Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
to understand more about the cyanobacteria producing oxygen. This
led me to a postdoctoral position with Dave Des Marais at the NASA-
Ames Research center in Palo Alto, California. Dave was not only inter-
ested in the history of atmospheric oxygen, but he also had an ongoing
research program studying modern cyanobacterial populations.
Dave was also the perfect postdoc mentor. We often referred to him
as “Mister Wizard.” This was out of great respect. Dave seemingly knew
everything and could fix anything. Our fieldwork on cyanobacteria
brought us to the Baja Peninsula, Mexico. The thousand-mile journey
to our field site took us, in unmarked NASA vans, through impromptu
and questionable checkpoints, often manned by armed militia, and fi-
nally to the Hotel El Morro in the town of Guerrero Negro. Once there,
we converted one or more of our hotel rooms into labs (we tipped the
cleaning staff generously when we left!) and set up our outdoor incu-
bation tanks and our indoor electrical equipment. Our need for stable
electricity was just at the edge of what El Morro could provide. On
nearly every trip, Dave was busy changing fuses at the hotel's main
power box (at the minimum), or more likely, rewiring some of the weak
electrical connections. Once, the hotel completely lost its electricity.
Dave traced this back to a naked and loose wire connection from the
electrical tower supplying the hotel. Typically calm in the face of catas-
trophe, Dave lifted this loose connection off the ground and secured it
so we could again enjoy reliable electricity. On another occasion, the
cooling device that I brought to regulate the temperature of my incuba-
tions broke down. No problem. Dave rewired the water circulating sys-
tem so that the device would begin to pump water when the incubation
tank became too warm. By hooking the pump to a reservoir of ice hap-
pily supplied by the “depósita” next door,
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the problem was solved.
Once we started our fieldwork, Dave's handyman's cap was replaced
by his diplomat's hat. We worked as guests of the local salt company,
the largest in North America, and before every field campaign, Dave
would carefully explain to the attentive managers how our results might
help them optimize their salt production. In those days, our research
ticket into Mexico was a signed letter from the salt company director
stating that our work was of great importance to their operation.
Once inside the compound, we began the long drive to our field site.
In a massive complex covering around 500 km
2
, seawater is sent through
