#autoclave types

[labtroncc]

Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave

Labtron Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave is a portable, computer-controlled class B unit with a 35L capacity. It effectively sterilizes HIV, HBV, mad cow virus, and bacillus with a sterilization pressure of 0.22 MPa and a temperature range of 105–134 °C. Safety features include automatic shutoff, cold air discharge, and protection against high temperatures and pressure.

[kimberlabnics]

vertical tabletop autoclave

Labnics vertical tabletop autoclave is a compact, versatile sterilization device commonly used in laboratories, medical facilities, dental offices, and research institutions to sterilize instruments, glassware, culture media, and other items. This type of autoclave uses high-pressure saturated steam to achieve the necessary temperatures for effective sterilization.

[strawberrykidneystone]

straight to the point

summary: sevika wants a new piercing and wanders (has researched thoroughly before coming) into your shop

a/n: google search how to get another tattoo without disappointing my grandma

tags: piercer!reader, needles, flirting, kinda ooc sevika (?), a little sweet awkwardness

ao3 version

as far as cleanliness standards go in zaun, your shop was heads above the back alley piercers and tattoo shops. for one, you never reused the same needles and you had an autoclave that you used to sanitize the jewelry you offered, as well as the questionable jewelry that your clients brought in.

safe to say that most of your clients were high end criminals who could spare the coin to get the best experience possible in the undercity.

in your tiny corner shop, you were the main piecer and you cycled in various tattoo artists. a lot of them started by tattooing on the streets and developed their own styles, giving them the proper equipment helped them make masterpieces that you’re sure even the prissy piltover citizens would be impressed by. the building itself was pretty small with the shop downstairs and your apartment upstairs. you had a display desk up front with a dinky antique register sitting against the wall that didn’t open half the time. there were two main salon-type chairs in the room facing toward each other, with a small room in the back for more intimate placements of tattoos/piercings. the leather on the chairs were originally a neon pink that faded into more of a peach with patches over scratches on the chairs and ink stains. the walls were covered in graffiti, you invited in local kids to paint around and express themselves; which basically meant that your walls were covered in jinx propaganda right now. you wouldn’t believe the amount of people who came in for new ear piercings and cloud tattoos who also had blue hair.

today was a bit quieter than usual, you had no appointments and your tattoo artist got done early today so you were busy going over your books while leaning on the counter on your elbows. the bells of your door jingled and you looked up, locking eyes with the most gorgeous woman you’d ever seen. she had a very short haircut above her ears, a mechanical arm that had a green… head? attached to it, piercing grey eyes, and a very strong build. swallowing thickly, you smiled warmly at the tall woman, “hey there, how can i help you?”

she trudged up to the counter as though she was unsure if she actually wanted to do this, her eyes glued down into the display case, “i’d uh, like a piercing please.”

you nodded along and tilted your head, trying to follow her eye line as to which piece she was looking at, “well you’re definitely in the right place for that, what are you looking to get?”

she met your eyes again, god it was like looking up at the sky during a storm, a nervous sigh leaving her lips, “what would you get?”

the question startled you a little, people usually come in and know exactly what they want. you hummed and studied her face, wondering what would look good with her proportions.

“hmm well for you, i would get either a medusa piercing or a labret,” you suggested and pointed to the middle of your cupid’s bow and underneath your bottom lip.

she attentively watched your finger like a cat following a laser and subconsciously licked her lips. her eyes lingered on your lips long enough that it brought a blush to your cheeks, how the hell were you going to get through this appointment in one piece? she shook her head and snapped out of it, glancing down at the case once again, “could i see what it would look like?”

“of course,” you nodded and pulled out a case that had an array of studs with different ends, base colors, and backs. she ended up picking out a silver disk stud and you couldn’t help but notice how her ears turned a little red when you praised her, “good choice.”

picking up the middle of the piercing with a clamp, you held it up to her and turned the desk mirror towards her. she softly took the clamp from you, brushing her rough hands against yours, the small touch making your heart flutter like a pair of butterfly wings. she inspected the stud in the mirror and curiously held the silver jewelry above her lips and below. you couldn’t help but watch as the stud passed over her full lips, lips with a dark gloss shining off of them that you’d love to mix with your current lipstick-

fuck stop that, remain professional.

you took a deep breath to refocus and plastered on your least horny smile, “either one calling your name?”

she clicked her tongue and stood back up to her full height, her brows knitted together in concern, “i can’t decide which one to get.”

“you’d look good with either one, plus you can always get one now and the other later,” you mused, kicking yourself to bring your mind back to down to the ground.

she hummed and looked down at you, her eyes trailing from one eye to the other, down to your lips, and back up, making a triangle.

you were so fucked.

