HBO Max’s enormously popular television series “The Pitt” is receiving plaudits for its realistic depiction of the trials and tribulations of health care in an urban emergency room.

Mount Carroll is one of those places, a northwestern Illinois town where Victorian-era mansions line the streets like they’re competing in a beauty contest that’s been running for over a century.

Walk into almost any lab, and you’ll find beakers within arm’s reach. They’re everywhere, and for good reason. But there’s a tendency to treat them as interchangeable, and that’s where things go ...