Here is a bacterial plate my neighbor gave me from Cornell. He studies bacterial reproduction in a lab. This is Streptomyces spp, which give soil that unique smell. Some in this genus are also used to make antibiotics to cure some of our diseases.
Tomorrow's lab should be fun as we run some bacterial experiments. This is the nutrient agar being heated (and sterilized) before use. It is then poured into the petri dishes.