“i’ll get the labret sweetheart,” she said definitively and handed the clamp back to you, the pet name rolling off her tongue so naturally it made your knees weak.

you mindlessly nodded and took the clamp from her, sliding over a clipboard with your liability paperwork on it with a sparkly pen.

she raised an eyebrow at the pen, but picked it up anyway, vaguely scanning over the words as she signed and dated her name at the bottom. you quickly busied yourself with sanitizing the stud she picked out in the machine and setting up your station with all the proper tools. you could feel her eyes watching you, a surge of confidence flowing through you at the nickname she called you, so you made an extra effort to swing your hips side to side as you moved around your station, bending down to pick up a plastic bag that you “dropped”. you heard her suck in a sharp inhale, a grin tugging on your lips as you straightened back up. walked back over to the counter, you glanced over the paperwork.

“sevika, that’s a pretty name,” you practically purred out, fluttering your lashes at her.

“yeah? you got a name to go along with your pretty face?” she quipped, a half smirk on her black lips.

“i guess you should know the person who’s about to shove a needle through your face, i’m y/n,” you smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear.

“a lovely name for a lovely lady,” she complimented and raked her eyes across your body.

you giggled shyly and shook your head, tilting your head towards the chair behind you, “c’mon back pretty girl, let’s get you pierced.”

she followed you back to your station and sat back in the chair, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. after snapping on a pair of your favorite colored gloves, you prepped the back of the piercing to go into the hollow needle once it was through and grabbed a marker.

standing directly in front of her, practically standing between her thighs, you had to force yourself to look back into those piercing grey eyes.

“i’m going to make a small mark where the piercing will go and then you can check the placement, is it okay if i touch your face?" you asked softly, a shy blush tinting your cheeks.

sevika gulped and quietly nodded, this time averting her eyes from you. you softly pinched her chin between your fingers and turned her head to face you directly. you leaned forward and mapped out her bottom lip to find a true middle and pressed a small dot onto the skin beneath her full lips, feeling her hot breath fan out on the back of your hand. quickly pulling back to stop yourself from kissing her, you practically shoved the hand mirror into her hands and barely squeaked out, “if you want to move it, it’s no problem!”

you took a step back and looked to the side of the room to give her some decision time, trying to ignore how beautiful her lips were and how desperately you wanted to kiss them. she carefully admired the mark in the mirror and hummed, nodding in approval, "looks good to me."

"perfect," you chirped and took the mirror from her, explaining the process of the piercing very briefly as she nodded along, brushing her short hair out of her face when a few strands got stuck to her eyelashes. god, you wish you were the one pushing her hair back.

you cleared your throat and picked up the piercing clamp, turning to her with a smile, "go ahead and open your mouth for me."

she did as you asked and looked up towards the ceiling as you placed the clamp in position over her bottom lip with the dot you made on her skin earlier. you gently positioned your hand holding the clamp vertically and grabbed the hollow needle from your station, lining it up with the dot.

"go ahead and take a deep breath in for me dear," you said calmly, getting into the zone as you focused in on doing the piercing correctly despite the handsome woman in front of you.

she inhaled deeply through her nose and once you were sure that she had taken a deep enough breath, you directed her, "and go ahead and breathe out."

as soon as she started to let the air out of her mouth, you pushed the needle through her skin and pulled the clamp down, holding her bottom lip open towards you.

"good job, worst parts over," you praised, earning an amused huff from sevika.

you let go of the needle and put the back of the piercing into the hole, pulling the needle back through the way it came with the jewelry sticking out in its place. you screwed the top disk onto the piercing and removed the clamp, admiring the slight puffiness of her bottom lip. holding up the mirror to her again, you smiled brightly as a sense of pride flowing through you, ''whatddya think?"

sevika held the mirror up and admired the new piercing from every angle, a satisfied smirk gracing her lips, "i love it."

you giggled and cleaned up your station, disposing of the needle and putting the clamp in the sanitizer machine. sauntering over to one of your cabinets and pulling out a small blue bag, you put together a goody bag with saline solution, aftercare instructions, and piercing floss for later on.

walking back over to her and holding out the bag, you couldn't help the smile on your lips as her fingers brushed against hers, "for it to heal properly, no smoking, drinking, kissing, or uh oral sex for at least 3 weeks."

one of her eyebrow cocked at the last rule before a decisive smile came to her lips. she followed you back up to the counter and paid for the service, leaving a hefty tip.

“so, could i take you on a date in 3 weeks?”

you blinked at her owlishly, processing what she just asked you. quickly regaining your composure, you asked nonchalantly, “is that for a kiss or for oral sex?”

