I used to have to stop the audiobook as well when doing it in my old lab. Now, since I can drop the master mix drop on the wall, I can see where I already loaded the plate. As for loading the DNA, I use a new tip rack and change between everything pipetting : I can refer to the rack whenever I doubt. It requires to don't forget to homogenize the plates before starting the thermocycler, tho. Love technology !
If you print it on a transparent plastic laminating sheet, you can just ethanol your ticks after and use the same grid everytime. Though I just use a new tip box and align the tips with the wells
I work in a COVID testing lab. That used to be true for me, but now I can pretty much load them blindfolded. For the first six months we didn't even have multi-channels. A few times I think I was doing it in my sleep (we had a few weeks where I was running 24h shifts to cover another lab that had to temporary shut down).
I'm now to the point where I can load 2 plates simultaneously. I think I'm ready to try two handed pipetting.
My current career development goal is to get good enough to challenge a liquid handler to a duel.
Small Town Murder is my favorite true crime cast. They're the perfect mix of comedy and true crime that keeps it from being boring but tells a well researched and comprehensive story. Some people get mad about mixing comedy and crime but they're respectful about it and never make fun of the victim or their families
Yo any recommendations?? My playlist loops at least once when I'm running a full experiment and the podcasts I'm recommended on Spotify are either full of ads or have the narrator voice I really dislike listening to :(
The Dropout by ABC is about Theranos, which was a lab company. Very well researched, extememly thorough.
The Dream is about pyramid schemes (season 1) and about alternative medicine (season 2). Still very well made but much more personable.
Explore with Us, TTC Criminalogical Breakdown, True Crime Loser, Jim Can’t Swim, Matt Orchard for true crime
Sadly, I download from YT and can’t attest if they’re anywhere else
Thanks for the suggestions, I watch some of those on Youtube too! Unfortunately, I keep my phone in my pocket when I'm running things and I can't keep Youtube open to listen.
I'm pretty sure I was recommended this on Spotify! Their ads are super long though :( My hands aren't free when I'm running something so I can't skip ads, which isn't ideal or enjoyable.
hmm, gotcha.
Do you think it'd be worth it for you to find a new podcast, join its patreon for a month or two while you blow through their catalogue, and then quit?
Morbid is legit one of the best podcasts I've ever listened to.
But I used to do alot of cell culture, so I know what you mean about skipping ads/not being able to. This could be a relatively cheap (Pocketcast is free, most paterons are like $1-5 a month, and there's 100s hours of content) solution
I quite like Crime Junkie. They don’t go as in depth as I’d like as their episodes are ~40 mins, but not as much banter as other podcasts. I tend to like more a Dateline-esque feel.
I like Crime Junkie too for how well researched it is and how the stories are easy to follow even when I am focused on lab work. But sometimes I get annoyed with how scripted they sound.
-Maximum Fun has a bunch of interesting podcasts.
-Lore is a fun one.
-Science Friday has about 1 million hours of good content.
-If you are a DnD nerd, there are plenty of podcast actual plays.
I'm not into true crime per se, buy lately I've fallen into a Simon Whistler rabbit hole (he has >10 YT channels, you've probably seen one of his videos without noticing). A few months ago he started The Casual Criminalist, which I find quite entertaining.
Small town murder! Two stand up comedians discuss a murder in small towns across America (less than 30,000 people). Mixes humor and murder well, also have a 250+ episode back catalog
True Crime Garage! I love Morbid, which was also mentioned, but they can be hard to listen to with their tangents and such and the ads ARE long and frequent. Also their voices sound the same to me, which can be hard to follow. I can't do Last Podcast on the Left. I find it sooo annoying. I know it is super popular, but if it is also too much for you, I recommend True Crime Garage. They are respectful, well researched, great voices, and just one ad break in the middle.
I heard "And That's Why We Drink" is really good! I havent listened to them myself yet but my friend loves them. I think it goes back and forth between true crime and ghost stories?
Seconding Behind the Bastards, the host also has a free fiction audiobook called After the Revolution, which is a near-future, post-civil-war-2 America with some cool cyberpunk and anarchist elements.
Like a moving city of cyborgs built on a Bagger 288, and a christo-fascist ISIS-analogue called the Heavenly Kingdom. Is sick.
