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."

Incoming lawsuits in:

[Anonymous Coward]

3
2
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Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[Aglassis]

Incoming lawsuits in: 3..2..1..

Actually it should be the opposite. Anyone who convinces the stupid to sterilize themselves or remove themselves from the gene pool through other means certainly deserves our hearty congratulations. In fact, they should be allowed to sue the stupid bastards they convinced to kill themselves.

I can see it now, billboards with signs saying: "a microwave is a great way to get a tan," "a blowtorch is a great way to thaw frozen pipes," and of course "it is cool to operate power tools--in the nude! Buy Budweiser!"

Truly, we need the stupid to start killing themselves again. With the advent of birth control, human evolution is starting to go backwards. In 100 years they will talk about the benevolent reign of George Bush the Wise.

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[Skrynesaver]

Truly, we need the stupid to start killing themselves again. With the advent of birth control, human evolution is starting to go backwards. In 100 years they will talk about the benevolent reign of George Bush the Wise.

You raise a very interesting point, those who take advantage of the opportunities presented to them in western society tend to reproduce at a much lower rate than those who get hammered and start breeding while the more capable are still in education.

The fact that educated women want to establish a career before becoming mothers means that they start a family in their late thirties and consequently have fewer kids, sometimes they have no family at all as it is too late for treatment when they discover infertility issues. Basically the smart people aren't replacing themselves.

Fuck, I sound like some Eugenics Nazi but really stop running yourselves down, have a shower and go out and breed people!

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[Vintermann]

The traits you may think are useful and great may not be the traits mother nature approve of, but the nice thing about mother nature is that you know her judgement's not personal, whereas if it's a person deciding, it's just his selfish genes being especially despicable, and wanting to get rid of its competitors.

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[TapeCutter]

"...those who take advantage of the opportunities presented to them in western society tend to reproduce at a much lower rate than those who get hammered and start breeding while the more capable are still in education"

I understand what you are saying and largely agree but I kind of object to the "more capable" tag, perhaps "more mature", "more fortunate", "more materialistic" or just plain "wiser".

Wisdom and comfort are the twin goals of many humans, and often the reason for desiring wisdom is that it's seen as a path to comfort. Evolution does not have goals, it has survivours called "genes" who's lineage goes back billions of years, these "genes" are actually just patterns of interacting atoms originally created in exploding stars. "Strong people", "loyal people", "pious people", "educated people", ect, are the result of conceptual tools that humans use for dealing with each other, the deep rooted tribal tendencies [pointlesswasteoftime.com] found in our genectic makeup appeared long before our particular species did.

"....but really stop running yourselves down, have a shower and go out and breed people!"

I did that while my "more capable" friends finished high school, some went all the way into thier thirties totally clueless about kids or the value of a buck. I am now 47, my youngest is 21 and is getting married next year. Having worn collars of both colurs for a minimum of 15yrs I can attest that a good education can buy you time via a healthy paypack, intellectual satisfaction via interesting work, and the comfort of not fighting the checkout-chick to the death over a 50 cent overcharge. Personally, formal education doesn't rate highly with me in a relationship - after all, even the most "retarded" red-neck can teach you something.

Re:

[mike2R]

Basically the smart people aren't replacing themselves.

To play devil's advocate, that's a very subjective definition of "smart." From the point of view of your genes, not having children is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Rather than saying the human race is selecting for stupididy, you might well say that we are selecting for a willingnes to have children, even in adverse conditions (ie modern developed society, with its multitude of distractions from procreation).

Given that the human race will hopefu

Re:

[IAmTheDave]

Ya know what they say on Jackass - "If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough." By more dumb, yet hardened people breeding than us 98 lb weakling nerds, we're assuring the survival of the species past the next major disaster, be it meteor or nuclear.

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[LordVader717]

Anyone who convinces the stupid to sterilize themselves or remove themselves from the gene pool through other means certainly deserves our hearty congratulations

Perhaps, if they're clever, they could sterilize themselves with their microwave.

Re:

[steveo777]

I knew a guy back in hi school who tried to take apart a microwave in electronics. When the teacher came back, he almost emptied the room and let him turn it on with everyone else safely on the other side of the locker bank outside. But figured it would bite him in the ass later in life and decided to prevent him from powering the thing up.

