This just arrived in my email, and I thought it carried an important enough message for me to post here.

The email regarded a guy who heated water in the microwave in a cup for coffee, and noticed afterwards that it wasn't boiling. He looked into to the cup, then the water exploded in the face, leaving him with 1st and 2nd degree burns all over. The email states that if water is heated in the microwave, something should be placed in the cup to diffuse the energy such as a wooden stir stick, tea bag, etc. Further explanation:

"Microwaved water and other liquids do not always bubble when they reach the boiling point. They can actually get superheated and not bubble at all. The superheated liquid will bubble up out of the cup when it is moved or when something like a spoon or tea bag is put into it. To prevent this from happening and causing injury, do not heat any liquid for more than two minutes per cup. After heating, let the cup stand in the microwave for thirty seconds before moving it or adding anything into it."

And, an accompanying video (it's quite small, but shows how dangerous superheated water can be): superheated.mpg

This is why I typically don't heat water in a microwave.