Scientists Spill Their Quirky Lab Traditions and Superstitions

At the start of the new school year, researchers often welcome new members into their labs. Along with safety briefings and training on how to use new equipment, new lab members also get inducted into the lab’s unique traditions and superstitions. The editors at The Scientist asked researchers to tell us about some of their favorite ones.

Superstitions and Rituals That Keep Lab Equipment Happy

Rules of Flow Cytometry: Meghan Koch, maternal-offspring immunologist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

We do a lot of flow cytometry, and the software that it’s run on is called Diva. We were just like, “she's a diva” because there are little glitches all the time. When certain things don't work, we just close everything down, give her a break, and speak nicely to her. We have to follow this order of operations, even though it doesn't really make sense. The new people that come into my lab get really frustrated. The older folks tell them “that's okay, she's a diva. Just treat her this way, and it'll all work out for you.”

Embellishing Lab Instruments: Matt Simcik, environmental chemist, University of Minnesota

We have a lot of superstitions. We have idols and tokens on all of our instruments to keep them happy so that they don't die. We don't question it if it works. We keep doing it.

For example, we had a rubber ducky. It melted, and that instrument died. It was coincidental because it had overheated right where the rubber ducky was. I don't know the cause and effect there, but there was certainly a correlation. We've had stuffed parrots and all kinds of stuff—whatever the students or the lab guys latch onto. If it works, we keep it on there.

Patch Clamp Practices: Kate Sadler, neuroscientist, University of Texas at Dallas

Part of our lab does patch clamp electrophysiology, and we have a superstition that you can never pull more than two patch pipettes at one time. If you do, the rest of your day is ruined, so you can only pull two pipettes and then stop. I'm not sure that there's actually any validity to that, but that's a superstition that we have.

Lab Traditions with Equal Parts Science, Sugar, and Support

Lab Lunches: Ji-Yong Julie Kim, reproductive scientist, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

We have lab lunches, and I like to go around and try to get some positive feedback from people about where they’re at. Before saying goodbye to somebody, we tell them what we really most appreciated in that person during their time in the lab. I like to build a really solid positive team in the lab, and sometimes it's important to go out and have a meal together and talk openly.

Weekly Cookie Breaks: Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez, computational biologist, University of Pennsylvania

We have Cookie Wednesday every week, where we talk about all things non-scientific. We have happy hours once a month. I try my best to create an environment of fun, to have some fun with science and bring people together from different countries and different backgrounds to work in my lab. And in fact, just to give an example, right now, we have people from chemistry, computer science, microbiology, engineering, all working together. So it's really, really fun. I get to learn a lot from them too every day.

Child-Themed Cakes: Jessica Bernard, neuroscientist, Texas A&M University

We are a big “let's celebrate the wins” lab—cake for everything! That's something we had been doing before the pandemic, and we're bringing it back now that everyone's back in person. For everyone's birthday, my goal is to find the most absurd child-themed cake for my grad students and postdocs. We had Spider Man and SpongeBob. There was a full-blown unicorn cake at some point. I go through the picture book of cakes at the grocery store and ask, “what do you have? What can we do?” They look like they might be a Batman kind of student. Let's go with Batman, that type of thing.

Birthday Bakes: Lisa Wagar, immunologist, University of California, Irvine

We celebrate everybody's birthday. I make a birthday cake per their request for each of them. It’s a fun little thing! And now I have 15 people, so it's a lot of baking.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

From embellishing lab instruments with collectibles to taking time off from talking science and satisfying sweet cravings, scientists across the country indulge in a lot of traditions to keep the lab atmosphere happy.