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[kitsunewarlock]

The "zero" in your score makes me laugh. Super patriotism of others for the win. But seriously, joining the military is quite interesting...on one hand you have the people who obviously have all the right reasons: nuclear technicians without enough money or high school GPA (which doesn't mean your dumb by the way...the fact I was 11th in my class means nothing) to get education from a decent college, people down on their luck because they got laid off and can no longer afford schooling, etc...etc... In both cases, and many others, a good reason for military conscription is in fact a lack of college. Which isn't saying your too stupid or poor to get into the college mind you. A good example would be my own father-in-law: extremely smart man. Never graduated high-school and dropped out after reading every decent book they had in their library (never went to class and the principle didn't know what to do with him; took him a good year and a half to read everything that interested him). Yet he joined the military AND went to college (3 PHDs and more masters and Bachelors than I can count). On the other hand, you have gang members who want a legal excuse to shoot people. I know, that sounds horrible, and my karma will hurt after this post. But, honestly its true. My father was in the military, and my best friend is in bootcamp right now, and they'll agree with me. Gangs since the beginning of war have been formed after wars were over by soldiers with too much extra aggression... Why am I replying to a "0" scored post? I dunno, perhaps I wanted to talk about my dad. Perhaps I'm waiting for a virus scan to end on my laptop before driving out to the lab to get some late-night work done. Or perhaps I felt that the moderation system of slashdot is such that one ticked off guy who copies and pastes: "I for one..." into every biology post can turn your essay into troll-bait. And so I say "farewell to karma..."

Re:Eugenics on Slashdot

[Gr8Apes]

The Nazis practiced genocide and encouraged eugenics. The fact that the distasteful former has so completely colored the latter to the point of tainting its meaning is obvious in your case.

Eugenics is practiced with every prenatal screening, gene screening to discover genetic abnormalities prior to conception, and with almost every in-vitro process. Do you consider those "horrible"?

This is merely encouraging a subset to remove themselves from the gene pool. There's a major difference between showing someone cliff-diving and describing its wonders vs forcibly shoving someone off a cliff.

Or do you hold that the Darwin Awards website [darwinawards.com] is an abomination as well?

Re:Eugenics on Slashdot

[Gr8Apes]

Argh, I'm replying to an anon on a touchy subject....

The Nazis performed eugenics to an extreme degree. I think that eliminating "stupid" people (using an arbitrary definition of "stupid") by encouraging them to kill themselves would qualify as a moderate-to-extreme form of eugenics.

Once they started incarcerating political prisoners, gypsys, and in general bad people in concentration camps in the early 30s, it quickly became easier in germany to add other groups the general population didn't like, such as anyone unable or unwilling to "contribute" or "fit in" to society. Don't forget that Germany, and in fact, most of Europe, were horribly xenophobic at the time. The concentration camps quickly devolved to slave camps and then execution camps, which is a perfect example of the "slippery slope" concept in action.

Eugenics is practiced with every prenatal screening, gene screening to discover genetic abnormalities prior to conception, and with almost every in-vitro process. Do you consider those "horrible"?

These are controversial ethical debates. Some people, especially the disabled community, do not believe that those who are born disabled should be screened out. Of course, the definition of "disability" and "disease" varies greatly.

I agree there's much debate on this topic. In a contrary view, there was a story in the insert in my Sunday paper this past weekend about a married dwarf couple wanting to ensure their child was born a dwarf. This would be intentionally producing a child with what is considered a genetic abnormality by, at a rough guess, 95+% of the population. Personally, I feel that intentionally disadvantaging a child in this manner, because they will be at a disadvantage in today's society, is not unlike unnecessarily amputating a new born's legs or arms at birth. The story also made mention of intentionally selecting deafness for a deaf couple. I feel the same way about that.

This is merely encouraging a subset to remove themselves from the gene pool.

Deliberately encouraging people to kill themselves would... land you in a fair bit of trouble, I think.

Or do you hold that the Darwin Awards website is an abomination as well?

More like insensitivity to loved ones.

Telling someone to "drop dead" if you will, is not punishable. As an example of how stupid our society has become as a whole, I was by pure happenstance viewing an ad on TV this morning. It was of the new Lexus IS, and they had one on a runway racing against an IS dropped from a helicopter across the drop target. The ground based IS squeaks right under the falling IS in classic thrilling escaped by a hair style.

What makes this germane to this discussion is the text that was apparently felt by someone that needed to be included in the ad. Underneath, it stated first off, "all ariel sequences were simulated", followed by "Professional driver on closed course. Do not attempt."

