Let’s just get right into rapid fire bullets:

• With the fourth trial of the Repeating Crumley experiment, I added the development of arabidopsis to the mix. This was not done by Crumley et al but I figured the data should be similar. Unfortunately I carried out the experiment poorly and this hindered the success of this aspect. The problem was that there were too many seeds per sample and after about 5 days it became increasingly hard to count sprouted seeds. Some seeds were still germinating while others had already shed their seed coat, making it hard to tell which seeds were old and which were undeveloped.
• The tobacco growth was more like expected, but the 66% D2O sample developed slower than in previous trials. Interestingly though, I think the seeds in this sample developed more steadily, meaning on pace with what should be expected.
• No seeds grew in 99.9% D2O in 10 days, and from the 3rd trial set there are still no developed seeds.
• I think the percentages from this trial aren’t a good indicator of the results. Only because saying that only 70% germinated in a sample doesn’t sound like good recovery. But that’s just me.
• It seems the rates are right on with Crumley’s analysis. DI seeds grow first and fastest, then 33% d2o seeds, then 66% d2o seeds, and 99% d2o seeds don’t germinate at all.

I’m going to add time-lapse slideshows to the blog later to show the seed development. And I’ll keep watch over the seeds to see if anything else happens. I won’t be around next week (Florida vacation!) so I’ll start RC5 (and DDW4 as well) as soon as I return.

DOI: 10.15200/winn.142722.24400 provided by The Winnower, a DIY scholarly publishing platform