The Beaker Report

For the first time ever The Beaker Report is on the road! Steve is in Virginia this week and as a result, he was able to get an awesome guest on the podcast. Javier Medrano is the head roaster at Swing's Coffee Roasters in Alexandria Virginia. Swing's has been in the coffee business in the D.C. area for just over 100 years. They have a large roasting facility in the back of their Alexandria coffee shop location. Swing's roasts 10,000 lbs of beans every week. If you are looking for a fantastic pour over or an espresso drink, be sure to stop by the shop and tell them The Beaker Report sent you.

Javier sat down with Steve and Caleb to discuss the specialty coffee industry. It is a fascinating world that is gaining popularity, but the average coffee drinker is still unaware of all that goes into giving them the best cup of coffee possible. It is fascinating the level of detail and care that goes into roasting coffee. Javier is a wealth of coffee knowledge and starts by schooling the guys in some of the history of coffee such as its mythological origin story of Kaldi. It turns out a goat herder from Ethiopia may have discovered the beans when his goats were getting jacked up on the coffee plants.

Javier covers many fascinating topics including the effects of climate change on coffee farming, how machines and technology are impacting the industry, and some of the methods the roasters use to be sure their coffee flavor is consistent from roast to roast. This episode was recorded in Swing's SCAA certified cupping lab. The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to, "engage, inspire, and expand a sustainable global specialty coffee trade through leadership in events, education, and research". Their website has many great resources for people in the industry and those who aren't as well.

This episode pairs well with a fresh cup of Joe and sparkling water chaser. If you want something similar to what Javier and Steve were drinking in this episode get yourself a naturally processed Ethiopian pour over. If you are unaware of where to find a fantastic cup of coffee near you check out Sprudge and just search for your city. Thanks again to Javier for being such a fun guest and to Swing's Coffee Roasters for being The Beaker Report's studio away from home!

Show Music: Childish Japes - Hold On

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In honor of Veteran's Day, Steve and Caleb start off talking about some military history. Over the weekend Steve watched a new show on Netflix called Medal of Honor. As the name implies, the show tells the stories of men who have earned the medal of honor from different conflicts throughout history and Steve recaps one of the crazier episodes he watched. Caleb then tells some stories about being in the Navy including getting seasick and being thrown around in a RIB (rigid inflatable boat for the non-military folks) on ten-foot waves. Steve responds by sharing his redneck boating experience.

This whiskey fueled podcast went all over the map with the guys trading stories of falling asleep at the movies, sneaking food into seminars, and some holiday travel plans. Caleb talks about some new science he learned about at a recent talk he attended. Preliminary data suggests that there are bacteria that live in the brain. Check out this fascinating article.

Eventually they finally decide to give a recap of week one of #NOSLACKNOVEMBER. Steve's approach to getting in shape is to run as much as possible. Caleb has decided to go the weight lifting route. Both seem to be doing well and are feeling good after the first week. Stay tuned to see how they do the rest of the month.

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The No Slack November special. The guys talk about how to be a "good" GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistant) and best options for grading lab reports. They take a stab at understanding the standardized testing used for grad school applications. Most importantly Steve schools us on MCAT testing, pricing, and the existence of financial aid for the testing and prep classes. They discuss how a PhD does not have to be the end all be all to someone's career and discuss how to keep options open even after specializing with a PhD.

As per usual the guys take a turn down a rabbit hole and try to understand what is going on with dreams, in doing so they reveal some of their most memorable dreams. As a result, a short discussion into the importance of sleep and naps occurs.

Ultimately the guys get into a deep discussion on fitness and how to make healthy habits, referencing The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg and Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink (which is also available in audiobook on most music apps). Now that the school semester seems to be calming down, the guys decide to challenge themselves with "No Slack November." The goal of No Slack November is to simply work out and build the habit of working out and MAYBE waking up early.

Stay tuned and check out the Website, Facebook and Instagram for updates!!

Caleb was in Ohio this weekend which means Steve and Caleb were able to do the podcast in person. This was their first podcast together in Steve's new podcast studio (a.k.a. Steve's home office). They begin by discussing the collection of books on Steve's bookcase. The guys then discuss briefly the terrifying history of medicine in America. Eventually, they get to video games and nerd out a little bit on Starcraft II.

At some point, Steve and Caleb get on science. Steve begins to recount his Bio graduate seminar and the research he has been reading about. He talks about a process in cells called Autophagy. Click the link to check out autophagy. Each labeled oval in the picture on the page is a different protein that helps in the process of autophagy in some capacity.