Now, if you have to tell someone that measuring out 4000 feet on a runway and racing a car dropped from a helicopter @ 4000 feet is something you shouldn't attempt, I'd say that anyone so tempted should be allowed to go ahead and potentially remove themselves from the gene pool.

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[Elm Tree]

I used to work for an environmental engineering company, where one of my co-workers had a clipping from a 1960's Popular Mechanics article suggesting the the best way to dispose of used motor oil was to pour it into a hole in the ground. I'm not sure if it was up there to show the difference in how we view things over time, or to give clients ideas so as to drum up more business, but either way I found it amusing.

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[Oxygen99]

*Ping*

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[Brummund]

Actually, this is Darwin's theory hard at work, doing its best to keep the gene pool strong. Watch out for the next Reuter article "The oven, gasoline and you!"

Re:

[FST777]

Reuterian selection?

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[ArsenneLupin]

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),

Careful here. Dried bread does catch fire when left in the nuker for too long. And sometimes that too long is not long enough to make it soft (I made that experience years ago with a dry piece of French baguette... maybe different kinds of bread behave differently...)

Re:Incoming lawsuits in:

[indifferent children]

I call BS. Darwin's theory of purging the gene pool requires that people lack common sense.

No, common sense is not part of Darwin's theory. Natural selection is based on an organism's fitness to its environment. Since these people live in an environment that includes microwave ovens, sponges, and Reuters, their ability to interact with these elements without removing themselves from the gene pool is part of being 'fit' for their environment.

Darwin's theory no longer works on humans

[nephridium]

Or let's put it another way: the more "advanced" a society gets the less applicable natural selection becomes. Why? Because societies in first world countries will try to safeguard its citizens against stupidity or any other "lack of fitness". Not only does it protect its citizens against natural hazards, such as wild animals, bad weather, famines etc. but it also strives to protect them from any new threats arising due to the new life style.

The example in this case would be: guy hears about scientists s

As they say

[Anonymous Coward]

However, when I put my sponge/scrubber into the microwave, it caught fire, smoked up the house, ruined my microwave, and pissed me off.

The stupid shall be punished.

A bit silly?

[Ckwop]

How else did they expect it to work? Of course you need the god-damn water in the sponge. Microwaves have a wave length measured in the centimetre. The size of a bacterial spore is a couple of orders of magnitude smaller The size of a bateria is a lot smaller than this again.

This means that if you wanted to destroy the blighters with radiation alone you have to choose a frequency a lot higher than microwaves, otherwise there will be areas in the minima of the standing wave that won't heat sufficently to kill the microbes.

The mechanism for steralisation is through the formation of steam that kills the majority of the nasties - not the microwave energy itself.

Simon

You're being naive/optimistic

[246o1]

People do not understand microwaves. Berating them for not using their understanding of microwaves is like watching a Spiderman movie and saying "Why doesn't he just fly out of there?"

Re:You're being naive/optimistic

[Aqua OS X]

I think that analogy needs a bit of polishing.

Re:You're being naive/optimistic

[246o1]

It's all about expecting people to use abilities they don't have, like the ability to fly, or the ability to understand something complex they know nothing about. But just for you, I'll do a political version:

People don't understand microwaves. Expecting them to use their understanding of microwaves would be like asking President Bush to use his understanding of diplomacy.

Re:

[sumdumass]

lol.. that was funny. incorect but funny. Not to pick, but bush probably has an understanding of diplomacy, just not in a way as some would like.

But that was probably one of the best bush jokes I have seen yet.

Re:

[Barny]

Nah, one from bash.org is the best....

TriPod11: bush ain't THAT bad...he kinda knows what he's doin
idaredbeet08: Please, Monica Lewenski had more President in her than George Bush ever will.

http://bash.org/?706281 [bash.org]

Re:You're being naive/optimistic

[kestasjk]

Berating them for not using their understanding of microwaves is like watching a Spiderman movie and saying "Why doesn't he just fly out of there?"

Could this be the worst analogy on /. , ever?

Re:

[OlivierB]

Thought I was being a little slow before my morning coffee not getting the point.
If this isn't the worst analogy ever, I think it definitely makes it in the Top 5 funniest analogies.

Re:

[Digital Vomit]

"Spider-man" is to "flying" as "Joe Average" is to "understanding how microwaves work".

