Picture a science lab and visions of high-tech equipment, polished surfaces and people in lab coats probably floated through your mind. The reality, however, is a little different. Sure, scientists get to play with super swish toys like lasers and space rockets (that's the technical term), but sometimes the low-tech option can be the best. Not to mention that this then saves more money to spend on super-swish space rockets. Taking a look at the everyday objects that scientists have MacGyvered into the service of science makes you realise the sheer ingenuity and creativity required to solve the biggest (and the smallest) mysteries in of the universe. With everything from candy floss to cat litter to breakfast cereal being put to work in the lab for some really amazing work, it just goes to show that the humblest of things can be incredibly important.
7. Candy Floss: Artificial Blood Vessels
Candy floss (or cotton candy to our American cousins) is a fantastic way to get your daily intake of sugar in one, sickly go, but it's also revolutionising the field of lab-grown organs. The thing is about trying to grow artificial organs is they're pretty complicated things. Growing the cells is simple enough, but making sure there are enough blood vessels knocking around to keep them supplied with lots of lovely, oxygen-rich blood is annoyingly tricky. However, one day a student named Leon Bellan was daydreaming in a lecture when he realised that candy floss, when put under a microscope, must look an awful lot like blood vessels (what do you mean you've never had a daydream like that?), so perhaps it could be used to mould them into artificial organs. How it works is you get your organ-shaped mould, dump a load of candy floss into it and pour in the polymer that will eventually form the scaffold around which you can grow your organs. Once this is set, simply soak it in warm water and the candy floss melts away to leave a little network of blood vessels just like the ones found in a real organ. This will come in handy when you eat too much candy floss and require serious medical attention.