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How to Handle, Store, and Repair Microscope Slides

Carolina™ prepared microscope slides provide an essential component for the in-depth study of botany, zoology, histology, embryology, parasitology, genetics, and pathology. After receiving your slides, proper care will keep them in good condition and make them last as long as possible. In the following paragraphs, we’ll discuss the handling, storage, and repair of prepared slides.

Handling

Teach students proper slide handling and slides can be used year after year. Slides should be held by the edges, avoiding the cover glass area. Always begin viewing a slide using the microscope’s lowest magnification. This reduces the risk of contact by the microscope’s objective lens. Afterwards, switch to a higher magnification if needed.

Keep the microscope’s objective lens and other objects from coming into contact with a slide. Pressure on the cover glass can cause it to break or loosen. When finished viewing, remove the slide from the microscope and place it in its storage container. Leaving the slide on the illuminated stage for extended periods of time can cause fading and other damage.

When slides get soiled, you can clean them with soapy water or isopropyl alcohol. Do not immerse slides in water or soak them in it. This loosens the cover glass adhesive, causing the cover glass to come off and possibly ruin the slide.

Storage

To keep your prepared microscope slides in good condition, always store them in a container made for the purpose and away from heat and bright light. The ideal storage area is a cool, dark location, such as a closed cabinet in a temperature-controlled room. Stained slides naturally fade over time. Keeping them in a cool, dark location helps slow down the process.

Slides should be kept horizontal (flat) with the specimen side up. If they are stored on edge, the cover glass or specimen may shift out of position. Take care not to stack slides on top of one another or apply pressure to the cover glass.

Repair

Common problems include a broken slide or cover glass, bubbles in the mounting agent, and specimens shifted to the edge of the cover glass. If a slide or cover glass is broken, dispose of it and replace it immediately to prevent anyone from being cut. The adhesive used to attach a cover glass to a slide is applied as a liquid. As the liquid dries, it only hardens around the edges of the cover glass. With rough handling this seal can crack or loosen, allowing the liquid to ooze out. You can fix a broken seal by applying a small amount of fresh mounting media to the break. Clear nail polish sometimes works if you don’t have any mounting media handy.

Most slide repairs require some amount of skill. Often it is easier and more cost effective to replace the slide rather than to repair it.

Which Electrophoresis Kit Is Right for You?

Use this companion guide to compare kit characteristics so you can prepare yourself and your lab accordingly.

Electrophoresis of DNA is a fundamental technique in biotechnology that covers a variety of subject material on the structure and function of DNA. Carolina makes the study of electrophoresis attainable for any classroom by offering a number of kits that include valuable teacher resources.

Use this guide to compare kit characteristics so you can prepare yourself and your lab accordingly. No matter what your needs are, we have the right kit for you. If you already use Carolina kits, you might discover a new kit to try with your students!

