MIT evacuated a building Wednesday after a spill involving dimethyl mercury, an extremely potent neurotoxin. MIT’s Emergency Management department posted a message Saturday afternoon saying that a “single individual in a chemistry laboratory” went to a local emergency room and claimed to have synthesized dimethyl mercury.
The Emergency Management post said the student remained under medical supervision, but an initial blood test showed no signs of mercury exposure. It also said the building with the laboratory, Building 18, would remain closed at least through Sunday as efforts continued to ensure it is decontaminated. The building is in a part of the campus bounded by Ames Street, Massachusetts Avenue, Memorial Drive and Vassar Street.
Mercury is dangerous to humans, and dimethyl mercury especially so – in 1997, a researcher working with it died a few months after being exposed to a few drops of the substance. Its main practical application is in calibrating nuclear magnetic resonance equipment…