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Labs are integral to our economic way of life and form a major part of our society. Though little may be known about the work that occurs within labs, thousands of labs around the country and globe exist. Where lab workers and scientist quietly labor away, working on products that improve our lives and help us live longer. Labs allow scientist and others to create a controlled environment for testing, where light, temperature, and even sound can be regulated. Labs can be found across many industries and exist for many reasons. The lab design will often determine the functioning of a lab.

Many scientific and medical breakthroughs occur because of research labs. For instance, vaccines have been developed in the lab that have saved thousands of lives, eg smallpox used to be a dangerous disease causing rashes, high fever, and even death. Thanks to the smallpox vaccine and a worldwide effort, the disease was wiped out in the late 1970s. Similar results have occupied with the Polio vaccine. The measles and mumps vaccine has been given to hundreds of millions of individuals in the United States, protecting against dangerous side effects caused by the disease such as inflammation of the brain and pneumonia.

Current focuses in medical research include formulating new vaccines for emergent virus threats, like the H1N1 swine flu, trying to deal with long term pathogen effects, like HIV, or getting better treatments out to kill the parasite that causes malaria. Other labs work on doing quality assurance and safety testing on everything from peanut butter to cell phones.

Labs are also being used to tinker with the fundamental building blocks of life, working with DNA and genetic material, even trying to program and trigger stem cells (the original cells of a human being, which can be induced to turn into every other type of cell needed to make up a human body). The lab design is crucial in these areas, requiring stringent controls on ventilation, atmospheric pressure, humidity and lighting.

Labs dealing with commercial or process control work usually have a fume cupboard to remove industrial fumes. Labs dealing with dangerous contact agents require the use of clean-suits to work within them, and labs dealing with radioactives have strong requirements for shielding and ventilation systems to protect workers.

Another common place to see lab equipment is a high school. High school chemistry labs are a staple for most college prep students, usually used for physics or chemistry or biology classes. These usually have locking safety cabinets and a fume cupboard, and sink/basins, along with safe storage requirements for hazardous materials, and are usually the most secure parts of the school building to keep students from getting at them without proper authorization.

Labs show up in other places; most of the robotic space craft that NASA sends to other planets are effectively remotely operated labs. The Hubble Space Telescope is an orbiting laboratory devoted to astronomy, while the two Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity are two wheeled geology labs (that have performed for nearly ten times their expected duration.)