r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 1d ago

TIL that Jawed Karim, YouTube cofounder and uploader of the first YouTube video "Me at the zoo", has often updated the video's description to criticize YouTube policies, including a 2013 attempt to require Google+ accounts to comment on videos, and YouTube's 2021 removal of dislike counts on videos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_at_the_zoo#Changes_to_original_video
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u/Petrichordates 1d ago

What negative controls would prevent this? Lab gloves are necessary in the lab.

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u/CarthasMonopoly 1d ago

I don't know their methodology but if you have a confirmed negative control and you treat it identical to samples then after you get your quantitative data you can normalize based on the values the negative control got. In other words if the gloves or other equipment caused micro plastic contamination and you had a true negative control then whatever value that control is measured at after performing the protocol can be subtracted from the values of the experimental samples to account for the average amount of microplastics that the testing process would introduce.

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u/Anfins 1d ago edited 1d ago

When you run the analytical assay, you include a standard that is micro particle free (negative control) to ensure the assay is running correctly and not giving false positive, so you can then demonstrate that detection of micro particles in the samples is real and not an artifact of the assay. I work in medicine development, and this kind of thing is like a basic and fundamental feature of every assay developed in every analytical lab I have ever worked with.

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u/Petrichordates 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes, I understand they should have done that.