Posted on 08/30/2026 6:53:46 AM PDT by DFG
A student at MIT claimed he synthesized one of the world’s deadliest chemicals last week — sparking a massive hazmat response and the closure of the lab where he worked.
The unidentified grad student arrived at a local emergency room, saying he had synthesized dimethyl mercury, a highly toxic compound that can be fatal if exposed to humans in even the smallest amounts, NBC Boston reported.
The student was not authorized to be working with the compound and it was not part of his research, according to school officials.
MIT closed off Building 18 where the experiment took place on Wednesday and called in city emergency responders to begin the cleanup.
Common areas in the student’s residence hall were also professionally cleaned as a precaution, and the student’s room was sealed off.
Building 18 remained closed through Sunday as testing and investigations continued.
“Emerging information calls into question whether this compound was in fact synthesized,” an MIT spokesperson said on Saturday.
“We are also able to disclose, with the student’s permission, that while the student remains under medical supervision, their initial blood test result, which was received today, shows no sign of exposure to mercury,” the spokesperson continued.
Dimethyl mercury can pose “a serious environmental and health hazard,” according to studies in the EPA’s Health Environmental Research Online database.
It was previously responsible for the death of Dartmouth College chemistry professor Karen Wetterhahn in 1997 after she got just one to two drops on her hand while wearing gloves.
It was also used in the assassination of a German labor union boss in 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
It’s a little unsettling to learn the broad similarities that radiological and organometallic poisoning have in common: death after exposure over the course of weeks and months while initially showing no immediate sign of ill effects.
The only person at MIT smart enough and stupid enough to do that is Good Will Hunting.
Odd that the article makes no mention of WHY the student was making this deadly toxin.
Did he have an interest in poisons? Attention seeker? Anyone else involved? Made it by accident while trying to do something else? Have the police searched his social media, etc. for a mass casualty plot or religio-political obsessions?
“Incurious journalist” ought to be an oxymoron, but evidently it is not.
“’We are also able to disclose, with the student’s permission’,”
It’s one of the deadliest chemicals known to man, and law enforcement investigating it GAS about a student’s PERMISSION?
Safety Warning Dimethylmercury easily crosses latex and rubber gloves and can be absorbed rapidly through the skin. Even a tiny drop can cause fatal neurological damage.
Roll the dice
Odd that the article makes no mention of WHY the student was making this deadly toxin.
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Why does Iran want highly enriched uranium?
Mom never did ask what I was doing with that chemistry set.
HIPAA violation to release medical information about patient without their consent.
Student certainly doesn’t want identity to be revealed. Will probably be dropped from program and probably no school will accept him/her/it into their program.
Student is dangerous.
Less than 0.1 mL is capable of inducing severe mercury poisoning resulting in death.
If he lit up a cigarette in the lab, they would’ve shut down the state.
Fauci says “Hold my beer”....
It’s a beauty.
Di-hydrogen monoxide is water. DMSO is DiMethyl sulfoxide. A weak solvent that is readily absorbed through the skin and some believe it gives you joint pain relief.
Di-hydrogen monoxide is water. DMSO is DiMethyl sulfoxide. A weak solvent that is readily absorbed through the skin and some believe it gives you joint pain relief.
“And that’s why when I order a Scotch & Di-hydrogen Monoxide, I always say “easy on the di-hydrogen monoxide”.”
I literally bartended for 20 years.
Your order would have been a pleasure, DR.
“It is only deadly if you get in it over your nose.”
Not entirely true — in its gaseous state it burns human flesh instaniously!
True enough, and when solid it can certainly be dangerous also. LOL
To be SURE!
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