Roach science

Samuel, left, confers with his fellow scientists regarding  roach RNA extraction.

I'm interrupting my Italian travelogue to let your know that our house has been invaded by roaches. Luckily, it's not what you think. Our roaches are purely for science, and are contained in bins from which they cannot escape and in which they nibble on fruits and vegetables and roach chow and lead the good life, until they make their final donation for science.

Why the exotic roaches? Samuel and two of his high school friends have concocted an unusual senior project. They hope to determine the RNA sequence of the Costa Rican Yellow Roach.  Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, no one has done that before.  If it works, they hope to publish a paper about it.

How does one extract DNA from a roach?  I am not sure, but I can tell you it doesn't end well for the roach.  You can see the budding scientists in their lab coats working with a donated RNA extraction kit at a certain unnamed lab. The extracted tissue will be sent off to a lab for analysis and then they just wait for the results.  

In the meantime, Samuel and his friends are staying busy with their own nonprofit company, ActivOutreach.  (You're never too young to form your own public benefit corporation, especially if Dad can sign the papers.)  In case you're worried that Samuel is overextending himself, he assures me he is going to slack off majorily his last semester of high school.