That "whooshing" sound you heard is not Spider-man flying over your head, but, rather, the joke.

Re:You're being naive/optimistic

[jrumney]

People may not understand microwaves, but the original article I saw gave the following advice:

• Wet the sponge first. Dry sponges will not heat evenly and may catch fire.
• Keep an eye on the sponge while it is in the microwave and stop the microwave immediately if there is any sparking.
• 2 minutes should be enough for most bacteria, but never microwave your sponge for longer than 10 minutes.

Maybe some news sources edited the article down to a short filler piece and left out some of these crucial details.

ironic for slashdot

[fantomas]

... but maybe some of the people didn't read the article :-)

Re:

[funfail]

Then there should be another safety note on microwaves: RTFA

Conversion error.

[cuzco]

We Americans measure our bacteria as fractions of an inch so the sponge fires were no doubt caused when people, in their germ kill potential calculations, screwed up while converting centimeter length microwaves to inches. Honest mistake.

But do _you_ understand?

[KnightTristan]

... how else did _you_ expect it to work?

A simple question for you: water molecules, are they larger or smaller than the bacteria and spores to be killed?

Last time I've checked, the wavelength used in the microwave is about 12.5 cm. Sure, the bacteria are much smaller than that, but is it at all relevant?

KnightTristan

Re:But do _you_ understand?

[Dr. Hok]

Last time I've checked, the wavelength used in the microwave is about 12.5 cm. Sure, the bacteria are much smaller than that, but is it at all relevant?

Actually, the parent does say why it is relevant: there will be areas in the minima of the standing wave that won't heat sufficently to kill the microbes.

The microwave radiation in the oven is a standing wave. This means there are areas where the radiation is (close to) zero, and the buggers there won't be heated, even if they contain water. Put a sufficiently large chocolate bar into the microwave oven for some seconds and observe the patterns of solid and soft chocolate. Then eat the chocolate, of course.

The water (steam) is needed to average the heat out over the whole sponge to kill all bacteria in it.

Neat.

[Valdrax]

How else did they expect it to work? Of course you need the god-damn water in the sponge. Microwaves have a wave length measured in the centimetre. The size of a bacterial spore is a couple of orders of magnitude smaller The size of a bateria is a lot smaller than this again.

So, are you suggesting that any body shorter than the wavelength of microwave radiation (12 cm) will be left unheated? Neat! That must be why my pizza rolls are still frozen when I get them out.

...Or maybe someone who feels superior

Re:A bit silly?

[mlk]

Taking just that one line

Writing in the Journal of Environmental Health, Bitton and colleagues said they soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater containing fecal bacteria such as E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores. ".

You could easily read that as if the soaking in wastewater was just to add some nasties to zap.

lets be clear about this

[macadamia_harold]

However, when I put my sponge/scrubber into the microwave, it caught fire, smoked up the house, ruined my microwave, and pissed me off,

He wasn't using one of those Sony battery-operated microwaves, was he?

Stupid People, Stupid Method

[StarWreck]

The microwave steralizes the wet sponge because it makes the water hot enough to kill anything living. The same effect can be had by dunking the sponge in a pot of boiling water.

Re:

[sumdumass]

Yea, but then it would take longer then 2 minutes, would make us look super smart by using teknoligy to do something and we wouldn't have the scifi like atmosphere were the microwave oven "zaps" someting into being cooked.

It is kind of like putting your socks in it to dry them. because it can and somewhere i was told it was cool.

Cruelty to Microbes

[iamlucky13]

There's plenty of good jokes here about Darwinism, and some useful discussion about how to actually sterilize a sponge (boiling water, dishwasher, eliminating the sponge as a middleman and simply cleaning plates in the microwave, etc.), but what about the reasons for sterilizing the sponge in the first? Does it even make sense?

Remember, we're talking about a species that used eat stuff raw that had been sitting out in the sun for a couple hours, and beat it into edible sized pieces with sharp rocks. It's

Re:Stupid People, Stupid Method

[geminidomino]

Using a microwave uses less energy and probably carries less risk of personal injury.

Unless you're a putz who forgets to wet the sponge and burns your frelling house down, that is...