“both if you’re lucky.”

the two of you laughed and you agreed, scribbling your number down on a stray piece of paper. when she held out her hand to take it from you, you held up a finger and folded the paper in half, sealing it with a kiss that left a mark from your lipstick.

she blinked in surprise as you pressed it into her hand with a wink, “a preview for 3 weeks from now.”

sevika chuckled and shook her head, pocketing the paper, “you little minx.”

you giggled and waved as she left, checking out her ass as she walked out of your shop.

this was going to be the longest 3 weeks of your life.

a/n: writing fan fiction is crazy like why am i watching multiple labret piercing videos to describe the process right

part 2

taglist: @maneskinwh0re @archangeldyke-all

[bugboybuck]

my heart's an autoclave.

buck/tommy wip— lifeguard buck/118 tommy alternate meeting au

chapter one: for @bucktommyweek prompt date night.

As he types in his digits, Evan says, “It’s not, like, bad luck to meet on someone else’s ruined date, is it?  Just, you know — just hoping we haven’t cursed our first date to end in an ambulance too.” “Hey, don’t tempt fate,” Tommy warns him.  “First lesson about firefighters, we’re a superstitious bunch.”

At age thirty-three, Tommy feels like his life is finally going alright. The 118 is better under Captain Nash than it ever has been before. He has hobbies he enjoys. He even has friends; hangs out with Howie and Hen at the bar after work, goes to see the occasional fight with buddies from the gym. Life is safe and predictable and he's even beginning to feel like he might be able to dip his toes out of the closet someday.

Then Tommy rescues someone in trouble at the beach, with the help of a cute lifeguard-slash-trainee-firefighter with a smile brighter than the Los Angeles sun. They strike up a connection neither of them were expecting.

READ ON AO3

[rainwaterapothecary]

Long-ass post about what the fuck this machine might be:

Screenshot by @geddy-leesbian and sent to me for research by @courtofparrots

So, what the /fuck/ is this damn thing? (And it’s side-quest: This fucking /shoot/):

At first I thought the machine was some form of Vacuum Furnace since the shape and the possible intake shoot (which will give me hell this entire research process) looks like an incinerator and something to suck things into the incinerator:

(Source.)

But the shape isn’t 100% right, and as CAPCOM need something to do a 1:1-ish model for the game, I scrapped it and moved on.

The next candidate made my heart hurt since it’s a Marine Waste Incinerator:

The shape is similar, it has a box-like connection that I wasn’t able to find almost anywhere else, but no fucking shoot.

/However/, I think I’m onto something here’s a couple other models I found:

Why is this heartbreaking? Because Luis is not only on a shoe-string budget in the middle of noplace, but he’s also having to use whatever the cult can scrounge up for him. I’m convinced he brought his little autoclave from a mainland somewhere, but he needed an incinerator.

They’re off the ocean.

Where there’s a will there’s a way, and Lord Saddler is demanding he makes a way using this hulking machine that isn’t even meant for use on land.

However, the one in Luis’ lab doesn’t look like it’s meant for use on a ship, and there isn’t that fucking spout.

Next, I followed the little tubes on the sides:

And it looks a lot like they’re meant to be on a locomotive or a boiler:.

Why would he need a boiler? I have no idea, ask a scientist. But, visually we’re getting closer.

I looked up what that black piece is for, since I initially thought the piece on Luis’ machine was for some sort of vault technology, housing a locking mechanism for keeping a vacuum seal in the case of the vacuum furnace.

^This thing.

In boilers however, it tends to contain an exhaust fan/motor (iirc). Again, having a fan could work for some sort of incinerator and there’s no real point in having a vent/air filter right below it (the cylindrical thing) unless it’s dealing with something that needs a lot of air.

Now, on boilers and incinerators there tends to be some sort of (usually red) component on the front that /could/ be something that damn shoot connects to. Ex:

That is a burner/igniter.

^This is what it looks like on the inside.

Could the shoot be a hookup? I have no idea. I don’t /think/ so though, since the shoot looks more like a place to expell something (think coal from a coaling tower on a railroad). (In fact, this thought momentarily brought me down a rabbit hole of ‘what if it’s for some sort of coal refinement’? But I rejected that idea because then it would be more of a grinding machine and this is more boiler-incinerator-type-deal.)

My friend brought up a good point that maybe the shoot is for sucking up waste material.

Using my own knowledge of trades, I’m not sure that’s the case? Usually, if something has to go down then the spout will be tilted up so that it’s not fighting gravity. However, I am a city kid with a business degree, so we can safely shelve that idea since it’s outside my wheelhouse.

It was at this point that I realized the box next to Luis’ machine could be part of the whole device:

The only times I’ve seen something like this with an attached cube it was on an electric steam boiler:

And on the vacuum furnace, marine waste incinerator (already mentioned), and this medical waste incinerator:

Which brings us right back around to incinerators.

