2 Hands, 1 Autowasher and a lab place...

Ok, so the pun intended here was supposed to be similar to "2 guys, 1 girl and a pizza place"... Anyway, to cut the crap, we had a "goofy" experiment just 2 days ago in the newly renovated lab - it looks so much better than last year's! Here's some photos:

Part of the new lab - about 20 workbenches: 4 new flatscreen comps and 1 huge plasma TV per bench...

A video demonstrating 1 of the 4 autowashers in the lab - notice the procedures involved (4 lights in total): ready --> wet hands --> soap hands --> wash hands - all these when you just place your hands right underneath! Isn't it convenient especially when your hands are way too dirty to turn on the tap and get the soap yourself without contaminating the place? (",)

Ok, you've got the "a lab place" and "1 autowasher" mentioned already - so where does the "2 hands" part fit in? Well, our practical was on the somatosensory system and one of the experiments, which the lecturer claimed to be "probably the goofiest experiment you'll ever do as a med student", involves the "victim" having his real hand hid underneath a rack with a fake hand on top of the rack at the same exact position of the real hand underneath. The partner will need to "build trust" with the "victim" to "convince" him to believe the fake hand is actually his real hand. This is done by applying the same pressure and stimulus (i.e. stroking, pricking, poking, tapping, etc.) on both hands at the same spot (e.g. both real and fake index finger) at the same time to trick the mind into believing that it can actually feel the sensation on the fake hand which the "victim" focuses his sight on, hence, thinking that it has got to be the real hand when it's not. When the "victim" least expects it, the partner will "threaten" the fake hand by jabbing or slapping it and if the mind has been tricked so well into believing the fake hand as the real stuff, the "victim" would react by jerking out his real hand, when in actual fact, the real hand wasn't "harmed" at all! Of course, not everyone fell for the trick but you should have seen one girl who jerked her hand out so rapidly and jumped right off her seat when the fake hand was jabbed! Talk about illusion, man! :p

Here's some of my coursemates with the "Whose hand is it?" experiment - notice the gal on the right stroking both the fake and real hands on the same spots at the same time...

A closer shot at the experiment in progress...

We did a number of other weird experiments as well but judging from the one I described above, you should have a rough idea of all the weird things we did that day, haha! :D

Peace out for now! ^_^