Re:

[AK Marc]

Actually, your dishwasher is not going to sterilize anything,

Just because you don't know how to work a dishwasher doesn't make your false statements true. My dishwasher has a little button marked "sterilize." I don't have the manual in front of me, but I believe that when that button is pressed, the wash cycle hits >160F for no less than 5 minutes. Perhaps you should stop buying your dishwashers at Wal-Mart and you'll realize that there are other settings than just "on" and "off" on dishwashers.

What is he whining about?

[Squapper]

If the sponge caugth fire, the microbes are probably dead by now. Right?

This just in...

[Bin_jammin]

holding your breath underwater for 5 minutes cures stupidity. I take full responsibility for all results of home trials.

Re:

[AccUser]

I can hold my breath underwater for just over 5 minutes. Does that mean I am not stupid?

Re:This just in...

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

No it means he missed a '0'. 5 minutes cures only some forms of stupidity. 50 minutes cures all forms.

Re:

[AbRASiON]

Bullshit! Unless your name is Threepwood.

Why funny things are modded Informative

[Digz]

From the FAQ:

"Note that being moderated Funny doesn't help your karma."

Thus the reason that people will mod a Funny post Informative.

Sounds like....

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of smoke? Smells like burning tires? Really pissed off? These people sound like Linux users trying to get their sound cards to work.

Re:

[Andy Dodd]

LMAO.

Where are my mod points when I need them?

Not like it matters, since +funny = no karma and AC = can't get karma anyway.

Now that's news

[Life700MB]

People trying an experiment involving using the microwave at full power can get into trouble!

At least they didn't try to dry their dogs and cats.

--
Superb hosting [tinyurl.com] 200GB Storage, 2_TB_ bandwidth, php, mysql, ssh, $7.95

Class Action Suit

[freedom_india]

Prepare for a Class Action Suit filed against Reuters, the Scientists who did this and news papers that carried it for the damages caused by the fires.

Out of the $100 million that will be awarded, $80 million will go the lawyers, $10 million towards court fees, etc., and the class action plaintiffs awarded a $15 coupon each that can be redeemed for a Microwave at Wal-mart.
 

Re:Class Action Suit

[kisielk]

No, they'll get a $0.50 coupon redeemable for a new sponge.

How about the cows

[anagama]

Irradiating sponges is ok but OMG, don't do it to beef!

Reference to Soaking sponge in water

[madbawa]

There's this method of execution shown in Tom Hanks' 'The Green Mile' in which the guy to be electrocuted is seated in the chair and a wet sponge must be placed on top of his head. Some guy (Percy) with sadistic intentions 'forgets' to do this and the poor convict burns to death in the chair.
Forgive me if its off-topic, but you can learn a lot from the movies...

No matter what you do...

[dtmos]

Note that even the original University of Florida press release [ufl.edu] begins

PLEASE NOTE: To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet. Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot.

*sigh*

Re:No matter what you do...

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple. Ban all sponges. They are clearly dangerous.

That bloody squarepants thing should be locked up too.

Re:No matter what you do...

[rsidd]

From last paragraph of TFA --that's not the original release, that's the advisory the university issued after all these people burned their sponges.

Re:

[dtmos]

I guess the GP should read, "No matter what you do...life makes you look like an idiot on Slashdot."

I had read the University of Florida press release on Wednesday at 1000 UTC, and the warning was already there, though there were as yet no media reports of the fires. So, naturally, I thought...

Oh, never mind.

Re:

[Jacer]

Don't just read Slashdot for your news fix. According to the CNN article those instructions were added later.

People are just too damn stupid for their own good

[OlivierB]

Back in good old days, many centuries ago, there wasn't any kind of this Politically Correct stuff and neither was there protection of the idiots. There was one rule: survival of the fittest.
If you made mistakes dumb enough to kill you , you didn't get anybody to pull you out and nature did its thing and eliminated the "idiot's" gene.
Of course this had nothing to do with real accidents, but in the long term idiots would dissapear.
Nowadays there is no personal responsibility. People do their own mistakes and blame it on somebody else.
This idiot should have had at least his genitals burned so we wouldn't have anymore kids.

Mind you, I am all about protecting and subsidising the weakest, the handicapped, the sick and al. I just believe that dumb people that bring it upon themselves deserve no attention and no compassion whatsoever.

Re:People are just too damn stupid for their own g

[mazarin5]

Mind you, I am all about protecting and subsidising the weakest, the handicapped, the sick and al.

I think Al would be hurt if he found out you categorized him that way.

Re:

[OlivierB]

I'm pretty sure Weird Al Yankovick won't mind. I think he fits the category like a charm.

