Testing Chamber 390-ϛ (Personnel Restroom A13) at Site-19.
Item #: SCP-PL-390
Object Class: Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: Since the public is to some degree aware of the existence of SCP-PL-390, and containment of all bathrooms in the world would be logistically challenging, it is impossible and yet unnecessary to directly contain the anomaly.
Academic communities are being monitored for sudden and unexpected discoveries and inventions. Individuals responsible for such discoveries are to be interviewed and, in cases of SCP-PL-390 manifestations, amnesticised with a proper cover story applied. Disinformation campaigns also apply to historical manifestations of SCP-PL-390.
Bathrooms at every major Foundation site are to undergo extensive maintenance procedures in order to encourage personnel that are aware of the existence of SCP-PL-390 to trigger manifestation of the anomaly in controlled environments. If SCP-PL-390 occurs, the results of a given manifestation are to be recorded in Document 390-ʠ.
Information regarding SCP-PL-390 is available to directors of major sites, Ethics Committee management, Records And Information Security Administration and O5 Council.
Description: SCP-PL-390 is a global phenomenon that involves the correlation between the formation of new concepts in human consciousness and all locations commonly referred to as bathrooms. SCP-PL-390 manifestations cause a sudden and random influx of new knowledge into the minds of individuals occupying bathrooms. The likelihood of the effect occurring depends on several factors: performing activities typical for bathrooms increases the chance of manifestation and causes the knowledge formed to be related to the topics the individual has been thinking about. Through a number of experiments it was found that the manifestation of the anomaly is most affected by using showers during late evening hours.
A depiction of Archimedes by Domenico Fetti, circa 1620.
The first historical occurrence of the anomaly dates to Archimedes of Syracuse's discovery of Archimedes's Principle after being asked by Hiero II to determine the quality of the workmanship of a crown, which was supposedly made from pure gold. Archimedes discovered the solution to the problem while taking a bath, leading to his well-known cry of "Eureka!".
In later history, many other SCP-PL-390 manifestations have been identified. The Department of Historical Research discovered that SCP-PL-390 had occurred during Albert Einstein's formulation of the theory of relativity, the invention of the original prototype of the Scranton Reality Anchor by Prometheus Laboratories, Dr. Rowland Hume's discovery of the three laws of ontokinetics, [REDACTED] and the writing of the SCP Foundation's Manifesto by its first Administrator, among others.
Although the SCP-PL-390 phenomenon was noticed very early in Foundation's history, in the year 1909, the actual cause of the anomaly was unknown for the next six decades. In 1967, the Department of Noospheric Analysis completed a project lasting several years aimed at the discovery of the source of SCP-PL-390. It was determined that at the time of Archimedes' realization, the noosphere was weakened for an unknown anomalous reason, which led to spontaneous shifts in its structure. Following this event, the concept of bathrooms has moved into direct noospheric proximity to the concept of scientific and social breakthroughs, SCP-PL-390 manifestations are the result of occasional fluctuations in the positions of these two concepts, leading to their brief overlaps.
Since that discovery, the Foundation has begun gradually implementing procedures for the controlled usage of SCP-PL-390 to achieve its goals, eventually concluding with the establishment of the current Special Containment Procedures for the anomaly. It is currently estimated that more than seventy K-Class Scenarios have been prevented since the O5 Council Meeting Room was converted into a bathroom.
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