The problem with brains is that they’re soft. Really soft. So soft that the crash helmet that is your skull isn’t even enough to protect it from a decent knock to the head. If nature can’t solve a problem then I don’t expect that I can.
The problem with scientists is that they want their brain specimens in as close to perfect condition as possible to dissect them.
The problem with abattoirs is that they are in an incredibly competitive industry with tight margins and food standards criteria that put a lot of demand on their workers to meet targets that most of us couldn’t cope with.
When those three problems collide this is what you get:
The demand for brains at the beginning of this term has been stronger than we’ve ever seen before. Sadly, the quality of the brains that has been delivered has been the worst we’ve ever seen. This is a combination of the industry having to catch up and deliver whatever they’ve got in the aftermath of the natural disasters we’ve all experienced this summer and the person whose job it is to get that brain out into that punnet not being too particular about the final product.
Lucky for you I am here to defrost them, sort them and repackage them so this is what you get:
Over the past few weeks we have sorted hundreds of punnets of brains with about 50% of them being good enough to package up like this. At this stage we have no information that supply is going to be affected by the floods and cyclones, however I would be very surprised if it wasn’t. I really think that there is probably going to have been significant stock losses that haven’t been assessed yet.
Here are a few tips to give yourself the best chance of delivering a really good specimen to your classes:
- give us as much notice as you possibly can that you are going to have brains in your order
- defrost them slowly in the fridge and be very careful when you handle them
- prepare the brains by soaking them in 20% methylated spirits for up to 48hrs before the class to give them a bit firmer texture
If you’ve got a tip about brains that will make a Labbies life easier then please let us know. It would be great to be able to publish a series of tried and true hints and tips on dissection written by the people who know best.
Feb 8, 2011
