Microwave Experiments Cause Sponge Disasters

gollum123 writes "Reports about a study that found microwave ovens can be used to sterilize kitchen sponges sent people hurrying to test the idea this week — with sometimes disastrous results. A team at the University of Florida found that two minutes in the microwave at full power could kill a range of bacteria, viruses and parasites on kitchen sponges. They described how they soaked the sponges in wastewater and then zapped them. But several experimenters evidently left out the crucial step of wetting the sponge. "Just wanted you to know that your article on microwaving sponges and scrubbers aroused my interest. However, when I put my sponge/scrubber into the microwave, it caught fire, smoked up the house, ruined my microwave, and pissed me off," one correspondent wrote in an e-mail to Reuters."

Comments

Expected results?

[What the Frag]

Putting the sponge on fire killed the bacteria, viruses and parasites on the sponge, right?

So why did he complain? I mean, many items do actually smoke when they're set on fire...

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[GreyPoopon]

Actually, this is Darwin's theory hard at work, doing its best to keep the gene pool strong.

I call BS. Darwin's theory of purging the gene pool requires that people lack common sense. Those of us on Slashdot are aware of how microwave ovens work, but your average person does not know and does not care. All they care about is that they can't put metal in the microwave. Since a microwave does a great job of restoring a piece of dried bread to something edible (by heating and expanding what little water is present in it), it is not reasonable for people to assume that whatever they put in the microwave should have some moisture content. Also, since plastic is the container of choice for the microwave, it's not reasonable to think that putting a plastic sponge in the microwave is going to cause a fire.

Sorry, but this is not a case of Darwinism. In fact, it's anti-Darwinism. In this case, you have a group of scientists who ought to have realized what common people would have done with this information, and failed to provide a warning. So, the "smarter" people in this case are the ones who lack common sense and therefore should be purged from society, where instead they may be causing genetic traits to be purged.