The version my team invented was called "balloon ball" and the balloon had to touch a desk, wall, or cubical before it could be hit by a person again. But the important bit is that the balloon wasn't entirely filled with air, it was partially filled with the propellant from a duster can. That made the "ball's" path unpredictable.

There was also "balloon ball-ducken" in which there was a 2nd balloon inside the first balloon (and a sometimes a paperclip in the 2nd), but that sport was never quite ready for primetime.

... and they're doing all this in a biolab with glass containers full of exotic bacteria, viruses and spores sitting on open counters and table tops.

I believe the technical term for that is "Keepy Uppy."

Has anyone else had the whole series of YouTube shorts about that recommended or is that just me?

At family gatherings for holidays and birthdays inevitably someone would bop a balloon around, and this game would naturally emerge. Perhaps my family were secretly scientists.

Keepy uppy!

Is keepupology under physics, engineering, mathematics, philosophy, sociology, or spoken Finnish?

Technically each scientist can hit the balloon more than once, just not in succession.

Is this that whole immortality thing keep seeing?

balloon bop