Re:People are just too damn stupid for their own g

[Bromskloss]

Mind you, I am all about protecting and subsidising the weakest, the handicapped, the sick and al.

Puh, thanks.
-Al

Re:

[ajs318]

Well, actually, I got a sneak preview of the next Jean M Auel book. You will recall that Ayla has already invented flint and steel for making fire, horse riding, needles and dogs, and Jondalar has invented guns. In this new book, Jondalar invents Rock and Roll (but Ayla gets jealous and smashes his instrument when he starts "sharing Pleasures" with groupies) and Ayla invents the Courts and becomes the first lawyer. She successfully prosecutes the First Cave of the Lanzadonii for breach of patent when t

Re:People are just too damn stupid for their own g

[viking80]

>>>Back in good old days, many centuries ago, there wasn't any kind of this Politically Correct stuff and neither was there protection of the idiots. There was one rule: survival of the fittest....

Yes, you just hogtied people to a stone, and threw them in the lake. The ones that sank drowned, and the ones that did not survived.

Or you made them walk on burning coal. The ones that got burnmarks were killed, and the ones that did not could live.

This is called survival of the fittest.

Re:

[collectivescott]

"Yes, you just hogtied people to a stone, and threw them in the lake. The ones that sank drowned, and the ones that did not survived."

Actually, the ones that survived were burned for being witches. After all, how else could they survive? Talk about a shitty test.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

If all else fails, read the instructions.

[xav_jones]

"Just wanted you to know that your article on nuclear fusion reactors aroused my interest. However, when I put my reactor into operation, it caught fire, levelled the neighbourhood, stained my carpet, and pissed me off."

Perhaps if you can't follow all the instructions there are some things you really shouldn't be doing.

ROSPA has it right

[CmdrGravy]

They had this on the BBC yesterday too, I think in the morning they had suggested everyone microwave their sponges and then in the evening news they had a man with a ginger mustache from ROSPA who said that he wouldn't advise microwaving sponges because there is no setting on microwaves for sponges and that he for one didn't have the faintest idea what would happen if you did microwave a sponge except that whatever it was which happened would probably be unsafe and might cause an accident.

I found it very reassuring that ROSPA ( Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents ) does its research so thoroughly before making announcements.

Re:

[DaveCar]

I heard about this on the BBC too, though I thought they ought to tell people to be very careful taking the things out of the microwave as they would be extremely hot (I could see someone putting a cloth on the tray directly rather than in a container like most foodstuffs and retrieving it with bare hands). Little did I realise that they would be falling well before they got to that particular hurdle.

Ignorance != Stupidity

[Capt'n Hector]

Calling these people stuipd only makes you look like an arrogant asshole. For most people, a microwave is a black box contraption in their kitchen that makes food hot. Sure, they also know that you shouldn't put a fork or knife in, but have no idea why. This isn't because they're stupid, it's because they're ignorant about the inner workings of that particular machine in their kitchen.

Oh, but you say, taking things as fact without questioning why is a folly committed only by stupid people, thus making them ignorant. The two are really the same. I would then ask you why light is both a particle and a wave and why electrons jump to a different energy level when hit by the right frequencey of light. There's probably less than 1,000 people on the planet who can give a good answer to these questions, and unless you're one of them, you've committed the same folly as your average suburban mom - you still don't truly know why a microwave works.

Re:Ignorance != Stupidity

[Pikoro]

You put a dry sponge into your microwave didn't you?

Re:

[kv9]

Calling these people stuipd only makes you look like an arrogant asshole. For most people, a microwave is a black box contraption in their kitchen that makes food hot.

no, they're not stupid. they put shit in a "black box that makes food hot" and it caught fire. WOW! color me surprised. I'd say that's pretty stupid. just yet another case of RTFM.

*sigh*

I'm pretty ignorant regarding lots of things, but I don't stick my fingers in an outlet, then act all surprised and shocked (pun intended?) that it zapped

Re:

[Tony Hoyle]

no, they're not stupid. they put shit in a "black box that makes food hot" and it caught fire. WOW! color me surprised. I'd say that's pretty stupid.

No. The media told them "if you put shit into a black box that makes food hot it will sterilize it".

So they did. And it caught fire... because the media forgot to mention that you should use *wet* shit.

That is totally different to waking up one morning and trying to microwave a random object to see what would happen.

