ozric

Well that's a bit unfair as you did not say the weight parameters had a definite lowest and highest weight. So I take it the machine didn't pick up any mice, moles, pigeons or peregrine falcons? I was under the impression the machine was some sort of 'Noah's Ark' and aiming to pick up everything from the lightest to heaviest. Sorry but that was a disappointing answer

I hate this machine and wish it did collect the man so we wouldn't have to answer this puzzling question! lol

The machine is gathering species of animals. Humans are a different species of great ape to the ones the machine it my have already collected. I can't think why he would not get captured. My only explanation is humans hadn't evolved yet so the aliens wouldn't know to programme them into the machine.

This is what they looked like (picture from google images).

There are more bacteria in our body than body cells, but no the majority of our weight is not bacteria! How about this: The device was programmed by the alien race to capture animals right? However, humans, Homo sapiens, had not evolved yet and so the device was not programmed to capture them as the aliens were not aware that we would evolve in the future.

Hi there. Colonies were a creamy white colour, about 1-2 mm in diameter on blood agar. To be honest, I can't remember what it smelt like and didn't note that down.

If you were to throw some, lets say Volvic (other brands available) water into an ocean of Volvic water, would the water you have thrown in sink or float? I'm not a physicist, as you can probably tell. In fact, I'm not sure whether this should be in the physics or chemistry section, but I was just wondering. Thanks lol

I think the migration of humans from all over the word, to, all over the world, and their consequential breeding, has effectively blurred the lines of race to almost 'unrecognisable'. Sure, skin colour is seen by many people as a boundary of race, but that's maybe because there are only a small number of skin colours to divide into groups. The continuous migration of humans and their mating eliminated the fine boundaries many moons ago, and I think the already blurred boundaries will carry on blurring.

Has anyone seen this spectacular film from Mike Leigh? It stars a magnificent David Thewlis as 'Jonny', a down and out on the run with some enlightening, significant and deep things to say. Here is a clip, but I suggest you watch all of the film. The part about each stage of animal evolution not having knowledge about its future troubles me, as of course animals do not have the hindsight into history and are not able to make predictions about their future (or so we think) as we attempt to. Surely with these analytical skills we are able to know a little bit about our future in small steps. This film was made in '93, so I don't know what the beliefs were then, or where the dialogue is taken from or if it is composed by the writers. Do tell me what you think, I wrote my feelings pretty quickly about the scene I have linked, so sorry if I'm talking gobbledygook! Anyway, I thoroughly recommend the film, it has a great cast and with some incredible acting and I'm surprised it isn't more well known. :wacko:

Was it a Pokeball?

Hi, thanks for your suggestions. Agreed, I may need some more results to positively identify. For the Pseudomonas, as it is from the kitchen, from tap water, I thought this was the most likely organism. For the others, yes there are a few alternatives. I'll have to look further into other tests I can do. Thanks again

Hi there. I've been doing some biochemical tests on unknown microorganisms. They're from a UK kitchen, so nothing too exotic! I was just wondering if I have sufficient evidence to convict; 1) a microorganism as Bacillus spp with the following: Gram: positive rods, spores visible Catalase: positive Oxidase: negative MacConkey: negative 2) a microorganism as Pseudomonas spp with the following: Gram: negative rods Catalase: positive Oxidase: positive MacConkey: negative Urease: negative 3) a microorganisms as Klebsiella spp with the following: Gram: negative rods Catalase: positive Oxidase: negative MacConkey: positive Urease: positive Indole: negative ONPG: positive and 4) a microorganisms as E. coli with the following: Gram: negative rods Catalase: positive Oxidase: negative MacConkey: positive Urease: negative Indole: positive ONPG: positive Thanks in advance! :)