Now You Wait

"Okay," Fran says. "I can see you've got things underway. When do you expect results?"

"An hour at least," you say.

"You can tell her it's not a virus," Zack says proudly. "Viruses only grow in living things. And milk isn't living."

Fran shakes her head sadly. "Stick to painting, Zack," she says. "Viruses can't grow in milk, but they can exist in it. When they get into your body, then they start to reproduce."

"Or the virus may be infecting whatever it is that is growing in the milk," you say. "Don't worry, Fran, I haven't ruled out viruses as a suspect."

Fran nods. "I'll let Dr. Lydell know you'll have identified the pathogen type in an hour," she says, and storms out.

"Whew," Zack says, when she's gone. "Right. Cool. Hey, this is really science, man. Look," he tells you earnestly. "I'll test these dish cultures, right? The yellow stuff will be CYA, the white stuff CWA, and the yellow stuff in PDB will be CYB. It's gonna take a while, so why don't you catch some winks? I'll wake you in an hour."

"Well... Okay," you say.

Continue with the mystery

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.