Sunday, October 28, 2012

Biopunk enthusiast? Not so much.


The once pristine apartment, the space of escape that I recognized as my home away from home, covered in masses of post-it notes, neat towers of petri dishes, and a microscope resting on what used to be where we ate dinner every night. How would I feel about this? I would definitely not be a happy camper. My roommate loves science, much like I do. The only gap in this hypothetical story is the fact she absolutely hates chemistry and genetics, so this situation I can assure will never ever happen. Aside from that little fun fact, I would be upset if this did happen to my apartment. I am OCD when it comes to my car and my living space. To have that boundary violated makes me shudder. I am very old fashioned when it comes to the distinction between “the home” and the “workplace.” To have a wet lab brought into my oasis is a no-go. My roommate and I are very reasonable when it comes to compromise, if she wanted to do research on genetic material, she may do so in her own room, not the common living space. I tip my hat to the adventurous science enthusiasts who aim to go above and beyond, but if I were ever to participate in research, it would not be in my own home. 

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you totally! Not to mention that is kinda dangerous if you don't know what your doing with bacteria and other stuff.

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  2. I'm not sure that I would ever be okay with someone culturing bacteria in my home. Sharing a bathroom with roommates is unsanitary enough. I just think the potential for something to go wrong far outweighs the chance of a significant scientific breakthrough in someone's kitchen. Even if they get amazing results no scientist is going to take them seriously because their experiment wasn't conducted in a professional lab. Besides if you give your roommate an inch they might start building Frankenstein's monster in the next room.

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  3. I am a very clean person too. The clutter that always seems to accompany a lab would drive me insane as well. The smells of labs are absolutely disgusting and i could not imagine living in that and breathing it in all day. gross. I don't think i could compromise and let them do it in their room either.

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