Superstition Doesn’t Affect Experiments (Knock On Wood)

Maybe you think twice before starting a new project on the 13th, or perhaps a pinch of sodium chloride flies over your left shoulder at the beginning of every experiment.  It can be tough to get experiments to work and when they do, it’s not unusual to repeat every detail – from the reagents used to the underwear worn.  And thus, the birth of superstition in the laboratory- but who’s to say all of those details don’t actually matter…

The irony of a group of people who value, above all, data and facts being superstitious is not lost on us.  We’d think it sounds crazy too unless we didn’t know from experience that spinning around twice in a counterclockwise motion at the outset of an experiment guaranteed it’s success…

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