MIT building contaminated with powerful neurotoxin dimethylmercury
peesem
14 points
8 comments
August 28, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (3 comments)
peesem
There's also an alert on the MIT emergency page, though it doesn't mention the substance by name: https://emergency.mit.net/
EA-3167
Wow, I wonder if chelation therapy early enough can reduce the damage to the student's nervous system. I'm not aware of how quickly organic mercury crosses the BBB once it enters the bloodstream, but my guess is "faster than you'd like". I hope it was worth working with such a notoriously unsafe compound against regulations and all sense.
ggm
Why were they working with an unauthorised potent neurotoxin? MIT didn't "permit" this, although you could ask how student supervision allows it to arise. Is there some interesting aspect which danger aside might motivate this or was it just a dick move? Were they possibly motivated for bad reasons, seeking to commit harm?