So while I can’t find anything that has the damn shoot, here’s what I /think/ all the pieces of the machine are. (Again, I am not in sciences or in trade, so this is all I could find after a three-hour research stint that ended when I got too frustrated.)

AND COMPLETELY EYEBALLING THIS NEXT PART:

The items on top of it are these little crates that I’ve only seen in workshops but the ones I’ve seen are roughly 26” across. Which makes this mystery machine ~78” Tall and ~91” Wide (not accounting for the angle it seems to be at).

In closing, I think this is some sort of incinerator (wow, three hours of research just to be back at square one? First of all, rude. Second of all, I now know more than when I started so that’s fun for me!) and for storytelling purposes I want it to be a marine waste incinerator, built for burning waste onboard a ship or for getting rid of oil waste. This way it illustrates just how resourceful and flexible Luis had to be in order to /try and get his fucking tools to do what they’re supposed to/. His autoclave isn’t a true autoclave and it’s /tiny/. He’s working with an old acrylic glove box. He’s been given an oil waste incinerator off a boat and he has to make it /work/.

In short, this is what I do for fun and now I have to get back to work. 😊

Sources:

https://www.marineinsight.com/tech/9-tips-to-maintain-high-efficiency-of-marine-incinerators/

https://addfield.com/case-studies/waste-oil-incinerator/

https://xuyemachinery.en.made-in-china.com/product/FdRTyotOfHUY/China-Industrial-Incinerator-Waste-Oil-Burner-Available.html

https://zaobt.ru/en/news/marine-incinerator-for-vostochnaya-verf-jsc-shipped-from-the-site-of-st-inc

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/incinerators-3550461212.html

https://trends.medicalexpo.com/inciner8-ltd/project-115640-426969.html

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=steam%20boiler&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.3diequipment.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2Fcocran-steam-boiler-model-thermax-pic2371b-1-600x377.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.3diequipment.com%2Fproduct%2Fcochran-steam-boiler-model-thermax%2F&docid=xunMT1CJ-fei2M&tbnid=zBjSfu1BNa7HiM&vet=12ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUBAA..i&w=600&h=377&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUBAA

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=steam%20boiler&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hvacinformed.com%2Fimg%2Fproducts%2F400%2Fu-nd-400_1628544986.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hvacinformed.com%2Fbosch-thermotechnology-u-hd-boiler-technical-details.html&docid=8M3mwXLLyvCvNM&tbnid=qs-8ZiQlRet2ZM&vet=12ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUhAA..i&w=400&h=400&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwif7dG8hYSIAxURAzQIHazPMW44KBAzegQIUhAA

https://easywater.com/commercial/applications/steam-boilers/

https://www.thermodyneboilers.com/3-ton-steam-boiler-price/

https://www.thermodyneboilers.com/oil-fired-boilers/

https://www.parat.no/products/marine/parat-mel/

https://betterbricks.com/resources/boilers

https://powerhouse-combustion.com/components-of-a-boiler/

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotivn%C3%AD_parn%C3%AD_kotel

[vaathnaos]

Give me the lore on the mycologist (?) vaati, why did you eat the shrooms? /j

I can’t!! It’s weird! Well if you really wanna know…

*flashback sounds*

It was my first week in my lab, i was getting aquainted with the types of growing media we produced and as soon as they came out of the autoclave (humid heat+pressure to sterilise stuff) i smelled the weirdest thing i had ever experienced… They smelled like carramel, fresh dough and savoury umami! i NEEDED to taste them!!! They’re made with yeast extract (bready beer like taste), sugars and peptone (basically protein). I imagined what it would taste like with some sautéed mushrooms… and one day i faltered to TEMPTATION!

The next few month i started working with yeasts and molds and their spores slowly infected me! That added to my stressed mind and i slowly lost myself to the mycellium “I hear them, they want more nurishment”. I needed to find a way to keep them at bay, to not surrender my mind to them! I started studying them; what environment they thrived in what they absorbed for food and their DNA.

*reverse flashback sounds*

Right now i’m focussed on find something, ANYTHING they could be weak to, so far i’ve been fruitless except for cutting their roots, that seems to contain the corruption so far…

[rainedragon]

Hi! Do you by chance know what's going on with this year's kei con? Seems like lots of hurdles! Know anyone else planning on still going?

Hello! I don't really have any special info, I'm not on staff, but I can share what I know. My understanding is that they were booked for the Ontario Science Centre.

On June 21st the Ontario Science Centre was closed. The Ontario Science Centre uses reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the roof. RAAC has extra air bubbles in it, making it lightweight and cheaper than regular concrete, but it's susceptible to cracking and water getting inside which can rust structural bars causing collapse. It was most popular between 1950-1990. Today, it has an estimated lifespan of about 30 years. The science center was built between 1966-1969, so it's well past that timeframe. After the UK examined a bunch of schools and found many of them to be structurally unsafe, the Science Centre was examined. The end result was that the engineers believed that the roof could collapse in the snow, and my understanding is to be safe, they closed it imediately. There is some political debate about this, but for our purposes, suffice it to say it's closed. They are refunding future events booked there, but of course, this means that Kei-con would have to find a new venue.

