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MODEL RELEASED. Microbiology laboratory. Stacks of petri dishes being sealed inside a low-temperature incubator by a laboratory researcher. An incubator is designed to maintain the petri dishes and their microbial populations at a specific temperature. This one is investigating low temperatures. This could be used to investigate how effective a refrigerator or freezer is at slowing microbial growth. Other applications include investigating microbial growth on or in hospital drugs and other products kept at low temperatures. It can also be used to study the normal growth of microbes in winter conditions. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/SOTIRIS ZAFEIRIS)