A Curious Incident at the Biology Labpage 1

At first, it was just a group of micro-organisms in a test tube. But by the time I arrived at the lab, dressed in a ______(1) materials suit, we knew there was trouble. The lab technician, who had foolishly ______(2) the test tube, had not checked in as required. He was past help, sprawled on the floor, his skin green and moldy, completely covered by fungi.

My job was to assess the situation, record my findings, close the lab, and leave.

Blue-green algae______(3), ______(4) in some water in the sink. There was a small plant that had colonized a ______(5) coffee cup which still had some milk and sugar in it.

I set up a microscope and scooped up a sample of the sludge in the sink. There were both unicellular and multicellular ______(6). Some were moving, a characteristic of living ______(7). As I watched, two cells came together, exchanged substances from the nuclei of their cells, then each reproduced into two new cells. Clearly, they had adapted to lab environment.

I ______(8) pictures through the microscope. One cell had a rigid outer layer, a cell wall. In the center was a ______(9) spot, probably the nucleus. At higher magnification I could see ______(10) in the nucleus, probably DNA.

Some cells didn’t have a nucleus. “Are they bacteria?” I recorded. And some just had a ______(11)nucleus without any cell wall. “A new virus, definitely.”

“There are cells with and without nuclei, both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Different species, perhaps?” I recorded. Then I saw a large cell______(12) a smaller one. “Like a protozoa, it eats other cells! Definitely a heterotroph, not an autotroph.”

The sludge in the sink had started to change ______(13), then get larger, and finally ______(14) a bar of soap on the sink rim. “I think I’m seeing evolution happen!” I recorded.

Suddenly, my leg ______(15). I looked down at a small animal with primitive legs and a single eye that was ______(16) up my pants leg, warming the material from its heat energy, the result of its biological activity. I began to ______(17). The lab cabinet of chemicals had a bottle of ______(18), and I splashed some on this ______(19) animal. ______(20)!!! That stopped it, but I decided to leave the lab!

“It doesn’t look like these alien organisms will reach homeostasis within the lab,” I quickly recorded. “And I don’t know how long their lifespans will be! I’m getting out of ______(21).

___ here. Get the flame-throwers ready!”