Researching and negotiating venue contracts for a con takes time, there are a lot of things that have to be priced out and looked at, room layout plans, AV, food rules, etc. This is a volenteer run event and it's been less than 2 weeks, which really isn't a ton of time when it comes to this type of planning. I'm pretty confident in the staff being able to figure out something else, I think it's just a matter of it taking a little time.

Press Release (Ontario Science Centre)

What is RAAC and why is it a safety risk? (BBC)

[salmontheking]

What caused the mass use of biotech in the world of Megaton heart? What does it have over regular tech?

The general rule is that wetware lets you do very complex things very easily at the expense of more RnD.

You don't need specialized equipment to manufacture a new living device, they grow on their own, you just need an incubator of the right type and size.

Wetware mostly maintains itself. You can do what amounts to thousands of moving parts with no chance of failure.

It adapts - an individual machine will become better at what it does over time. ~10 year old devices can be more valuable than fresh ones.

For computers in particular, wetware gives you much more processing power per unit mass.

On the other hand

It can't take extreme conditions like heat, cold, radiation, reactive chemicals or high voltage.

Wetware computers make mistakes, are hardly programmable and need proper fish tanks.

It's inconsistent and less energy-efficient.

You don't want a living train engine, or a living autoclave. It all depends on the job.

[tauforged]

dude she literally did it to me again as i was typing that. we had test results on the agenda to read at 3pm at the EARLIEST and she had already beat me to the 2:30 bacteria plate readings so i was like oh ok i’ll read the air tests when they’re ready then :) and i do a little busy work check some emails yknow make small talk yadda yadda. it’s 2:55 and i’m getting a little restless so i walk down to the water cooler to refill my water and then sit down at my desk for like a minute with my water and check my phone. my alarm goes off at 3 so i go into the lab to check the air tests and find that in the like two to three minutes i was gone to refill my water bottle she had grabbed the plates, read them, recorded the data, put it all in the database, and then loaded all of todays plates into the autoclave to be sterilized before they got thrown away. girl they weren’t even technically ready yet what is the reason for all of this

[canary0]

August 23 - Dracula 2023

The Diary of Mina Harker

I'm getting worried. We have been keeping a watch lately, but Lucy managed to get the crucifix down from her window in her sleep and made it out to the churchyard again. It almost goes without saying that her health has taken a turn and she's quite weak now. We've made the decision that moving forward, I should sleep in her room with her. I will miss out on time with Jonathan, and I am quite worried about him, too, given the fiend's equal interest in him, but Lucy appears to be his main target for now. Lucy herself much approved of this plan, and sweetly spoke of how it would be like sleepovers when we were just girls.

Jonathan is recovering as well after the increase in his illness the other day. He remains quite pale, though, and I worry for lingering anemia. He and Lucy look a bit similar at the moment, but Jonathan seems to be stronger... more than he used to be, if anything, which is surprising. He and Lucy are rather comparable in build, with Jonathan perhaps slightly the smaller of the two. I wonder if Mr. Morris would be willing to room with Jonathan to keep an eye on him and make sure both of the monster's interests have an eye on them?

Fortunately, Dr. Seward has been a great help with Lucy's health. He's been keeping an eye on her vitals and ensuring that she eats well for reviving her health.

Dr. Stankiewicz arrived today, and she looks a good bit different while on vacation than she did while working, with her lab coat traded in for torn jeans, and a flannel overshirt. She did bring medical equipment and, of all things, her own autoclave, which she set up in the kitchen. Fortunately, the Westenras' kitchen is quite generously sized, and the machine itself isn't huge. She quite brusquely informed us that she expected to be here on a working vacation, so she came prepared, though she didn't expect two people. I was a little put out - both of them had been very careful, but fate had put them in the wrong place at the wrong time. She smiled at that, though, and told me she knew, and that neither was in any way at fault for their situations. We would try to improve them.

She proceeded to take down everyone's blood types. Lucy is apparently AB+, which is good to learn. She can receive blood from any of us, so transfusions won't be an issue for her. Jonathan will have a bit more trouble, with B- - not exactly common, and he can't get it from just anyone.

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing arrived later that same day. Unlike Dr. Stankiewicz, he seems like quite the jovial and personable sort. He is also quite in contrast to his protege, Dr. Seward, in that way. By the time he arrived, there was only time for a late dinner, however. We will start the arduous process of going over what information we have tomorrow. Hopefully Arthur will be able to make it soon. I will be arranging the physical records during the meeting tomorrow and starting a file on everything we have.

