyed some chocolate cake (and apple for Camille) to celebrate these.

We all look forward already for the Christmas party and for some well-deserved holidays as everybody worked hard to prepare their presentation for the Japan Coral Reef Society annual meeting, or simply to progress with their research projects.

Friday Nov 8 2013 Lab meeting

Friday is lab meeting, last week Taiga gave a presentation on the paper :

While the talk was in Japanese the slides where nicely done in English  and made for an interesting presentation.

Aiptasia from Churaumi Aquarium

           I do some of my research on the sea anemone Aiptasia, it is offed the glass anemone and considerd by most as pest that they want to get ride of.  We see them in a different light they are cnidarians, same as corals but have no sceleton that gets in the way for experiments when you want to investage whats happening at the cellular level. Which is what i plan to do with these! As my numbers of Aiptasia where getting low i need to collect some more. Their difficult to find in the ocean but fortunitly they love to grow in aquirum, and one of the best in Japan, Churaumi Aquarium, is just a short drive from here. I am very fourtnnat and thankful that they allow me to come collect the Aiptasia i need for my experiments.

News from the Cruise Day 10 (final)

Finally arrived in Auckland on Saturday, Sunday and Monday are outreach days with politicians and general public visiting the ship and learning about our research. It is nice to share our experience with the public and it is fun to see what is the most attracting the attention of the people. Sometimes it can be surprising, but it is always to discover how "innocent" eyes look at our work.
Now it is time for me to fly back for Japan and get ready to board on the next research cruise later this week.

Everything is ready for the press, politicians and public to come.

Even Shinkai "wears" its transparent outfit.

Finally public arrives in different groups.

America's cup is very present in Auckland, although after the outcome of the recent edition (NZ lost against USA after being so close from winning), this topic was a bit "taboo" on board of the ship.

News from the Cruise Day 9

On our way back to Auckland, before packing our samples and equipments, the crew of the ship organised a big barbecue on the deck to celebrate the end of the cruise. Then it takes two days to sail back to the port, during this time we summarise the results obtained, and plan our experiments. Our New Zealand colleagues need to tag and catalogue all the samples and take care of the various import and export permits. And once all this is done, then both the crew and scientists prepare the outreach even in Auckland.

Barbecue in front of the Shinkai submersible

The fancy food that the kitchen staff prepared

The "Lab No 1" where we actually spend most of our time during the cruise (when not working with samples or lying in bed because of seasickness).

Again a meal picture, but this last dinner on board with delicious sushis really deserved a picture. Eating was an important part of this cruise (and of every cruise), and now beside science objectives, scientists need to work hard to loose the weight gained on board...