April 3, 2012 03:22 am EDT

Smithsonian's super squeaky clean meteorite lab makes your room look like a pig sty (video)

If you think you're a clean freak, then you obviously haven't been to the Smithsonian Antarctic meteorite storage facility. See, when it isn't kicking up the video-games-as-art debate or showing off our future overlords, the Smithsonian also dabbles in the study of fallen rocks from space. So just exactly how clean is the Smithsonian's Meteorite Clean Room? Well, let's just say it's highly unlikely that you'll find microscopic traces of that peanut butter and jelly sandwich that the intern had for breakfast on any of the facility's 15,000 Antarctic meteorites. As shown in the behind-the-scenes video after the break, the research facility goes to great lengths to prevent sample contamination, from the surgical-looking staff prep to dry nitrogen storage. After all, no researcher would like to be the poor sap who studies a contaminated meteorite and mistakenly announces to the world that Mars not only had peanut butter but jelly as well.

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Smithsonian's super squeaky clean meteorite lab makes your room look like a pig sty (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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