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\nCause for reflection<\/strong> How important is a clean slate?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI’ve often mused about how messiness in the lab can influence one’s experimental processes. It’s definitely true that when my workspace is a disaster area, I find myself cutting corners, rushing a little bit, doing things less carefully than I might otherwise. Similarly, when everything is tidy, I enter into a zen state and become one with my samples.<\/p>\n
\nBut this is a pretty rare occurrence. Usually, left to our own devices, the lab gradually degenerates to a chaotic state: styrafoam boxes pile up, all possibly surfaces attract clutter, cardboard freezer boxes accumulate hundreds of rejected, forgotten miniprep tubes numbered one through twelve; the waterbaths secrete algal mats and the incubators, white films of unindentified fungus.<\/p>\n
\nSo about twice a year, we have a big lab clean-up. Most people show up at the appointed time (although it seems there is always at least one who rocks up just as the show is over, exclaiming with mock dismay, You’re finished already?<\/em>). It’s usually a very cheerful affair. This time around we were feeling particularly ruthless; the disposal highlights include:<\/p>\n \nThe most exciting moment was when we decided we needed to dispose of all but one of each of the dozens of aged bottles of concentrated hydrogen chloride and sufuric acid huddled around the pH meter. <\/p>\n \n“Acid to water or water to acid?” I yelled out to all and sundry. (_Acido, acqua; acqua, acido?_ , the Italian contingent muttered amongst themselves to general bafflement). A consensus was eventually reached on the institute rules for such matters, and the toxic bottles were dispatched forthwith. Most satisfactory, as my friend John Cairns<\/a>) likes to say.<\/p>\n \nThat evening, the elves came to clean and polish the floor. The next morning, the lab gleamed, and everyone walked around in awe. I know from experience that the spell will last for a few days: surfaces will stay tidy, sloshed solutions will be promptly wiped away, tip boxes will be filed on the benchtops at precise right angles. I am positively revelling in my experiments: even my handwriting is neater in my notebook.<\/p>\n \nBut it’s only a matter of time before someone smashes a window.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Numerous urban studies have characterized ‘The Broken Window Syndrome’: the notion that abandoned buildings with smashed glass tend to attract more of the same abuse. The phenomenon, it turns out, can be extrapolated to pretty much anything. In his excellent … Continue reading \n
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