There's More Than Your Trusty Autoclave

Bitesize Bio's Nick Oswald rounds up some helpful tips on effective sterilization techniques, going over five major methods and how they work. Wet heat, otherwise known as autoclaving, is the method of choice for most labs. With dry heat, higher temps are needed to kill the bugs. Filtration is a "great way of quickly sterilizing solutions without heating," he says, but don't count on it to catch viruses and phages. Solvents, or disinfectants like ethanol and IPA, are good for killing microbial cells, and radiation, like UV, X-rays and gamma rays, all are good for sterilizing lab items depending on their penetration.