Type of Samples # of Samples Restriction Digest Required Type of Enzyme Restriction Type of Stain Equipment Included
Beginner Kits
Exploring Electrophoresis of Dyes dyes 6 none none
Best for teaching: The Principles of Electrophoresis.
Scenario: Use dyes and subject them to electrophoresis to determine their relative size.
Exploring Electrophoresis and Forensics Kit DNA 4 none CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: The Principles of DNA Fingerprinting.
Scenario: Analysis of crime scene whereby DNA evidence is collected from the crime scene, victim and two suspects.
Exploring Electrophoresis of DNA DNA 3 none CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Demonstrate the action of restriction enzymes on DNA.
Scenario: Analyze banding pattern of pre-digested DNA when compared to uncut DNA samples after electrophoresis.
Introductory Gel Electrophoresis dyes 8 none none
Best for teaching: The Principles of Electrophoresis.
Scenario: Use dyes and subject them to electrophoresis to determine their relative size.
Type of Samples # of Samples Restriction Digest Required Type of Enzyme Restriction Type of Stain Equipment Included
Intermediate Kits
Nature’s Dice – A Genetic Screening Simulation DNA 24 lyophilized CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Mendelian genetics and inheritance, using molecular biology.
Scenario: Perform and analyze a genetic screen on a fictitious family tree. Discover either an Autosomal Recessive or Sex Linked Trait.
Exploring Restriction Analysis and Electrophoresis of DNA DNA 4 lyophilized CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Demonstrate the action of restriction enzymes on DNA.
Scenario: Setup restriction digests of lambda DNA using three different enzymes. Separate the digested samples by electrophoresis and analyze.
Restriction Enzyme and DNA DNA 4 lyophilized CarolinaBLU & GelGreen
Best for teaching: Restriction Analysis of Bacteriophage DNA.
Scenario: Lambda DNA is digested using three separate enzymes and analyzed.
DNA Restriction Analysis DNA 4 wet CarolinaBLU & Ethidium Bromide
Best for teaching: Restriction Analysis of Bacteriophage DNA.
Scenario: Lambda DNA is digested using three separate enzymes and analyzed.
Restriction Mapping of Plasmid DNA DNA 4 none CarolinaBLU
Best of teaching: Restriction Mapping of a Plasmid using DNA fragments.
Scenario: Use restriction analysis to piece together a plasmid map from digested DNA fragments.
PCR Forensics Simulation DNA 6 none CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Demonstrating the concepts of DNA fingerprinting and PCR.
Scenario: Use a real world scenario to solve a crime by analyzing two loci in a DNA fingerprint.
Outbreak! Fingerprinting Virus DNA DNA 3 none CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: DNA Analysis of fictional virus.
Scenario: Play the roles of epidemiologists and identify an unknown virus strain using electrophoresis and fragment analysis.
Restriction Enzyme Cleavage of DNA DNA 3 none CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Concepts of electrophoresis and restriction enzymes.
Scenario: Perform an electrophoresis with predigested samples with respective enzymes and analyze results. Determine fragment size, calculate relative mobility and use drylabs in this classic lab.
Fast Gels DNA 6 none CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Electrophoresis in 15 minutes, using a real world scenario!
Scenario: Choose from two impactful scenarios: Fish DNA fingerprinting or Colon Cancer Testing.
Type of Samples # of Samples Restriction Digest Required Type of Enzyme Restriction Type of Stain Equipment Included
Advanced Kits
Forensic DNA Fingerprinting DNA 4 wet CarolinaBLU & GelGreen
Best for teaching: Advanced techniques in forensic DNA fingerprinting and analysis.
Scenario: Perform plasmid isolation, restriction analysis and electrophoresis of samples taken from a “crime scene” then compare the DNA profiles for a match.
Restriction Mapping of Lambda DNA DNA 3 wet CarolinaBLU
Best for teaching: Restriction Mapping of Lambda DNA using restriction enzymes.
Scenario: Assemble a map of the lambda virus using fragments of DNA digested with three different restriction enzymes.

3 things to consider before you purchase electrophoresis kit(s)

1. What equipment do I already have available?

Before performing electrophoresis, consider what type of equipment (if any) you have available. Whether you have equipment from our biotechnology line or none at all, we have a kit for your classroom. Look for a checkmark in the “Equipment Included” column.

  • All of the electrophoresis kits we sell are compatible with our biotechnology equipment.
  • Our Exploring Electrophoresis kits include all of the equipment and materials to run an electrophoresis.

2. Which electrophoresis topics do I want to teach?

Our labs cover numerous topics within electrophoresis, including the basic principles of electrophoresis, restriction enzymes, DNA fingerprinting, and PCR. Kits may include a combination of these subjects. Check out the “Best for teaching” recommendation.

3. What skill level are my students?

Consider both skill level and appropriateness of subject matter when choosing a kit. For instance, if your class has loaded undigested DNA and run an electrophoresis, but has not performed a restriction digest, choosing a kit that requires students to piece together a plasmid map from DNA fragments will not be a good fit. A kit that requires you to run pre-digested samples and discuss the action of restriction enzymes on DNA would be an appropriate kit to develop your students’ skills. Look for kits in the appropriate skill level section for your class.

Kit scenarios

You may also want to consider the investigative scenario demonstrated in each kit. Many of our kits offer real-world scenarios. Students can play a forensic scientist recreating a crime scene, an epidemiologist investigating the origin of a virus, or a medical professional tracking heritable diseases, to name a few. Using this criterion can be especially helpful when you’re covering cross-curricular concepts–a forensics class with the crime scene scenario, for instance, or a statistics class with the epidemiological scenario.

Choosing the right type of DNA stain has implications on the equipment you’ll use, and more importantly, your and your students’ safety. Carolina offers ethidium bromide-free alternatives such as the CarolinaBLU™ and GelGreen™ dyes that use a white light box and LED blue transilluminators, respectively.

Check out our free video resources for a how-to guide on preparing and pouring a gel and loading a gel for electrophoresis.

What Are Owl Pellets?

owl pellets

See what you can learn about birds by studying the pellets they leave behind.

