This rather boring looking boxy device is a mass spectrometer/gas chromatograph. I couldn't help but take a picture of the thing because it's such a useful tool in chemical analysis. One way a mass spectrometer is used is to compute a radiocarbon date by counting carbon-12 and carbon-14. A gas chromatograph can separate out and analyze the components of a compound. One way scientists use it is to analyze the atmosphere of the past.
Since today is the email date for my crit group and I'm not anywhere near done with my article, I took some time and revised some vintage material from 2008. Oh, what an improvement! I changed the whole thing from past tense to present tense and that made it more immediate. I also grouped the action into two sections and didn't disrupt it with explanation. I've learned a lot in two years. Now, I'm interested to hear what they have to say.
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