this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

beige box where the magic happens

[–] [email protected] 65 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I fix software on these things! No one ever quite gets what I do for work, it's nice to run across in the wild.

I feel seen lol

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Top left is a thermal cycler. Basically it heats and cools samples at a given rate. This is primarily used for generic PCR, and certain enzymatic reactions. Top right is the fancier version of this, it is for qPCR, so it can do the heating and cooling and has a laser/detector for the dye or probe that reacts to generating more dna with each PCR cycle so you can quantify approximately how much of the target DNA you had.

Bottom right is a luminex. This uses detection of fluorophore signals to measure multiple analyates, usually different proteins.

Idk what bottom left is.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Wow, I know some of those words.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Allow me to translate:

Top left is a thermal cycler. Basically it heats and cools samples at a given rate. This is primarily used for magic. Top right is the fancier version of this, it is for qMagic, so it can do the heating and cooling and has a magic detector for magic components that reacts to magic happening so you can quantify approximately how much magic is going on in the beige box.

Bottom right is a luminex. This uses detection of magic signals to measure magic.

Bottom left is the beige box where magic happens.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Top left is the CFX96/384, which is also a qPCR instrument.

Bottom left is the 3500 Genetic Analyzer, as someone identified. It's used for sanger sequencing I believe. My last lab had one but I was never trained on it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I thought it was just their T100, the CFX96s I've used don't have the touchscreen but yeah the bigger "lid" does look like for the CFX.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

The bases and hot blocks are interchangable with that series. We recently upgraded to the Opus but our previous CFX96 had the T1000 touch base.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

PCR, aka pipette, cry, repeat

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

This guy sciences.

Also username checks out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I know nothing about this kind of lab equipment but Google says the bottom left device is a human DNA sequencer, ABI model 3500.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Thank you, they sound really specialized!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Some kinda lab work, maybe blood chem or urinalysis. I should clarify that since I'm a software person I don't even know what they do, really, I just fix it when they stop transmitting lab test results to the database.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Getting the magic back to the magic analysis database got it

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Gun! Where we shoot the people who break the beige box where the magic happens.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 days ago

You'll need a PhD to be allowed to push the "on" button though.
And then go back to the office to write grant applications for a month.
To buy the next beige box.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Science was cooler when you had to use a screwdriver.

(This ad paid for by Demon Core Ltc.)

[–] [email protected] 61 points 2 days ago
[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 days ago (4 children)

This used to be IT in the early 2000s

Beige as far as the eye could see (in a data centre)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, I came here to air my hypothesis that lab hardware trends lag behind consumer computers by about 25-30 years.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So it's almost time for teal, orange et other fun colors, mixed with translucent plastic lab équipement?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

In 5 years hardcore researchers will be modding their lab equipment and installing plexiglass glass sides. Just like I did to my PC in 1999-2000ish

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are you saying there used to be woodgrain lab hardware?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

There definitely was. I've seen it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

I'm waiting for it come back in to style. I've pitched getting beige racks with this on the side https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(design)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, I think it was so ugly it was beautiful.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There is also this particular tone of light brownish green which is on so many industrial tools like drill presses, table top saws and so on. I kinda dig it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Ooh, never thought of that as so ugly it's pretty but I can kinda see it now

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Were we still using 3.5” floppies in the early 2000s?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh yes, I was using a 3.5" floppy disk drive with a USB connector in 2007 to kick off imaging on desktop machines as no one could get the ghost boot server working.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why not just use a thumb drive at that point?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I can't remember specifically, I think it might have just been that the ghost image on the floppy was confirmed to work, and all the desktops were allowed to boot from floppy already and not necessarily via USB.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But do you have magic box where the beige happens?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago

That's at home Depot.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Which beige box will turn me into a femboy?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Leave the bottle...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Most of ours used to be white!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Johnny Ives would have gotten rid of all those nasty bevels.