Beer cup vs. acetone.

"An undergrad in the lab thought it would be a good idea to put his acetone waste in a red plastic beer cup from the kitchen. What the F**K was he thinking? Perhaps we'll never know..."

What happens when you pour a gel with water instead of TAE?

"I primarily did undergrad research in computational biology, so my first rotation in grad school was my first time doing "wet" molecular biology that wasn't for a lab course. I think I spent 1 1/2 weeks making gels with water. During that span of time, I asked a bunch of people what I was doing wrong and I got the usual advice to change the concentration of various things. Finally, a postdoc figured it out. The rest of my "wet lab" experiments went OK during that rotation!"

Empty water bath + tubes filled with acid = fail

"My labmate left her tubes filled with hydrochloric acid (along with plant material to extract cellulose) in the water bath during lab meeting. But it was set too hot, and the water evaporated. The tubes all broke, spilling out boiling acid. Fortunately it was in the fume hood!"

My First Gel Fail

"I found this gel picture in the drawer of my desk when I joined my lab. As it was so incredible, I asked around about its history. It turns out it was the first gel ever run by one of our undergraduates. I had her sign it and have had posted on my bench ever since. Ahh... undergrads!"