God willing, we and the three doctors together will be able to make some sense out of everything going on.

---

The Diary of Jack Seward

Woken in the middle of the night by a report from the hospital. Apparently more strange behavior from Renfield. Apparently he became quite agitated around sundown, yelling and seemingly trying to shake the bars on the window, immobile though they are. "That's it! It's you!" He was yelling out according the the nurse's report.

She moved to the window to try and see what he was yelling at, but all she could see outside was an unusually large bat. She apparently did call animal control to report a potential invasive species appearance, but there wasn't much else she could do. Renfield remained upset, but he was not a danger to himself or others, it seemed, so he was allowed to express his piece. Eventually, after roughly 45 minutes of terrified ranting, he calmed, seeming to exhaust himself.

I'm concerned about this new change in him. I've given orders for the therapist to speak with him about it tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find out more.

[labtroncc]

Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave

Labtron Tabletop Laboratory Autoclave sterilizes rapidly in 4-6 minutes within a 105-134°C range. It has a 24L stainless steel chamber with 3 sterilizing plates, providing a clean, dry environment. This tabletop steam sterilizer features a steam-water inner circulation system and drying function, with a maximum working temperature of 134°C.

[xadnem]

I'm not a sink biologist, so bear with me as I clumsily explain my taxonomic preferences for these most majestic and vital of nature's beasts using terms I come up with in my head because again I do not have any formal training in sink biology.

To my mind, there are basically five types of sink faucet: motion sensor, ball joint, pull-tap, twin tap, and timed depression.

Motion sensor sinks are great in theory, though I have my personal gripes. Putting your hands under a faucet and just having it work? Incredible. Never again will I have to put my freshly cleaned hands directly on the same surface I was just touching while they were dirty. Unfortunately there was quite a while where the sensors just didn't recognize me as a physical entity, and so they withheld their aqueous bounty from my poor disgusting hands. We've reached an understanding now, but old wounds heal slowly and flare up at the worst of times.

Ball joint sinks are pretty much the standard against which I judge all others. Totally normal sink exhibiting totally normal sink behavior. Push lever up to make water go, turn left for hot, turn right for cold. Perhaps less convenient than a motion detecting sink, but what you lose in convenience you gain in control and reliability. Good sink.

The pull-tap is everything that the ball joint is but worse. You don't have the mechanical advantage of the lever so you have to really touch the tap in order to pull it back and let the water flow. Then when you're done washing your hands you get to touch the same surface you just touched with your filthy little piss hands. Realistically this is a very minimal degree of contact, and this sink is functional, but the ball joint sink is strictly better.

The twin tap gives you separate control over hot and cold water. Unique from the pull-tap in that you don't have to put force into it and typically the taps themselves are long levers that require minimal physical contact. Good for both wider ranges of temperature and better temperature control, unless the two taps operate two separate faucets, in which case they only appeal to freaks like me who would shower in an autoclave if they thought it wouldn't cause them severe and lasting physical damage.

The timed depression sink is the strongest evidence I have that people who design public restrooms don't actually want you to wash your hands when you're done. The "water saving" feature of having a little knob that you can press down to dispense water, only to have it stop flowing some three to five seconds later, is a thinly veiled attack on public health. Depression describes both the method of activation and the dread it instills in me the second I see it after having enjoyed an otherwise uneventful trip to the public restroom. If I'm ever given the opportunity to go back in time, the inventor of this sink is next on my list after killing Hitler.

[teenage-birt-dag]

… tell me about Endospores.

I love mushrooms and spores and fungi, I want you to tell me an entire Wiki page

(this is totally not Shiek, who has not been checking every single notification to see if people liked the Reddit screenshot….. hi)

Hello!! I fuckin love endospores and ur the first person to actually send an ask about them

Endospores are actually a type of bacteria! Some environmental bacilli produce an endospore coating to withstand extremely harsh environments and is usually initiated by total nutrient deprivation (think of an absence of nitrogen). That being said, the bacteria in our bodies won’t undergo this process, but finding out whether an endospore bacterium is introduced to your body is pretty important because endospores require very specific treatments given their nature. For example, bacillus anthracis (my favorite example) - this bacterium is responsible for anthrax infections, the only effective treatment being an antibiotic called Cipro.

To (sorta) briefly explain how endospores are formed - when environmental conditions are no longer viable to sustain life, the bacterium begins an 8 hour endosporulation process in which the cells DNA is duplicated and a septal wall is created that asymmetrically divides the cell, and a spore coat is formed around the forespore and there is a thick peptidoglycan cortex formed between the layers of the two halves of the cell. Once the sporulation process is completed, the newly matured endospore is released once the rest of the vegetative cell is degraded. The cortex is basically what allows the endospore to be highly resistant against high temperatures and enzymes and most chemicals that are otherwise effective against other bacteria.

