Fishy Scientist and Ice Dogs

My sister is working on an experiment involving fish and whether their gills adapt to changing temperatures. Her fishies actually lived long enough to do the experiment but then she had to cut their gills out. I think it's a cool experiment because even in second grade we're going to be talking about adaptations and how animals respond to changing weather and seasons. I can use what she found out to explain to my kids at school. So anyway, when she looked at the gills under the microscope, there was definitely a difference in the way they look, showing that the little fishies adapt. See, some fishies were in room temperature water and some fishies were in the refrigerator in really cold water. Now she has to turn the gills into wax so they can cut them even thinner and then look at them with a high-powered microscope to see how significant the difference is.

Oh and this is a picture of a fish gill in case you were wondering what they look like:

Meanwhile we went to the pet store last night to buy 10 new koi fish to repeat the experiment. There were also three animal shelter dogs up for adoption so Kathryn bought them each a doggie cookie and gave it to them. The funny thing is that the treats are listed as "ice dog" three times on the receipt that she has to turn in to her advisor for buying the koi fish. Background info: Her advisor is not happy with basically anything that she does and his apparent purpose in life is to point out how inept Kathryn is at everything she does. So you know her advisor is going to be like, "Uh, Kathryn, what is an ice dog and why is it on this receipt three times?" To which Kathryn will reply, "Oh, I got dog treats for all of the shelter dogs at the pet store." The predictive response of her advisor, as he takes a deep calming breath, closes his eyes, and nods: "Of course you would. Of course." I wish I could be there for that moment.