This is a follow-up post to an earlier article on sanitizing kitchen sponges in the microwave, and all I have to say (between fits of laughter) is wow! Researchers at the University of Florida announced earlier this week that they had successfully killed 99% of bacteria and germs on a kitchen sponge by microwaving it on high for about 2 minutes. What they apparently neglected to mention (or maybe thought they didn't need to) is that the sponge needs to be wet.

So people all over the country gave the idea a shot, sticking dry sponges into microwaves and almost immediately (well, within 2 minutes I'm assuming) realized their grievous errors as their microwaves filled with flames, and their homes filled with smoke and the nasty smell of burnt tires.

Not to make light of anyone's misfortune, but it's so funny partly because I can actually see myself spacing out and throwing a dry sponge into the microwave to try this (I didn't, for the record). I guarantee, though, that as soon as I had a lump of flaming goop instead of a clean sponge and my fire alarm started going off I'd get it...of course it has to be wet first!