The unwritten rules of sharing in the laboratory

Ever shared someone else’s toothbrush? I didn’t think so. I certainly haven’t, and yet there are some things that we’re perfectly willing to share, like a pen or perhaps a jacket. These unwritten rules are all around us, and they follow us into the lab as well. Have a fume hood all your own? I bet that you’ve never done much chemistry in other people’s hoods—it would probably feel weird. You’d probably react poorly to one of your lab mates reaching into your hood and pulling out your stir plate. It probably doesn’t belong to you, but it is yours—you’re the one who uses it most often, and you’ve had it the entire time that you’ve been working in that hood. That possessiveness you feel, it’s one of those funny unwritten rules of the lab. This possessiveness doesn’t stop at fume hoods, or simple equipment like stir plates. Put enough