Microwave Snafu, Read Carefully!
A bunch of engineering researchers at the University of Florida published a study that shows the microwave’s effectiveness in sterilising sponges this week. What they did was soaking sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater and then putting the sponge into the microwave and heated it at full power. The found out that live bacteria expires in two minutes, spores within four to ten minutes.
Sounds good for those hyginene-maniacs right? Not exactly. See, after it was reported in the media complaints came in to the news agencies. Attempts repeated at home didn’t turn out as expected. What went wrong?
Basically, one dry sponge went into the microwave, smoke and fire came out. This was a particularly humourous response
"Just wanted you to know that your article on microwaving sponges and scrubbers aroused my interest. However, when I put my sponge/scrubber into the microwave, it caught fire, smoked up the house, ruined my microwave, and pissed me off," one correspondent wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.(CNN)
If you’ve read carefully till now, you would understand the screwup. If you didn’t catch on yet here’s the description ad verbatim from CNN. (I tried to clue you in right from the very start at the second sentence of this post)
Writing in the Journal of Environmental Health, Bitton and colleagues said they soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater containing fecal bacteria such as E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores. (emphasis added)
In the end, the university issued the following advisory to be safe.
The university issued the following advisory: "To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet. Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot." (CNN)
Hope this reaches you before any more sponges goes on fire! 
And a more general reminder: Read the methodology used thoroughly and understand it before trying to repeat something!