Most birds cannot chew their food, and owls are no exception. Owls usually swallow their prey whole. Owls differ from other species of birds because they do not have a crop, the baglike organ used to store food after it has been swallowed so that it can be digested later. In owls, food passes directly from the mouth to the gizzard. The gizzard is an organ that uses digestive fluids and bits of sand and gravel to grind and dissolve usable tissue from the prey.

The types of tissue that can be dissolved by an owl’s digestive system include muscle, fat, skin, and internal organs. These tissues are broken down into a variety of nutritional substances by the owl’s gizzard and intestines. Some of these tissues (e.g., fur and bones) cannot be digested. The digestible material, along with other waste collected throughout the body, is ejected from the vent, which is the combination reproductive and excretory opening in birds. The pasty white excrement is known as urea. It is rich in nitrogen and similar to urine in mammals, only thicker.

What happens to the indigestible material?

Indigestible material left in the gizzard such as teeth, skulls, claws, and feathers are too dangerous to pass through the rest of the owl’s digestive tract. To safely excrete this material, the owl’s gizzard compacts it into a tight pellet that the owl regurgitates. The regurgitated pellets are known as owl pellets.

Owl pellets are useful to researchers because they can find out quite a bit about an owl’s lifestyle through careful examination of the pellet’s contents. Since most of the prey’s bones are not actually broken during the attack and the subsequent digestion process, they can be readily identified in the pellet. Most pellets include a skull or skulls, which makes identification of the prey relatively simple. If an owl consumes multiple prey in a short period of time, it forms one large pellet from the remains.

Large owls are obviously capable of making large pellets. However, since large owls do not always eat large prey, one cannot always determine the size of the owl that left a given pellet solely based on the size of the pellet. In addition, a startled owl may eject a pellet that is not fully compacted, thereby giving the pellet a larger appearance than normal. Other species of birds such as hawks and eagles produce pellets, but they are smaller and contain fewer animal parts than those produced by owls.

Skulls and other bones can be found during an owl pellet dissection.

Storing and regurgitating pellets

An owl pellet generally reaches its final form a few hours after the owl has eaten. However, the pellet is not usually ejected immediately after it is formed. Owls can store a pellet in a structure known as the proventriculus for as long as 20 hours before disgorging it. Since the stored pellet partially blocks the entrance to the digestive system, it must be ejected before the owl can eat again. Young owls do not produce pellets until they have begun to eat their prey whole.

The actual process of regurgitating a pellet lasts from a few seconds to several minutes. The pellet is forced out by spasms of the owl’s esophagus. These spasms make the owl look like it is coughing painfully. However, it is not hurt by the process because the pellet remains soft and moist until it leaves the owl’s body.

Identifying pellets

The shape and texture of a given owl pellet depends on the species of the owl that produced it and the type of prey that the owl consumed. Some pellets are tightly compacted, oval, and furry. Others are loosely compacted with an irregular shape. Pellets are moist when they are first ejected, but quickly dry out and start to decompose once they leave the owl’s body. Owl pellets are typically found near places where owls perch, such as under trees and near barns.

Barn Owl pellets are typically medium sized, smooth, cylindrical, and dark. The tiny Elf Owl has a very small pellet that is dry and loosely compacted, a result of its largely insect diet. The Great Horned Owl can produce pellets that are 3 to 4 inches long. These pellets are usually cylindrical and tightly compacted. The exterior of the pellet can vary greatly due to the vast array of prey that Great Horned Owls consume.

Owl pellet dissection resources

An owl pellet dissection gives students a glimpse into the life of an animal they may never see in the wild. Pellets tell us what the owl eats, where it is likely to roost, what small mammals live nearby, and even the relative proportions of those animals. Safe owl pellet dissections can build toward several NGSS standards across grade levels.

 

Storage and Disposal of Preserved Specimens

Easy. Reliable. Secure.

Many dissection labs can spread across multiple class periods and days at a time. Whether you’re looking to preserve specimens for only a few months or a much longer period, Carolina has you covered.

Vacuum-packed specimens

Vacuum-packed specimens are stored in vacuum-sealed, leak-proof plastic barrier bags. Specimens are offered as either single-packed (one specimen per bag) or bulk-packed (more than one specimen per bag). Single-packed bags are easy to distribute to students in small groups, while bulk-packed bags are ideal for teachers looking to use more than one specimen at once. Quantity discounts are only available for bulk-packed bags. 

