Things I Found in Lab

So I'm back doing lab work again. That means I'm stumbling across weird stuff that Dylan might get a kick out of. Before I could start isolating any DNA, I had to make sure all my reagents and buffer solutions were ready to go. I was digging through our chemicals cabinet when I found this buffer:

In case you can't read the label (the camera wouldn't focus on the text) it says "Buffer". For those of you not in the know, that isn't very informative. The rest of the label doesn't provide much more information. It tells you into which solvent it should be dissolved and store at room temperature. The wonderful people at Qiagen have really outdone themselves with this one.

Later on, I was putting some equipment on a high shelf. It's hard to see what's sitting on top of this shelf. As you can probably guess, there was something on top of the shelf. Here's a picture of that something:

That puppy's an all in one syringe cutter disposal container, aka "DESTRUCLIP". A needle receptacle hiding on a top shelf will either be empty and long forgotten or . . .

. . . someone had been using this baby to dispose of their needles, filled it up, and then hid it away. On the top shelf. All those needles came crashing down on the bench top. The makers of DESTRUCLIP need to get together with these guys. It's not a good idea to have container filled with sharp things (with god knows what nasty chemicals attached to them) and a lid that pops off real easy. I had the joyous task of collecting all those needles and disposing of them. I forgot how fun lab work could be.