![\"Plasma.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ue19877e8\/Plasma.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n\nIsn’t she lovely? <\/p>\n
\nOK, she is<\/em> a bit of a prima donna. We had to sacrifice half our gel-running bench to make room for her arrival because she refused to seen hanging out with the microwave. And she arrived with an entourage – that shiny new oxygen cylinder trussed up on her right.<\/p>\n \nI have to admit that up until yesterday, I wasn’t really sure what plasma even was – aside from the sort of substance that was always mucking up the Warp Core with its constant fluxing on Star Trek<\/em>. But that’s what this machine is for. Making plasma. How cool is that?<\/p>\n \nI haven’t seen it in action yet, but I am reliably informed that when she struts her stuff, the little viewing window will fill up with swirling, glowing blue clouds, like some sort of celestial laundromat. I have a firm picture in my mind of what this might look like, and am almost afraid that the reality will be a bit of an anti-climax.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to the new piece of kit on the lab block: Isn’t she lovely? OK, she is a bit of a prima donna. We had to sacrifice half our gel-running bench to make room for her arrival because she refused … Continue reading