This is why autoclaving is one of the most effective ways of disinfecting surfaces! Otherwise, sterilant alkylating agents, like ETO and household bleach are effective (since not everyone owns an autoclave but a girl can dream). Household bleach must be in contact with endospores for a minimum of 10 minutes for it to actually kill the bacteria; increasing the concentration instead will NOT be effective, it may actually cause bacteria to aggregate and survive. Ionizing radiation (e.g., x-rays, gamma rays) is also effective against most endospores!

Now one of the coolest facts about endospores imo - the endospore is PROTECTIVE for the bacteria in these really harsh, nitrogen depleted environments, right? So for the bacteria to survive, it will actually be in a dormant state until either environmental conditions improve or they’re chemically stimulated to undergo activation, germination, and outgrowth. This means they can lie dormant for MILLIONS of YEARS - one endospore was actually found encased in amber and was actually reactivated.

Also,

Reddit screenshot u say?

[mixelation]

I always love how you manage to stick ‘working in a lab’ references into your fics and posts, and as a bio student trying to figure out wtf I’m going to do after college, may I please ask what it’s like to work in one, whether at school or elsewhere? Thank you!

P.S. I love your fics, omg. Tori is the chaotic little shit I dream of being in my everyday life (though preferably without the psychotic ninjas that could, and would, kill me. Even if that builds character lol). You make every character HILARIOUS and awesome to read. And I would def read that Tobirama fic if you ever released it, love how she is falling in love cause he’s hot and cool and her soulmate while he’s like ‘omg finally another semi-logical human being within all this b.s.’. And you know what, both completely valid, I also want a hot and awesome person who is also (mostly) well-versed in logic 🥲😂.

Hmmm I'd ay working in labs can be a really variable experience! For academic labs, they're usually set up in a way where you're just in one little group of people so lab culture becomes really important. In the lab where I worked as the lab manager, everyone mostly stuck to a strict 9-to-5 schedule with not a lot of socializing, but the lab I'm in now is more chaotic with people fitting their schedules to whatever else they have going on and we try to plan more social outings.

What you actually do in lab can vary a lot too. I've always been in a position where I do a shit ton of different tasks over the course of a week (including boring stuff no one talks about like making new reagents, or quizzing everyone on what supplies they're going to use this month so I can tell the PI what I think we should order because I never fully turned off lab manager brain), but some people end up doing literally just the same thing over and over. Like if you're really good at one type of assay a lab runs a lot? You might just get put in charge of doing it for everyone's experiments, or you might have your own experiment that literally just that assay fifteen times. It really depends on the structure of the lab.

In my previous job, I did a lot of taking over experiments for short amounts of time while we recruited a new student or someone took time off, and I did a lot of prep for experiments and follow-up assays (because I was the only one who knew how to use this one machine LMAO) and never had my own project, which was kind of frustrating but ALSO I never felt super bothered when experiments didn't work. Now I do have my own projects that I run, which I like, but I feel a lot more pressure to make those project succeed. If you go into a lab as an undergraduate, you'll probably start off helping someone on a project (and doing a lot of grunt work, like autoclaving trash lol) and then get more and more independent. Depending on how that goes and what you and your PI feel is best for you, independence might mean getting your own project, or it might mean you continue on in a similar role but now you're allowed to do more and more things unsupervised.

I like lab work a lot! I get to switch up my schedule a lot, so there's not a lot of monotony across the weeks, but I will add the caveat that a lot of bench work is really, really boring. There's a lot of repetitive tasks that are just "pipet a tiny amount of liquid into another liquid; repeat and repeat and repeat." There are a lot of tasks that are technically challenging. There's a pretty bad culture of bad work-life balance (my boss is super chill with me taking random time off, but I go in on a weekends a LOT). In research, you have to get used to and comfortable with failure, because for every successful experiment there are tons of failed ones. Yes, even if you're a super smart and high achieving student-- you will mess up, you will have everything fail, and you have to just clean it up, restrategize, and keep going. The upside is that you get to figure out cool things that no one knew before......!

[simplykaren]

Non-surgery techs should not handle or pack instruments unless supervised by a surgery tech.

I went by our clinic's sister clinic (privately owned by the same person, not corporate), intending to pick up the instrument packs we loaned them on Saturday (theirs were all un-autoclaved from the surgeries on Friday and 2 laceration repairs walked in). My eyes widened in horror at the spread of instruments across 1 exam table. They were sorted by instrument type.

groans in distress and begins getting a stress headache

They have color-coded autoclave tape for a reason! You should never mix packs. And to top it off, 3/4 of the packs I came to retrieve (1 with red tape and 1 that had a doctor's initials engraved on them) were missing! They'd already been repacked and were who knows where.

