Bioshock and Benches

While stumbling down the corridors of the lab yesterday, I ventured into the uncharted territory of the ICU. I don’t know what the ICU stands for, except that it doesn’t stand for ‘Intensive Care Unit’. Although, the things in there seem to require some intense caring for. Nonetheless, like any good lackey, I have not asked anyone what ICU stands for. I don’t know if anyone knows what it even stands for anymore. It is probably on a hidden sign somewhere in the room.

This area is where most of us sciency people perform most of our slide staining. I say most, because some people seem to do their staining on their benches. Benches of the laboratory worktable kind. I have no clue why the English language has to be so confusing as to also call them benches. Recycling words must have been a past fad. 

                                

Anyhoodle, so there I was walking into the ICU to accomplish important science things when a machine on one of the benches catches my eye. Not so much the machine itself, but the name of the machine: the “Little Sister (Ses 2010)”. Of course, instantly I thought, haha, Bioshock! (The game) Which really isn’t the right image for what the makers of this machine want, I assume. But it pleases me that science people still come up with wonderful names for machines. I thought the Belly Dancer was good, but Little Sister! That’s something special.  

                                         

This little sister is a small autoclave machine, used to sterilize (remove or kill any microbial life that may have been loitering around) equipment by steaming them at high pressure and a high temperature (Wikipedia says around 121^oC). Thus, it is very handy to keep your Little Sister around to clean and kill (microbes). Although, if the company making these were going for a Bioshock theme, maybe they should have called them ‘Big Sisters’ instead.