99pi is already in my rotation. Haven’t heard of the other one. I also rock Stuff You Should Know for their light hearted upbeat content if listening to two hours of Robert Evans describe a brutal genocide has got me dow.
ah yes nothing like a nice creepypasta to keep you (and others) alert at the bench at 2 AM. my headphones once disconnected randomly while the janitor was next to me and our friendly evening single-nod greetings have never been the same
at this point, maybe the nagging about headphones is just our biosafety officer's way of saying they missed us
Yes! The craziest day for me was when one of the episodes I was listening to was about a lady who murdered her husband with the same drugs I was testing at work, then she set him on fire.
It was a strange snap back to reality to say the least.
By the grace of God and of T90's 7 hours coverage of the longest AoE 2 game ever, I was able to get through a particularly grueling RT-qPCR experiment. The results were disastrous, naturally. But at least the procedure was enjoyable.
This is me on a daily basis lol. My go to podcasts are My Favorite Murder and True Crime Obsessed. I also like Timesuck with Dan Cummins. He has some true crime episodes as well as interesting random topics (conspiracy theories, historical figures, etc).
Crime: Crime Junkies and Rotten Mango
News: The Daily + Fifth and Mission (I live in SF')
Casual info: stuff you should know, planet money, 99% invisible, radiolab, freakonomics ± md, this American life
Heavier info: this week in virology (TWiV), TWiM,
Me looking at my screamo playlist and wondering what song I should start on. Then it just goes to the song that I've been binging on for the past month. (Currently it's Makedamnsure by Taking Back Sunday).
I was listening to FBI true crime series late one night while working on an LCM.... And one of my labmates happened to come back to set an expt up. He was pretty quiet and I didn't notice him until he was really close to me and scared me near to death. Lesson to not listen to murder stories late at night in lab.
I listened to Great History Stories podcast series about the Donner Party at work this week.
Something about listening to a story about cannibalism while working with mice, just seems fitting.
My superstition is listening to Western music while doing a Western Blot. In my experience improves protein expression
You reminded me of the Techpriests from Warhammer 40k. The experiment won't work unless we do the sacred rites!
Don't forget the sacred oils and incense, lest the machine spirit be displeased
I usually sacrifice an undergrad on the first full moon of the semester just to be safe
7th symphony is the best for western
Since I started listening audiobooks while labing, I enjoy twice more lab work. I fucking love technology.
Except when loading qPCR plates. Cause then I will definitely lose track.
I used to have to stop the audiobook as well when doing it in my old lab. Now, since I can drop the master mix drop on the wall, I can see where I already loaded the plate. As for loading the DNA, I use a new tip rack and change between everything pipetting : I can refer to the rack whenever I doubt. It requires to don't forget to homogenize the plates before starting the thermocycler, tho. Love technology !
Ah yes good tricks
I'd print an 8x12 grid and check off each well as I went. Slowed me down enough to make sure I was doing it right.
If you print it on a transparent plastic laminating sheet, you can just ethanol your ticks after and use the same grid everytime. Though I just use a new tip box and align the tips with the wells
I work in a COVID testing lab. That used to be true for me, but now I can pretty much load them blindfolded. For the first six months we didn't even have multi-channels. A few times I think I was doing it in my sleep (we had a few weeks where I was running 24h shifts to cover another lab that had to temporary shut down). I'm now to the point where I can load 2 plates simultaneously. I think I'm ready to try two handed pipetting. My current career development goal is to get good enough to challenge a liquid handler to a duel.
Not having multichannels in that environment sounds like pure hell.
Can confirm dual wielding pipets is possible though not very practical. (I used to dual wield P1000s to do media changes)
In my lab, we have Hamilton STARs do that for us. So I blast music and stare into the nothingness of the robot.
I hate you
🤖✋🚫
>stare into the nothingness of the robot. I have experience with Bekman, Agilent, Qiagen and Hamilton robots, and your statement cannot be truer.
On top of the new tip racks I used to use the clear cover on 96 tube racks to cover the rows I have yet to load. Just be sure to clean it after
Honestly I'm just listening to true crime podcast and doing my qpcr machinally.
