You could easily make this a full game. Go full cartoon whacky. After the night shift the scientist starts seeing criticality reactions everywhere:
A level involving traffic and traffic accidents.
A level involving people eating and digestion.
A level involving fires.
A level involving the spread of disease.
A level involving weather.
It goes on and on. Look to games like Katamari Damarci for the kind of whacky you may want to go for. Look to how people model disease outbreaks and how crowds react to building fires for real world inspiration.