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May the Force be with You
Professor LabTuna
May 05, 2025
Greetings, fellow science enthusiasts!
Whether you're battling hyperspace experiments or dodging tie-dye gel mishaps, we've got your weekly dose of inspiration, humor, and lab wisdom. Let’s ignite your curiosity and make research a little more fun—dive into this issue for stories, tips, and a galactic look at Star Wars science blunders! 🚀
In this issue:
Quote of the Day
Somewhere, science is even more beautiful than art.
Lab Story of the Week
PCR Gel Mishap
Pr. Tuna’s molecular biology lab was a hive of precision, but even the most meticulous setups couldn’t save one grad student from a gel-tastic blunder. Eager to impress during a late-night PCR run, the student prepared an agarose gel to check their DNA samples, envisioning crisp bands that would make their thesis shine. In a sleep-deprived haze, they grabbed the wrong tube, mistaking the DNA ladder for loading dye, and poured it into their samples. When the gel ran, the results were a smenary, rainbow-colored mess that looked more like a toddler’s finger painting than a scientific triumph.
The next morning, the student presented the gel to the lab group, blissfully unaware of their mix-up. As Pr. Tuna squinted at the psychedelic streaks, the room erupted in laughter—someone choked on their coffee, and another snapped a photo for the lab’s “Wall of Shame.” “Congratulations,” Pr. Tuna chuckled, “you’ve invented tie-dye genomics!” The student’s face turned as red as the ethidium bromide they should’ve used properly, realizing their ladder-dye swap had turned their experiment into a lab legend. Attempts to salvage the gel with extra runs only deepened the abstract art vibes, cementing its status as a cautionary tale.
Armed with fresh pipettes and a bruised ego, the student re-ran the experiment, this time double-checking every tube. A faint smudge on the gel rig’s lid remains, a quiet nod to the day a PCR gel became a masterpiece of mayhem. By the next lab meeting, the “Ladder Fiasco” was the go-to story, shared with newbies as a reminder: always label your tubes, unless you’re aiming for a PhD in abstract expressionism. This colorful catastrophe became the highlight of the semester in a lab full of serious science.
☕ Share Your Funniest Lab Story & Win Starbucks!
Got a story like this? Share it with us!
Every week, we feature one submission — and the storyteller gets a Starbucks gift card.
Events Calendar
We’ve compiled all major science & lab-related events in a public Google Calendar.
✅ Add it to your calendar: [iPhone] | [Android] | [Mac] | [Windows]
✅ Know a great event? Send it to us and help grow the community calendar.
Please, share interesting events to make this Community-based Calendar better.
Top 10 Scientific Mistakes in the Star Wars Universe:
The 10 mistakes listed here cover a range of issues from space physics to biology, reflecting the franchise's focus on entertainment over realism. For fans and scientists alike, these inaccuracies provide a fun lens through which to explore real science, bridging the gap between fiction and fact.
Hyperspace Travel
Film example - Kessel Run (Solo: A Star Wars Story)
Context - Spaceships travel faster than light through hyperspace to quickly move between star systems.
Why it's false - According to Einstein's theory of relativity, nothing with mass can travel faster than light, as it would require infinite energy. Hyperspace, as shown, doesn’t exist, and real interstellar travel would take years, not minutes.
Explosions in Space
Film example - Space battles (A New Hope, etc.)
Context - Space battles feature large, fiery explosions with sound.
Why it's false - In reality, explosions in space would be silent and look different without an atmosphere to carry sound or sustain fire, making the movie depictions inaccurate for dramatic effect.
Sound in Space
Film example - Tie Fighter sounds (A New Hope, etc.)
Context - Spaceships and objects make sounds, like engine hums or laser blasts.
Why it's false - Sound needs a medium to travel through, but space is a vacuum, so no sound can be heard; these noises are added for the audience.
Lightsabers
Film example - Jedi duels (The Phantom Menace, etc.)
Context - Jedi and Sith use lightsabers, plasma weapons that cut through almost anything.
Why it's false - Plasma doesn’t hold a stable shape like a sword and would disperse; containing it is impossible with current technology, and the heat would likely incinerate everything, not make clean cuts.
The Force and Midi-chlorians
Film example - Anakin's midi-chlorian count (The Phantom Menace)
Context - The Force is powered by midi-chlorians, microscopic organisms, as explained in the prequels.
Why it's false - Midi-chlorians are fictional, with no biological basis for granting supernatural powers, failing to align with known science.
Asteroid Belts
Film example - Millennium Falcon in the asteroid field (The Empire Strikes Back)
Context - The Millennium Falcon navigates through densely packed asteroid fields.
Why it's false - Real asteroid belts have asteroids spaced millions of miles apart, making navigation safe at high speeds, unlike the movie’s dramatic portrayal.
Planetary Landscapes
Film example - Tatooine's desert (A New Hope)
Context - Planets like Tatooine are shown with uniform landscapes, like deserts or forests.
Why it's false - Real planets have diverse terrains due to geological and weather processes, making a single-type landscape unlikely without extreme conditions.
Death Star's Destruction
Film example - Death Star II explosion (Return of the Jedi)
Context - The Death Star explodes, and nearby Endor seems unaffected.
Why it's false - Debris from such an explosion would rain down, causing firestorms and toxic fallout, making the moon uninhabitable, which isn’t shown.
FTL Communication
Film example - Holographic messages (A New Hope, etc.)
Context - Characters communicate instantly across galaxies using holograms.
Why it's false - Physics says information can’t travel faster than light, so real-time communication across galaxies is impossible without faster-than-light technology, which isn’t feasible.
Power Source for Lightsabers
Film example - Lightsaber construction (The Phantom Menace)
Context - Lightsabers are powered by kyber crystals to contain plasma.
Why it's false - Kyber crystals are fictional, and no mineral can contain plasma as shown; creating a stable plasma blade requires unsolved engineering and physics challenges.
🧪 Embracing Open Science Practices
Sharing research data, methods, and findings in a busy lab can feel overwhelming, often leading to delayed collaboration, missed opportunities, or lack of transparency—issues that slow down scientific progress for professors and students alike.
Lifehack.
Jumpstart Open Science in your lab with a "Transparency Starter Kit" by using free platforms like the Open Science Framework (OSF). Set up a shared OSF project for your team where you pre-register experiments, upload datasets, and post preprints before publication. For example, pre-register your study design on OSF to lock in your hypothesis, then upload raw data to Zenodo with a DOI for easy sharing. Use a simple naming convention (e.g., [ProjectName_Year_DataType]) to keep files organized. Share the project link with collaborators and funders to showcase your work in real-time.
Why It Works.
This approach boosts transparency and collaboration, making your research more reproducible and accessible. Studies show open data can increase citations by up to 25% (Orvium, 2023), and pre-registration reduces bias by locking in your plan upfront. It also saves time on back-and-forth emails by centralizing everything, letting your team focus on the science. Most labs still hoard data until publication, missing out on early feedback and networking opportunities.
Pro Tip.
Start small—pick one project to test this system, and use OSF’s templates to streamline setup. Always double-check data privacy rules before sharing sensitive datasets.