Wednesday, February 23, 2005
This is an archived issue and therefore not the current one. To see the current issue, click here.
Crazy Lab Shenanigans!
Science Village Tale of Horror #1!
One insignificant day, an innocent novice lab technician has washed up all the glassware, and it is time to put them into the autoclave. She dries them off, wraps them up with the aluminum foil and tape, and loads the machine. After filling the reservoir with water and setting the bioindicators, she turns on the autoclave and it begins the cycle.
Little does she know this is no longer any ordinary autoclave. Just when she hears it make an unusual noise, she runs back in to investigate, and is horrified to discover she's stuck with an....
EVIL AUTOCLAVE!!!!!!
What makes an innocent autoclave turn evil? Nobody knows, but it happens from time to time. This necessary cross between a dishwasher and a pressure cooker is prone to the temptations of just plain turning bad. How so, you ask? Well, let's return to our innocent novice lab technician.
Just as she's about to open the door once the venting cycle has completed, and for the drying cycle to start which requires the door to be open, she sees some dripping under it. All of a sudden....WHOOSH!!! Scalding water gushes out of the chamber and all over the floor, just barely missing our brave lab tech.
"I should have known," she admits. "There was that time an agar plate melted in there, and it made the whole room stink for a whole week. Something was up with the autoclave. Why didn't we see it before?"
But she should not blame herself, for these unknown forces lurk in any lab, waiting to strike when you least suspect it. What will be next possessed by these forces of evil? The pH meter? The spectrophotometer? Maybe the HPLC? Only time will tell. And who knows? These forces of evil may be lurking in your lab right now, waiting to strike right when you're off guard. Think it's safe to run the centrifuge? Think again!
This has been a chilling installment of....Science Village Tales of Horror!!!!
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