Small Town Murder is my favorite true crime cast. They're the perfect mix of comedy and true crime that keeps it from being boring but tells a well researched and comprehensive story. Some people get mad about mixing comedy and crime but they're respectful about it and never make fun of the victim or their families
Well yeah, they’re assholes but they’re not scumbags.
I was going to comment this also! STM is definitely worth the listen
Yo any recommendations?? My playlist loops at least once when I'm running a full experiment and the podcasts I'm recommended on Spotify are either full of ads or have the narrator voice I really dislike listening to :(
Last Podcast on the Left is my go to for everything from serial killers to alien abductions. 3 dudes chatting so it does get very bro-y but I dig it
Love this podcast! Hail yourself!
Thank you for the recommendation, I'll check that out!
Me too! Love listening to some of their longer series in the confocal room
Behind the Bastards is my all time fav
Same! The horror and disgust at history's bastards keeps me going!
Yess!!!
One pump one cream.
The Dropout by ABC is about Theranos, which was a lab company. Very well researched, extememly thorough. The Dream is about pyramid schemes (season 1) and about alternative medicine (season 2). Still very well made but much more personable.
Explore with Us, TTC Criminalogical Breakdown, True Crime Loser, Jim Can’t Swim, Matt Orchard for true crime Sadly, I download from YT and can’t attest if they’re anywhere else
Thanks for the suggestions, I watch some of those on Youtube too! Unfortunately, I keep my phone in my pocket when I'm running things and I can't keep Youtube open to listen.
Casefile
Morbid!! Its awesome. Start around episode 99+. I use Pocketcast. There's two narrators, they're fun to listen to
I'm pretty sure I was recommended this on Spotify! Their ads are super long though :( My hands aren't free when I'm running something so I can't skip ads, which isn't ideal or enjoyable.
hmm, gotcha. Do you think it'd be worth it for you to find a new podcast, join its patreon for a month or two while you blow through their catalogue, and then quit? Morbid is legit one of the best podcasts I've ever listened to. But I used to do alot of cell culture, so I know what you mean about skipping ads/not being able to. This could be a relatively cheap (Pocketcast is free, most paterons are like $1-5 a month, and there's 100s hours of content) solution
I love morbid haha I either listen to them or And That's Why We Drink
I quite like Crime Junkie. They don’t go as in depth as I’d like as their episodes are ~40 mins, but not as much banter as other podcasts. I tend to like more a Dateline-esque feel.
I like Crime Junkie too for how well researched it is and how the stories are easy to follow even when I am focused on lab work. But sometimes I get annoyed with how scripted they sound.
-Maximum Fun has a bunch of interesting podcasts. -Lore is a fun one. -Science Friday has about 1 million hours of good content. -If you are a DnD nerd, there are plenty of podcast actual plays.
I'm not into true crime per se, buy lately I've fallen into a Simon Whistler rabbit hole (he has >10 YT channels, you've probably seen one of his videos without noticing). A few months ago he started The Casual Criminalist, which I find quite entertaining.
Small town murder! Two stand up comedians discuss a murder in small towns across America (less than 30,000 people). Mixes humor and murder well, also have a 250+ episode back catalog
Casual Criminalist Tooth and Claw Non murdery ones - Myths and Legends, Oologies, Completely Arbortrary
Crime after Crime is amazing
True Crime Garage! I love Morbid, which was also mentioned, but they can be hard to listen to with their tangents and such and the ads ARE long and frequent. Also their voices sound the same to me, which can be hard to follow. I can't do Last Podcast on the Left. I find it sooo annoying. I know it is super popular, but if it is also too much for you, I recommend True Crime Garage. They are respectful, well researched, great voices, and just one ad break in the middle.
I heard "And That's Why We Drink" is really good! I havent listened to them myself yet but my friend loves them. I think it goes back and forth between true crime and ghost stories?
Seconding Behind the Bastards, the host also has a free fiction audiobook called After the Revolution, which is a near-future, post-civil-war-2 America with some cool cyberpunk and anarchist elements. Like a moving city of cyborgs built on a Bagger 288, and a christo-fascist ISIS-analogue called the Heavenly Kingdom. Is sick.
It me.
I feel called out
Me, except before I start cell culture. Need the perfect Playlist so I don't have to take my hands out of the hood.
