There are an amazing number of scientific urban legends in the lab too that are passed down orally from senior to junior members. My personal favorite is that drinking MilliQ (ultra pure water) will cause the cells in your gut to explode [1]. How such a stupid idea ever got taken seriously by scientists who should know better has always amazed me.
[1] On the topic of drinking MilliQ water I have always encourage all the members of my lab to drink it. The reason why (apart from the taste which I quite like), is that it allows you to detect when you have bacterial contamination of your MilliQ carboy that will ruin your experiments.
[1] On the topic of drinking MilliQ water I have always encourage all the members of my lab to drink it. The reason why (apart from the taste which I quite like), is that it allows you to detect when you have bacterial contamination of your MilliQ carboy that will ruin your experiments.