In order to retain moisture of the specimens and fend off mold growth, Carolina’s Wetting Solution can be used between dissection labs. After spraying specimens with the solution, they can be returned to the vacuum-sealed bags and sealed with clips or rubber bands. This bag can be placed within a second resealable bag for added protection.

Disposal Methods

Disposal of specimens has never been easier than with Carolina’s Perfect Solution®. However, before disposing of any specimens or fluids, it is advised to contact local waste or wastewater authorities to confirm that the disposal procedure is acceptable at your school. It is also important to address disposal with a supervisor if your school contains its own septic system or aerobic waste treatment system.

Specimens stored in Carolina’s Perfect Solution® can generally be disposed of in a school’s regular waste. These specimens do not fall under hazardous waste and do not pose a biohazardous threat. It is recommended to double bag any specimens that are being disposed of as an additional precaution.

Fluids involved in pails containing Carolina’s Perfect Solution® can be put down the sink and washed down with lots of water. The fluid is not classified as chemical waste.

It is still important to wear appropriate PPE when disposing of Carolina specimens and fluids, including gloves, an apron, and splash goggles, and to work in a well ventilated area.

 

Why Carolina Perfect Solution® Specimens?

Safe. Quality. Convenient.

Carolina’s commitment to providing the highest quality specimens has led to Carolina’s Perfect Solution, a unique and revolutionary fixative that is improving the conditions of lab dissections. 

  • No formalin odour
  • Natural texture and colour
  • Non toxic 
  • No ventilation required
  • Regular garbage disposal  

See the difference between Perfect Solution Specimens and Traditional Specimens.

No need to compromise

Provide your students with higher quality preserved specimens, and an enhanced dissection experience while also increasing the safety of the learning environment. Carolina’s Perfect Solution is a great alternative to traditional formaldehyde-preserved specimens.

Carolinas Perfect Solution offers multiple injection options which alters the number of colours visible in the specimens. These injections are useful in helping students better understand the anatomy of specimens. For beginner level students, a plain injection may be best. There are also latex injections that are used for a more enhanced study, with different colour options. Single injection highlights red arteries, double injection highlights red arteries and blue veins, and triple injection includes red arteries, blue veins, and yellow hepatic systems. Vivid colours allow for easy identification of internal tissues, organs, and systems.

Our goal is to provide the best and safest preserved specimens available. Carolina’s unique preservation method provides slow firming action that results in more life-like tissues and organs with natural colours and texture. Tissues are pliable and easy to dissect. Perfect Solution specimens last just as long as formalin specimens, and refrigeration is not required for long term storage, they can be kept at room temperature out of direct sunlight. In addition, no harmful chemicals such as glutaraldehyde are used in the fixing process (common in traditional formalin specimens).

Independent, certified laboratory analysis of specimens fixed in Carolina’s Perfect Solution have found them to be nontoxic and free of dangerous off-gassing. Classrooms and labs using these specimens do not require specialized ventilation. However, some active ventilation is recommended when working with any preserved specimens or chemicals. Due to the safe nature of Carolina’s Perfect Solution, there are no mandated disposal requirements. Be sure to check with local sewer and landfill authorities, as procedures may vary. 


Which Bullfrog Would You Rather Dissect?

Carolina’s Perfect Solution® Specimen

  • Vivid colours allow for easy identification of internal tissues, organs, and systems
  • Expertly injected to facilitate studies of the circulatory system
  • Tissues are pliable and easy to dissect

 

Carolina Biological Products Named Best-in-Class for K to 12 Science Teaching and Learning in National STEM Awards

Educators Pick Best of STEM® 2023 Awards recognize innovative STEM products for education that go above and beyond to inspire today’s teachers, students and science classes

BURLINGTON, NC, Aug. 30, 2023 – Carolina Biological is proud to announce that its products won a number of new science education awards. Leading K-12 science supplier Carolina Biological Supply Company won four prestigious national Educators Pick Best of STEM® 2023 Awards and earned Finalist in two more categories. The awards are the only competition in which products are reviewed and judged only by STEM educators. Thirty-four awards total were given in thoughtful and important categories tailored to STEM education. The awards program, operated in partnership with the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), MCH Strategic Data and the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), spotlights innovative products, technologies, and services that are changing the world of STEM education.

