Janitor's actions lead to $1 million in research losses, lawsuit claims.
A cleaner at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York allegedly turned off a lab freezer containing key samples, causing $1m in damages and destroying decades of "ground-breaking" research on photosynthesis headed by Prof. K.V. Lakshmi. The lab's school is suing the cleaners' employer for improper training. The company held a $1.4m (£1.1m) contract to clean the institute in 2020. The majority of specimens that were meant to be kept at -80C (-112F) were "compromised, destroyed and rendered unsalvageable, demolishing more than 20 years of research", according to the legal case.