In short, I left without my clinic's packs, I am never loaning them instruments ever again if I can help it, and I didn't even bother trying to look for the drape pack I sent along with those packs. I am going to get comfort food now. I'm not sure whether I want to bang my head on a table, strangle someone, or cry.

[themetaphorgirl]

A home for all of my Lockwood & Co fics

Pas de Deux

**bonus reference post with videos of variations and ballet steps!**

my heart’s an autoclave

Post The Creeping Shadow. They've wrapped up the job at Aldbury Castle and they can finally head home, but the Other Side is still clinging to Lockwood and Lucy like wisps of smoke. They can't escape unscathed, but no one knows what kind of repercussions are going to hit them.

burn clear and steadfast tonight

It was just going to be a quick trip, just a weekend away to give a lecture in Manchester and then straight home to their children. It was the most ordinary night, like any other night for the Lockwood family, but Celia can’t help but shake the feeling that something isn’t right.

you're on your own, kid

Lucy Carlyle always dealt with things alone. That’s just how things worked. She just needed to find the right people to care about her.

the quality of mercy

Jessica has been trying so hard to keep everything together after the loss of her parents, especially when it comes to caring for her little brother. But twelve is so young to carry that much weight, and when Anthony gets sick she's afraid that she can't protect him the way he deserves.

cold hands, warm hearts

Lockwood and Lucy get sent out to work a case in the country in the midst of a snowstorm. It’s freezing but they’re in love and all they need is each other.

how to be yours

Lockwood is so relieved to have Lucy back, but when he comes down with the world’s worst case of the stomach flu he can’t help but panic that she’s going to walk out that door again. Luckily for him, she has no such intentions.

Keep You Safe

Instead of staying in London after the deaths of their parents, Jessica and Anthony traveled up north to live with their uncle on the family estate in the countryside. As Anthony grew up, he was sure of two things- one, that he was hopelessly in love with his childhood best friend Lucy Carlyle, and two, that they needed to get out of there. But before long things get even more complicated, and there's bigger mysteries that needed to be solved.

(Canon divergence, childhood best friends to lovers)

Peace When You Are Done (a collab with @cats-and-metersticks)

Infamous agency head Gravedigger Sykes doesn’t hire children, and he doesn’t play favorites. That is, until he meets Anthony Lockwood.

Give No Quarter (a collab with @cats-and-metersticks)

"Are you sure you’re okay to come out on the case tonight?”

Lockwood paused, and took a moment before turning around to face her, expression perfectly smooth. “Of course I am. What would make you think otherwise?”

Lucy took a deep breath. This was always a delicate dance, and one she hadn’t entirely perfected yet. “Just… you know it’s the type of thing George and I can handle alone, and it’s been a while since you’ve had a night off.”

He frowned. “But you don’t have to handle it alone. And I don’t need a night off.”

Or, the last time Lockwood works a case with a headache.

the riddle of his existence

"Sometimes, though not often, he had dreams, and they were more painful than the dreams of other boys. For hours he could not be separated from these dreams, though he wailed piteously in them. They had to do, I think, with the riddle of his existence. At such times it had been Wendy's custom to take him out of bed and sit with him on her lap, soothing him in dear ways of her own invention, and when he grew calmer to put him back to bed before he quite woke up, so that he should not know of the indignity to which she had subjected him."

Lockwood shoved all of his trauma down as deep as possible, and then tries to pretend it doesn't burst out of him into nightmares and migraines. George worries. So does Lucy, but she wants to do something about it. She just isn't sure how.

a mess of fading lines

When the team gets called to help seal the scene of a car accident, Lucy isn’t prepared for the effect it has on Lockwood and the old trauma it opens up.

Neither is Lockwood.

stay young, go dancing

The company gets invited to a black tie Fittes affair and Lucy feels like a fish out of water. Luckily Lockwood is there with her. Well, at least he’s trying.

I need you so much closer

Lucy can’t pinpoint why Lockwood is so on edge, but it makes so much more sense when she realizes it’s the anniversary of one of the worst days of his life.

home is a fire

Now that the dust has settled, they can start putting 35 Portland Row back together after it was ransacked by Winkman and his relicmen. The trouble is that it’s not possible to put everything back exactly the way it was, and Lockwood is struggling with the destruction of his childhood home. But Lucy won’t let him struggle alone, and neither will anyone else.

our hands clasped so tight

Lockwood always understood the concept of undying devotion, but he never once dreamed he would be enough to deserve it. Maybe the press of Lucy’s lips against his is enough for him to finally believe it, or maybe dreaming about the family he lost can remind him he was always worthy in the first place.