Winners were chosen for qualities such as alignment with NGSS standards, the use of simulations, instructional support for teachers, and the flexibility of implementation for different modes of instruction across all STEM topics. Carolina Biological Supply Company was awarded for: Building Blocks of Science® 3D won “Bridging the Gap—English Language Learners: Science & Literacy,” Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™ won “Best of STEM: Most Comprehensive Culturally Relevant Teaching,” and Carolina® Healthcare Simulations Kit Series: Blood Typing Kit won “CTE Training: Health Science—Training Kits” and Carolina Distance Learning® Online Gateway HyFlex won a “Trailblazer Award: Hybrid Learning Superhero.” Carolina also received Finalist status for 3-D Earth and Space Science Kits for “Best of STEM: Environmental Science” and CRISPR in a Box™ Kit for “Trailblazer: Biotechnology Innovator.”

Products were judged first by an expert panel of judges. Then, more than 267,000 STEM educators were invited to evaluate the finalists via survey. For information about the awards program, visit www.bestofstemawards.com. Carolina has won eight Educator’s Pick Best of STEM awards over the last three years, demonstrating breadth and depth of high-quality products, curricula and teacher resources in K-16 education. Awards have been earned in such subjects as elementary and middle-school science, biology, chemistry, physical science, environmental science, career technical education (CTE), and anatomy and physiology.

“Carolina employees put their hearts and minds into developing new products to support science teachers at all instructional levels,” said Jim Parrish, CEO of Carolina Biological. “It’s rewarding to have those we care so much about affirm our work and mission with Educators Pick Best of STEM® 2023 Awards.”

“Our development staff works closely with science teachers to develop products that will excite and engage their students,” said Mark Meszaros, Vice President of Carolina Biological’s Core Product Management and Innovation. “I am grateful that we were able to address these difficult to teach topics and be recognized by our peers in science education.”

“This recognition highlights Carolina’s dedication to fostering inclusive and effective learning environments that empower students in science and STEM, said Karen Stevens, Vice President of Carolina Biological’s Curriculum. “This is the second Best of STEM award for Building Blocks of Science® 3D, which reinforces Carolina’s commitment to support all students by ensuring that language barriers do not hinder students’ opportunities to excel. And we’re thrilled that Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™ was recognized for Most Comprehensive Culturally Relevant Teaching. Developed with support from the Smithsonian Institution — the world’s largest cultural institution – culturally relevant teaching is crucial for engaging students from diverse backgrounds and making STEM subjects accessible to all.”

“We are thrilled and honored to receive the Educators Pick Best of STEM® 2023 Awards, ‘Trailblazer Award: Hybrid Learning Superhero’ for our groundbreaking Carolina Distance Learning product for college, Carolina Online Gateway, HyFlex,” said Shannon McGurk, Vice President of Carolina Biological’s Carolina Distance Learning. “This recognition reaffirms our commitment to revolutionizing education through innovation and hybrid learning solutions. Carolina Online Gateway represents a new era of educational tools, providing educators and students with a comprehensive platform designed to elevate the college distance learning experience.”

All four of Carolina’s winning products and the two finalists are available now through Carolina. For information, visit carolina.com or call (800) 334-5551 to speak to a customer service or technical representative.

Carolina’s 2023 Best-in-Class Winners:

The first winner, setting the standard in 3D learning and 3D assessment, is the Smithsonian Science for the Classroom curriculum. It provides cohesive storylines, superior teacher support, and research-supported instructional design that is backed by proven results. Smithsonian Science for the Classroom is a high-quality core science and engineering curriculum program specifically developed to meet the NGSS. This elementary curriculum is designed to engage, inspire, and connect grades K to 5 students firsthand to the world around them through engaging and hands-on lessons.

Next, Carolina Biological’s second winner, Building Blocks of Science 3D provides hands-on unit kits for students in grades K to 5. This complete, phenomena-based program combines interactive investigations, literacy components, and digital resources to teach students science content and investigative skills in manageable 30-minute lessons. The program also integrates engineering into every grade and includes everything teachers need for their entire class for every lesson with hands-on materials, print, and digital simulations.

In addition, the third winner, Carolina® Healthcare Simulations Kit Series: Blood Typing Kit, is a Career Technical Education (CTE) series that asks students to practice clinical skills, techniques, and procedures. While performing a series of investigations, in addition to gaining an understanding of human anatomy and physiology, students learn and practice skills that can be used in a healthcare setting using safe simulated samples. Each activity includes a case study that provides students with background information about a patient who presents with relevant symptoms. The series consists of Blood Hematocrit, Blood Glucose, Blood Typing, Urinalysis, and a Vital Signs Kit. More real-world CTE kits in the series are coming soon.