Re:

[Minwee]

You don't have to know how to derive Maxwell's equations from first principles to turn on a microwave. You should, however, take enough of an interest to read the little book that came with it, or at least the stickers pasted all over the front of it, which explain what not to do.

If you own a microwave and use a microwave, then you should know how to use one safely. Remaining ignorant of that is just stupid.

How to really sterilise a sponge

[giafly]

The only mention of water in the Microwave zaps germs on sponges article [cnn.com] was as follows.

Writing in the Journal of Environmental Health, Bitton and colleagues said they soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater containing fecal bacteria such as E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores.

Seems to me that only very stupid people would follow these instructions.

IMHO a better way to sterilise a sponge is as follows:

1. Place sponge in a large, empty drinking mug
2. Pour boiling water over it from a kettle and dunk it a few times using a spoon
3. Place a small plate or saucer over the mug to retain the steam
4. Wait until it's cooled

Re:

[Nimey]

No, just waterboarding them. That's NOT torture.

Not only sponges: a microwave will melt metal

[viking80]

One exceptional feature of a microwave is that it will keep heating at full effect no matter how hot the target gets. The only limit how you design your target.

You can for example melt and cast most metals:
http://net127.com/2005/01/24/melting-metals-in-a-d omestic-microwave-oven/ [net127.com]

With some research, you may even be able to use your kitchen microwave to generate some fusion reactions.

Sounds like a college prank

[Dekortage]

When I was in college, someone took one of my coffee mugs, filled it up with Hershey's chocolate syrup, and put it in the microwave for 90 minutes. Then they left. As best as we can tell, the syrup first boiled over and filled up the bottom of the microwave. Eventually it hardened into a black crust and caught fire. That's when the fire alarm woke us up, you know -- it was three o'clock in the morning.

The microwave was ruined, and there was some damage to the cabinet. And I lost my favorite coffee mug too. But it's probably the best use for Hershey's chocolate syrup that I could think of (since it's pretty awful stuff).

In defense of fools...

[Combuchan]

from the article:

But several experimenters evidently left out the crucial step of wetting the sponge.

This was not mentioned at all in the original Reuter's article to begin with, but all other details (how long, power setting) were included. The bureau made the mistake, but instead of apologising, they chastise their readers.

People read the original article and played dumb for a bit, temporarily throwing out conventional wisdom regarding non-food objects in the microwave as they followed Reuter's authoritative instructions.

But, hey, this is slashdot and people don't play, rather, they are dumb, and we all have a good laugh at their misfortune while we're glad it was somebody else who ruined their microwave and not us.

And yes, I did make a whole bunch of toxic smoke years ago by forgetting to put the bowl of water while nuking a CD. :P

I knew

[kilodelta]

Because microwave ovens work best by vibrating water molecules. As they vibrate friction causes them to turn to steam which is what sterilizes the sponge in the first place.

Eileen does not have to hoard the sponges!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

When I first heard the experiment, I was thinking, "Finally! Eileen does not have hoard her sponges and search for sponge-worthy men!" Just zap and reuse! But these disasters are more Krameresque than Eileeny.

The Weird Thing...

[RexRhino]

The weird things isn't that people forgot to wet the sponge so it wouldn't catch on fire...

The weird thing is that people are so afraid of bacteria that they are going be microwaving their sponges!! Not only that, I see they sell anti-bacteria material sponges pre-made at the store... and anti-bacterial soap... and anti-bacterial air-sprays (don't worry about lung cancer from breathing that crap!). Anti-bacterial teething rings... anti-bacterial towels... anti-bacterial shaving cream...

When did people get paranoid about bacteria all of a sudden? You gotta admit, bacteria isn't a significant problem for most people in the industrialized world, even without all the extreme anti bacteria tactics people are using.

Re:cat

[lahvak]

Did you soak the cat in water first?

Re:stupidity

[StarWreck]

it would seam desirable that stupidity should kill

Then it would "seam" time to meet your maker.

Re:Clearly, evolution as a system has failed...

[Anonymous Coward]

In case of human IQ, the evolution feedback works in the wrong direction.
Generally, the more intelligent, well-educated and well-established couples get children at a later age, and get fewer of them.
The "dumber" and lower-class people reproduce faster, and there will be more and more of them.

This effect is clearly visible both on a global scale (developed/developing countries) and locally (lower/upper class).