Caleb talks about Carbon isotopes. Isotopes are atoms of the same element with a different atomic mass. They react chemically similar but have slightly different physical properties.

This episode is filled with a lot of discussion on many more interesting topics. Take a listen to hear them all.

Here are some of the books the guys talked about:

-Dr. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine-

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Steve and Caleb are back and in this episode, they are back to discussing science straight out of the gate. Steve has been reading research about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and he talks a bit about that. This leads to a discussion on the balance of perfection and practicality in science. Sometimes it is hard to figure out when enough is enough when designing an experiment. Sometimes the benefit is not worth all of the work it will take.

Next, the guys talk about some career options that are available with a biology degree. When Caleb and Steve were undergrads they weren't aware of all of the possible careers in biology. They also talk about presenting science at meetings. Steve is hoping to present his thesis research at an American Physiological Society meeting this year. Caleb also gives some advice on giving an interesting presentation.

Finally, they end with some speculation on the role of robots in society. Inevitably, they get on the "will the robots take over the world?" debate and Caleb picks his evil robot apocalypse weapon of choice. This is a fun science filled episode, check it out!

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In this episode Steve and Caleb recap this past week of UFC news following the Connor vs. Khabib fight. It has been a crazy week following the post-fight brawl. They also discuss the recently announced upcoming UFC cards. However, if you are tired of all of the UFC talk, skip ahead to 20 minutes and they get back to the science talk. Steve discusses surviving his writing class and his recent shift in his thesis focus.

They also discuss how sometimes science can be a small world and what a scientific lineage is. They also give a quick lesson on the difference between a genotype and a phenotype, get out your notepads freshmen. If science is your thing this is the episode for you. Caleb puts on display his uncanny knowledge of the aurora australis (southern lights). They stay on topic the rest of the podcast and then end with a recap of Steve's recent trip to the movies.

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This is a special episode of The Beaker Report. Caleb and Steve do their first episode together in person and they do it while watching UFC 229, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor Mcgregor. This was a wild night of fighting and the guys take you along as they discuss the fights during the pay per view. They had a lot to drink and a lot to say. They also get a little bit of science talk in there as well.

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All of the music heard in this episode is off Trice's new album Palms. Be sure to check them out they are great and are currently on tour.

The Beaker Report is proud to bring you its first guest, a guest that is very near and dear to Steve's heart! Zach Jeckering and Steve met in their high school biology class and have been friends ever since. Zach is the owner and creator of The Hooligans Tribe, a Dayton based clothing company. In this episode, they go down memory lane and talk about how Zach got into making clothes and how he started with an idea and has run with it for the past seven years.

Naturally, things go off the rails a couple of times. The guys were rudely interrupted by a wasp in the studio. This spawns a rant on vegans and they rehash a dispute with a disgruntled vegan from Instagram. Then they discuss the upcoming UFC fight, UFC 229. Eventually, they talk about some science. Zach gets a basic lesson in molarity, ribosomes, and grade curving.

Check out Hooligans Tribe here: hooliganstribe.com ; Instagram

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This episode starts with Steve and Caleb's typical dose of science talk. This semester has Steve pulling his hair out with piles of lab reports to grade and a large paper to write. The guys talk a little bit about giving presentations over your research. They discuss some of the pitfalls and how not to bore your audience.

This is where things go off the deep end. The guys reminisce about some classic children's books and talk about the Berenstein vs Berenstain Bears dilemma.

The guys talk about a lot of craziness and then they land on the topic of politics which brings them to guns. This can be a sensitive topic these days but the guys tread on. They talk about shooting guns and then Caleb tells sum gun related Navy stories.

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This episode Steve and Caleb discuss the importance of writing in science. Steve may be on a soapbox because he has to grade so many student lab reports right now, who knows. Why are people so bad a writing these days? Could social media and lack of reading be involved? They try to get across that being uncomfortable and not being great at something is a good thing. That just means they is room for improvement. They also share the biggest secret to being a good writer.

Inevitably, they get on the topic of their research. Steve goes into some detail about his project and talks about the benefits of certain models that are used for studying specific scientific questions. They all have their pros and cons so it is important to know what they are.

Finally, they talk some more about what it is like to be a graduate student. They acknowledge that money is not a huge benefit of being a graduate student. However, they get to do something that they are passionate about and that they enjoy. Also, they discuss how many undergraduates are unaware of what really happens in the lab. When they were undergrads they had no idea and no one was really attempting to get that information out there. So hopefully this episode helps with that problem. Take a listen!

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