The fourth winner, Carolina Distance Learning® Online Gateway HyFlex, is for college level and includes lab kits and materials that produce great results for college students, at home or on campus. A HyFlex class allows students to attend class in person, synchronously online, or asynchronously online. That flexibility gives students the opportunity to attend class who, due to circumstances, might not otherwise be able to do so. It also gives institutions the opportunity to increase enrollment and the number of courses they can offer.

Growing Tomatoes With the Greenhouse Sense & Control Kit

Over the last couple of months, AYVA Educational Solutions has been growing tomato plants from the Let’s Talk Science Tomatosphere project. In this project, you are given two unknown packets of seeds, labeled T and U. One packet of seeds have been to space, while the other has not. The purpose of this experiment is to germinate and grow the tomato plants from both packets, tracking their growth, and hypothesizing which plants are the space seeds! You can guess which ones you think are the space seeds in the survey at the bottom of this post! Submit your hypothesis and you will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a free PASCO Wireless Temperature Sensor! If you would like to find out which seeds have been to space we encourage you to participate in this fantastic program!! Sign up for your own packet of seeds here.

We used PASCO’s ST-2997 Greenhouse Sense and Control Kit to monitor and regulate conditions for optimal growth! By researching the optimal growing conditions for a tomato plant, we adjusted the levels of the greenhouse system to meet those needs.

Using Blockly, we block coded the Greenhouse conditions we desired, programming a 24 hour sunlight and watering cycle, and ensuring the temperature stayed at 23 degrees Celsius at all times. Once the code was exported into the //control.Node, we planted 3 seeds from each packet on the appropriate sides (T or U).

We tracked the growth of our plants from January 20th to March 31st, as they developed, they went from seeds to leafy plants.

After just one week of being inside the Greenhouse, three out of six seeds germinated and sprouted! As a couple more weeks went by, two more seeds sprouted. Unfortunately, one seed (on the T side) did not germinate. Overall totaling three plants on the U side, two on the T side. At this point, we hypothesized which of the seeds had been to space and which had not, and wrote down our predictions to compare to the results later on. You can share your predictions in the survey at the bottom of this post, and find out which seeds were the space seeds!

In the fourth week of growth we decided to name the plants so that they could be more easily identified, charted, and referred to. On the U side, we named the tomato plants Tennessee, Toby, and Tiny Tim. Then on the T side, we named the plants Thiara and Theodore. Tiny Tim was the smallest plant during the beginning of the growth period, while Tennessee was the largest of the seedlings. Thiara also germinated the latest of any of the seeds, excluding the one seed that never sprouted. She quickly caught up to the others though, and in the 4th week she was the 3rd tallest of them.

After 6 weeks of growth, the plants were beginning to falter as they combatted against one another for nutrients and water. To replenish what they lost, we decided to separate the plants. Three of the plants, Tennessee, Tiny Tim and Thiara were moved to their own pots. However, Toby and Theodore remained in the self-regulating greenhouse to continue identical conditions. Within days of separating the plants, they all began to look healthier as they received the nutrients and space that they needed.

Into the ninth week of the experiment, the plants are growing taller and broader. Now that they each have their own space, they are able to thrive. The featured photo on the right shows Tennessee healthy and strong! With no one contesting him for nutrients, he is tall, green and healthy. At this point, they are almost fully mature, and will be entering the flowering stage shortly. This week we decided to reveal the answer to the lingering question we had been wondering for months – which seeds had been to space? Was it Theodore and Thiara (T Side)? Or perhaps did Toby, Tiny Tim and Tennessee (U side) spend some time in space? Find out the answer below!

Shoutout to the PASCO Greenhouse, as this project could not have been as successful without it! The self-regulating greenhouse allowed us to grow the plants healthy and strong -with minimal intervention from us. We were able to germinate 5/6 seeds and maintain the ideal moisture and temperature levels for the plants to grow, even amidst a cold and dark winter with many days out of the office. PASCO’s Greenhouse is the perfect educational kit for your classroom, teaching students several ecological concepts such as photosynthesis, anatomy of plants, and the ways different conditions affect the growth of plants – all with the new focus and importance of coding. You can start the Tomatosphere project yourself, and facilitate it with the Greenhouse Sense and Control Kit as well.

Make sure to answer the survey below to find out which seeds have been to space and for a chance to win a PASCO Wireless Temperature Sensor! We would love to hear what you think, so share your guesses with us, and your reasoning if you have any!


Featured Products:

PASCO ST-2997 Greenhouse Sense and Control Kit

SPARKvue

Wireless Temperature Sensor


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