Re:

[hasmael]

You are implicitly supposing that IQ is a genetic trait, which may not be the case. Intelligence (or the develoment of) could be more related to social or monetary issues.

Doesn't matter

[foreverdisillusioned]

Intelligence (or the develoment of) could be more related to social or monetary issues.

Ah, but rich parents typically bear rich kids (trust funds, inheritance, better opportunities, better educations leading to better paying jobs, etc.) and poor parents typically do not offspring that go on to make millions. Rags to riches (or riches to rags) *can* happen, but neither is commonplace. Similarly, kids do tend to reflect their parents' religion, social standing, morality, etc.

Don't assume that envirome

Re:

[Zeek40]

It's seems to really be a moot point whether IQ is genetic, social or monetary as an individual's children will (generally) be raised in the same social and monetary situation as the parents. No personal experience, but my father has been a guidance counselor at a High School since he retired from the military,(about 7 years) and he swears it's genetic. According to him, 95% of the time, if the kid is an idiot, when the parents come in for a meeting they're going to be idiots too, and the same thing holds

Re:

[AK Marc]

You are implicitly supposing that IQ is a genetic trait, which may not be the case. Intelligence (or the develoment of) could be more related to social or monetary issues.

It has a correlation to monetary issues, but is not "caused" by monetary issues. Diet has a bigger factor in IQ than anything you list, but then you could claim "societal or monetary" could affect diet. Perhaps you should have just said "environmental." That's the real buzz word for the debate. Is it genetic or environmental? And th

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

In case of human IQ, the evolution feedback works in the wrong direction.

Evolution does not have any right or wrong directions. That's devolution fallacy. [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[inviolet]

Evolution does not have any right or wrong directions. That's devolution fallacy.

Humans set goals which evolution can work for or against. In the case of the goal "All humans become smarter and more peaceful, and achieve worldwide safety and comfort, and stop shooting each other over which hand the invisible man in the sky wants you to wipe your a** with", the goal is nearly universal, at least among men who have thought at all about the optimal future state of mankind.

It is implied, and obvious to every

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The evolution feedback, in case of human IQ, has worked just fine till now. Almost all human institutions are organized in a pyramid-like structure: the more intelligent, well-educated people will be more at the top, leading. The "dumber" and lower-class people are more near or at the bottom, doing more of the menial work.
Now, until we have robots (or other technological solutions) that can take over most of the unskilled and lower-skilled work, we do need these "dumber" and lower-class people or the entire

Re:

[SpanishArcher]

> I mean, can you imagine 1 billion well-educated people working on innovations or being "artists"?

Sure. According to Mr Jobs, that's what's happen inside their Cupertino HQ.

Re:Clearly, evolution as a system has failed...

[xoyoyo]

": the more intelligent, well-educated people will be more at the top,"

I presume you're not an American?

Re:Clearly, evolution as a system has failed...

[foreverdisillusioned]

Even if natural selection would step in hard at that point and we'd be left with only with 1 billion people, all well-educated, what would THEY do all day? I mean, can you imagine 1 billion well-educated people working on innovations or being "artists"? Soon enough there would be little left to invent, or at least not enough to keep 1 billion people occupied, and then what? Spread out across the universe and colonize other planets? Sure, but seeing as everybody would ofcourse take all the knowledge with them there'd be nothing "real" to do on those planets as well, apart from just living. .... So, we'd have 1 billion people, of which 99.99% have nothing to do, except to just try and enjoy themselves. My guess is most of them would get really bored really fast...

Errr, what the hell are you arguing? Seriously, I can't figure it out. That there's a finite limit to our intellectual pursuits and/or technological achievements? That existence itself is pointless? That smart people don't know how to have fun?

Society as a whole will always figure out something to itself occupied. Individuals that don't see the point anymore will inevitably withdraw from society and/or commit suicide--either way, removing themselves from the gene pool--leaving only those individuals who are able and willing to find a purpose. I don't see how intelligence or lack thereof has anything to do with it.

Re:stupid posters

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll let your guess.

Dumbass.

Re:

[Dr_Barnowl]

The spongiform nature of the sponge makes a natural insulator - if you boil your sponge in a pan, the centre may well stay cool for a reasonably long time, especially if the sponge is already wet when you put it in.

The same principle is used for another kind of sponge. [wikipedia.org]

Using the microwave means that the sponge will heat on the inside as well as the outside.