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Lab anxiety
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this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2026
499 points (97.5% liked)
Science Memes
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I get anti-science vibes from this and I don't know if it's deliberate but I hate it. Oversimplifying the scientific process and highlighting the worst parts without explaining what these sacrifices and contributions work towards.
We live on a vast, vast historical mountain of skulls and sorrow and pain and suffering to have a world where you can drive for 5 - 30 minutes in any direction and get antibiotics and fever reducing medication, where we can work on a chair all day and earn enough to go to a grocery store and buy food that you know won't kill you or give your kids dysentery.
We do better honoring these sacrifices than whinge that science isn't giving back enough for its cost. You owe ALL your comforts to this process that is largely misunderstood or even actively attacked. It makes no sense to me.
If you want to advocate for newer forms of scientific research that don't rely on things like chemical exposure or animal testing, that's fine, lets do that. Let's not throw away the scientific process just because you don't fucking understand it.
Na this is actual intrusive thoughts from someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in a lab. It's legit. I felt seen reading this comic. The plastic waste makes me shudder. Also experiments actually just fail sometimes, not even giving a positive or negative result. The method went wrong or a reagent was cooked.
Same. I've used tens of thousands of pipette tips. I can't imagine what my lifetime plastic consumption is like compared to your average person. I'm guessing I'm like a small neighborhood.
You should know better than to start an experiment on Tuesdays!
I can relate too.
It took me a second to see your angle. I gotta say tho', I have felt this way many times and I will continue to do so. To someone from the field, it is quite relatable. I assume it is also intended in such a way.
I was maintenance in a lab for a few years and these seemed to be common jokes, especially the plastic.
Just got a reply to it from a friend who's a tech there "yep, pretty much"