Laboratory Equipment

Guest Blog: Lab Safety: Must We Learn from our Mistakes?

All chemists will agree that laboratory safety is the first priority when it comes to experimentation in the lab. Proper practice, lab safety equipment and supervision are necessities when working in the lab. Most of all, prior preparation will assure that an accident doesn’t take place. Looking at recent laboratory accidents and tragedies, it seems that chemists are still learning lab safety the hard way. By analyzing these students’ mistakes, many chemists can avoid these types of occurrences in the future.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/blogs/2013/05/lab-safety-must-we-learn-our-mistakes

Scientists of the Week: Inga Kadisha

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Inga Kadisha from the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham. She and a team found that the feeling of hunger itself may protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

The original article is here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/hunger-pangs-protect-brain-against-alzheimer%E2%80%99s

She speaks about her work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/scientists-week-inga-kadisha

Have a question for Inga Kadisha? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Scientist of the Week: Tobias Hoch

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Tobias Hoch from the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He and a team studied hedonic hyperphagia — eating for pleasure not hunger — and found that people really can’t eat just one potato chip.

The original article is here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/people-really-can%E2%80%99t-stop-after-one-chip

He speaks about his work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/scientist-week-tobias-hoch

Have a question for Tobias Hoch? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Scientist of the Week: Robert Scholten

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Robert Scholten from Univ. of Melbourne. He and a team demonstrated that ultra short durations of electron bunches generated from laser-cooled atoms can be both very cold and ultra-fast. This is an important step towards making ultrafast high-resolution electron imaging a reality.

The original article can be found here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/discovery-enables-ultrafast-high-res-real-time-imaging

He speaks about his work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/scientist-week-robert-scholten

Have a question for Robert Scholten? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Scientist of the Week: Amal Kaddoumi

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Amal Kaddoumi from The Univ. of Louisiana at Monroe. She and a team found that consumption of extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease as a component of the oil helps shuttle abnormal proteins out of the brain.

The original article is here: www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/olive-oil-pushes-alzheimers-proteins-out-brain

She speaks about her work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/scientist-week-amal-kaddoumi

Have a question for Amal Kaddoumi? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Scientist of the Week: Laura Sherman

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Laura Sherman from the Univ. of Michigan. She and a team found that a common test overestimates mercury exposure from dental fillings.

The original article is here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/test-overestimates-mercury-exposure-dental-fillings

She speaks about her work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/scientist-week-laura-sherman

Do you have a question for Laura Sherman? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Editor’s Corner: Greener 2013 or Not?

Researchers continue to uncover bits and pieces of our changing environment—an environment that’s changing because of human effects. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, for example, have found that melt water from glaciers and ice sheets could be an unexpectedly large source of iron to the North Atlantic. The iron input from the glaciers, which is several magnitudes higher than previously found, can stimulate plankton growth during spring and summer since these organisms rely on iron as an essential nutrient. The researchers are unsure of the biogeochemical effects of this melt water discharge, but it is an added result of global warming.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/blogs/2013/04/greener-2013-or-not

Scientist of the Week: Gareth Morgan

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Gareth Morgan of the Smithsonian Institution. He and a team found that the face of Mars is dotted with a maze of channels, pointing to possible ancient megaflood episodes.

The original article can be found here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/radar-shows-mars-covered-buried-channels

Gareth Morgan speaks about his work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/scientist-week-gareth-morgan

Have a question for Gareth Morgan? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Guest Blog: Lab Automation is Happening Faster than You Think

Automation technology is revolutionizing the healthcare and food industries. From infusion pumps to 24/7 temperature control and real-time testing and analysis, the development of embedded smart technologies is leading to better care and safety, new growth and vastly improved research and analysis.

Now, companies in the U.S. laboratory products industry are scrambling to think through the challenges and opportunities posed by automation technology.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/blogs/2013/04/lab-automation-happening-faster-you-think

Scientist of the Week: Joshua Pearce

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Joshua Pearce of Michigan Technological Univ. He and a team use milk jugs as material for 3D printing.

The original article here: www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/3d-printer-recycles-milk-jugs

He speaks about his wore here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/scientist-week-joshua-pearce

Have a question for Joshua Pearce? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Scientist of the Week: Tom Higham

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Tom Higham from the Univ. of Oxford. He and a team found that Neanderthals went extinct in Europe much earlier than previously thought.

The original article is here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/neanderthals-died-out-early-may-not-have-met-humans

He speaks about his work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/scientist-week-tom-higham

Have a question for Tom Higham? Let us know and and we’ll pass it on!

Scientist of the Week: Tom Smulders

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Tom Smulders from Newcastle Univ. He and a team found that water-wrinkled fingers have an evolutionary purpose.

The original article may be accessed here: www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/01/water-wrinkled-fingers-hold-evolutionary-purpose

He speaks about his work here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/scientist-week-tom-smulders

Have a question for Tom Smulders? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!>

Pittcon Showcases New and Breakthrough Technologies

General lab equipment, analytical instruments and specialty life science testing devices highlight the show’s return to the Northeast.

This issue of Laboratory Equipment covers the new products and technologies showcased at the 64th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (www.pittcon.org) being held in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, Pa., on March 17 to 21, 2013. Pittcon draws more than 17,000 attendees to view the laboratory products from more than 930 exhibitors. This year is an off-year for both the Analytica and Achema conferences, so visitors will only get to see new lab products at Pittcon and possibly ArabLab in Dubai the week before Pittcon (March 10 to 13, 2013). ArabLab has about 10,000 attendees and 750 exhibitors, but less than 10% of the exhibitors at ArabLab are also at Pittcon and vice versa, so attendees at one show will see mostly uniquely new products that are not seen at the other show.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/articles/2013/02/pittcon-showcases-new-and-breakthrough-technologies

Scientist of the Week: Lena Brundin

Every Thursday, Laboratory Equipment features a Scientist of the Week, chosen from the science industry’s latest headlines. This week’s scientist is Lena Brundin from Michigan State Univ. She and a team found that a chemical in the brain called glutamate is linked to suicidal behavior, offering new hope for efforts to prevent people from taking their own lives.

The original article is here: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/12/blocking-brain-chemical-key-preventing-suicide

She speaks about her work: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/scientist-week-lena-brundin

Have a question for Lena Brundin? Let us know and we’ll pass it on!

Responding to Patient Safety Threats in the Lab

A public-private solution is needed to address and solve the serious risks to patient safety inherent in today’s pathology laboratory.

Few would argue that patient safety in a healthcare venue should be of paramount concern. Recognizing that, the federal government is spending $1 billion to address patient safety risks such as medication errors, slips and falls and inaccuracies in charting. Still, there’s one little-known setting where patient safety can be compromised on a daily basis—a place where risk should be unacceptable, given the potential for catastrophic results: the pathology lab.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/articles/2013/02/responding-patient-safety-threats-lab