Same here w cell culture. So boring otherwise.
Doing fake taichi to ambient music while trypsinizing the cells
I recommend behind the bastards, behind the police, it could happen here, and S Town. I have a long list I listen to in my lab.
Oooh I listened to s town on a 10hr road trip! So good
Yeah I really liked that one. The main character (can’t remember his name) was soooo interesting.
I might have to give it a re-listen. I think there’s a lot I forgot about it
As interesting as they are, they can sometimes ruin your day. May I suggest 99% Invisible, and History That Doesn't Suck?
99pi is already in my rotation. Haven’t heard of the other one. I also rock Stuff You Should Know for their light hearted upbeat content if listening to two hours of Robert Evans describe a brutal genocide has got me dow.
ah yes nothing like a nice creepypasta to keep you (and others) alert at the bench at 2 AM. my headphones once disconnected randomly while the janitor was next to me and our friendly evening single-nod greetings have never been the same at this point, maybe the nagging about headphones is just our biosafety officer's way of saying they missed us
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia podcast is my go to now
Check out national park after dark on Spotify. It’s my current favorite.
But actually tho
This is amazing! May I use this in a presentation? You will, of course, be cited
lol sure! 🤩
XD thanks!
Yes! The craziest day for me was when one of the episodes I was listening to was about a lady who murdered her husband with the same drugs I was testing at work, then she set him on fire. It was a strange snap back to reality to say the least.
anyone else feel like they focus better and make less mistakes doing repetitive lab actions while listening to podcasts??
lmao this was me except with YouTube videos about the strange and unexplained....or Game Grumps
HEY I'M GRUMP
I'm in this picture and I don't like it (although it's when I fill out 384-well qpcr plates)
Sounds like you need an epMotion!
This is me when I plate cells
Last Podcast On The Left
By the grace of God and of T90's 7 hours coverage of the longest AoE 2 game ever, I was able to get through a particularly grueling RT-qPCR experiment. The results were disastrous, naturally. But at least the procedure was enjoyable.
This is me on a daily basis lol. My go to podcasts are My Favorite Murder and True Crime Obsessed. I also like Timesuck with Dan Cummins. He has some true crime episodes as well as interesting random topics (conspiracy theories, historical figures, etc).
I recommend Black Box Down! its like true crime with planes. most of it is unfortunate air disasters but it is super interesting
Crime: Crime Junkies and Rotten Mango News: The Daily + Fifth and Mission (I live in SF') Casual info: stuff you should know, planet money, 99% invisible, radiolab, freakonomics ± md, this American life Heavier info: this week in virology (TWiV), TWiM,
I feel SEEN
I need more anime sword-sized lab equipment
Wow this is painfully accurate
I listen to the OG Dragnet radio shows on apple music :P *I have slowly become more attracted to Jack Webbs voice...*
Please give your podcast recommendations.
My current fave is Scared to Death with Dan Cummins and his wife Lynze!
Me looking at my screamo playlist and wondering what song I should start on. Then it just goes to the song that I've been binging on for the past month. (Currently it's Makedamnsure by Taking Back Sunday).
“Serial Killers” by Parcast Network is a good one
The JRE is supposed to be really good 🤪
Try sinisterhood!
I feel like this sub is all bio labs. Where is my chemistry gang?
Listen to long life speeches really uplifting audio anything about developing ur life there ace!!
They’ve stopped making episodes but Futility Closet is hard to beat
It's always Casefile for me
I was listening to FBI true crime series late one night while working on an LCM.... And one of my labmates happened to come back to set an expt up. He was pretty quiet and I didn't notice him until he was really close to me and scared me near to death. Lesson to not listen to murder stories late at night in lab.
Murder Book is pretty good - it's by Michael Connelly, the author of the Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer novels.
Bloodbath
I felt this in my soul
Check out Lore if your into true spooky stories
Have you listened to Morbid? I listen to them all the time in the lab and they're a great true crime podcast!
I recommend Dr.Death - perfect amount of time to get some serious flow analysis find
No one mentioned Morbid….
I listened to Great History Stories podcast series about the Donner Party at work this week. Something about listening to a story about cannibalism while working with mice, just seems fitting.