{"id":21,"date":"2006-08-30T08:51:12","date_gmt":"2006-08-30T15:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=21"},"modified":"2008-08-05T10:15:55","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T14:15:55","slug":"stay-safe-out-there-folks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=21","title":{"rendered":"Stay safe out there, folks!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It turns out that even the simplest of experiments and science classroom projects can be dangerous in some way<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few months back, the fifth-graders at Franklin’s Jefferson Elementary contracted salmonella, a nasty bacterial infection, from owl pellets, grayish, hardened clumps of regurgitated material that students dissect to figure out what the bird ate.<\/p>\n

The packages they arrived in indicated they were sterile.<\/p>\n

“People sincerely thought these were risk-free,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, a state disease sleuth who tracked the outbreak, which caused illness but no permanent health problems. “They thought this was no different than making a Mother’s Day present.”<\/p>\n

But it was different. The pellets, it turned out, harbored salmonella. It was easy enough for the germs to make the leap from pellet to student, especially because the project extended over several days.<\/p>\n

“There could easily have been a situation where a child would prod the pellet with their pencil and then put the pencil in their mouth,” Matyas said.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

At an Illinois school nearly five years ago, a chemistry teacher was demonstrating how the color of a flame can indicate the presence of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, or some other salt. It is a staple of high school chemistry.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, a fireball erupted, lunging at three students and burning them severely. It wasn’t the first time such an accident had happened.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Even material used in basic experiments has changed. In the past, when teachers wanted to demonstrate how food contains energy, they used nuts.<\/p>\n

“But we don’t want to do that now because we have so many students who may have peanut allergies,” Decker said.<\/p>\n

Instead, they substitute cheese puffs in the calorie-burning experiment.<\/p>\n

“If you do that experiment, though, you’ll never want to eat a cheese puff again,” Decker said. “Because the stuff that comes out – oh my God, the grease, everything.<\/p>\n

“But that’s science.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It turns out that even the simplest of experiments and science classroom projects can be dangerous in some way. A few months back, the fifth-graders at Franklin’s Jefferson Elementary contracted salmonella, a nasty bacterial infection, from owl pellets, grayish, hardened … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2332,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2332","url_meta":{"origin":21,"position":0},"title":"“Talk Science With Me” event in Gainesville","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There is an interesting event happening in Gainesville tonight called Talk Science With Me. Scientists from the University of Florida will be at various locations around town standing by to chat with you and answer your burning science questions. Their publicity\/social media isn't the best at this point so I'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2332#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2208,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2208","url_meta":{"origin":21,"position":1},"title":"Creationism in Pinellas County school board race","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"NOTE: See update at the end of this post. The Gradebook blog reports that when candidates for the Pinellas County school board were asked during a public forum if they thought creationism should be taught in the science classroom, one said: \"I think creationism and evolution should be taught side\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/pinellas-210x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":214,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=214","url_meta":{"origin":21,"position":2},"title":"Why are science FCAT scores low?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Low science FCAT scores (see previous post)\u00c2\u00a0were mentioned in many news stories yesterday and today, and a few even made that element the story\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hook. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But scientists they are not.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) There is no in-depth analysis of the problem, though, that I have found. Mainly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about reading, writing and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2626,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2626","url_meta":{"origin":21,"position":3},"title":"Religious Liberties bills nearing finish line","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida Senate approved the bad Religious Liberties bill (SB 436) on a vote of 23-13. The version in the House (HB 303) passed through both of its committee stops on unanimous yes votes and will now go to the full House. The only thing that will stop or modify\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":804,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=804","url_meta":{"origin":21,"position":4},"title":"Pond scum in the classroom","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The fifth-grade students learned some interesting hands-on stuff, but the teacher was a little ... worried. Casey Turner watched as two buckets of fresh pond water \u00e2\u20ac\u201d full of writhing bloodworms, mosquito larvae, water bugs and other aquatic wildlife \u00e2\u20ac\u201d were heaved into the center of his fifth-grade classroom on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2530,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2530","url_meta":{"origin":21,"position":5},"title":"Baxley and the Religious Liberties Act","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I told you about the\u00c2\u00a0\"Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act\" (House Bill 303) filed in the Florida house and my concerns with it. Today, a companion bill was filed in the senate: Senate Bill 436. It's a duplicate of the house bill. 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