I did a few general chemistry courses during my school and university education. I did only one full-on course, in analytical chemistry (basically, "What is this stuff, exactly?"). That course required that I pipette a lot.

A pipette is a device that transports a precise amount of liquid. It's essentially a tube with gradations marked on it, and some means for sucking liquid up to the desired level in the tube and then spitting it back out to where you want to go.

The old-school pipettes we had in my uni lab were glass tubes with a rubber bulb on the end, and they worked just like a turkey baster: squeeze the bulb, dip the end of the tube into the liquid, slowly release the bulb, watch liquid get sucked up, adjust to the right level, transport to a receptacle, and squeeze the bulb to eject all the liquid. It takes skill, it's not especially accurate, but it's cheap and simple. There were some easier, more accurate, piston-driven pipettes (working a bit more like a syringe) around, but I think they were only available to grad students or proper chemistry programme people.

There are now even fancier, high-tech, no-effort-at-all pipetting systems, it seems. And one company, Eppendorf, thinks that boy bands are the best way to sell its epMotion system. Tongue-in-cheek, and hilarious.

[Thanks, BoingBoing.]

Here's the lyrics... but I really suggest watching the video. I know what I'm getting Mrs. CollateralDamage for her birthday!!!

Pipetting all those well-plates, baby, sends your thumbs into overdrive
And spending long nights in the lab makes it hard for your love to thrive
What you need is automation, girl, something easy as 1 2 3
So put down that pipette, honey, I got something that will set you free

And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)

'DNA
RNA
Proteins
Cell Cultures
Less reagents
Faster workflow
Saves you money
Well, well, well

And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)

Big shout out to Heather S. for this. Hope Mike sings this one to you. Or at least lip-synchs it.

It seems the latest way to market expensive Science lab toys (by which I mean equipment beyond the reach of your average school), is to produce a cheesy pop video.

Our first example is clearly aimed at the ladies in the lab and has been produced by Eppendorf to sell their automated pipetting system:

The next makes a mockery of cheesy ensemble charity singles and has been made by BioRad to market their PCR equipment:

"I's amazing what heating and cooling and heating can do-oooo!"

More choice lyrics after the jump.

"PCR- when you need to find out who the daddy is. Who's yo daddy?"

Here are the lyrics: (from this pdf file)

There was a time when to amplify DNA,
You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells.
Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis,
Said you can amplify in vitro just as well.

-
Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers,
Nucleotides and polymerases, too.
Denaturing, annealing, and extending.
Well it’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do.

-
PCR, when you need to detect mutations.
PCR, when you need to recombine.
PCR, when you need to find out who the daddy is.
PCR, when you need to solve a crime.

Die Idee muss auch beim Konkurrenten Eppendorf gut angekommen sein, denn für die Werbung für ihre automatischen Pipettiersysteme epMotion haben sie die Idee ganz frech geklaut sich inspirieren lassen von Bio-Rad.

Doch anstatt auch im Band Aid-Stil anzutreten lassen sie ihre Systeme von einer Boyband aus 5 Typen an den Wissenschaftler bringen. Inklusive des für Boy-Bands obligatorischen Spaziergang am Strand.

This annual international research prize recognizes accomplishments in neurobiology research based on methods of molecular and cell biology. The winner and finalists are selected by a committee of independent scientists, chaired by Bruce Alberts, Ph.D., the Editor-in-Chief of Science. Past winners include postdoctoral scholars and assistant professors.

To be eligible, you must be 35 years of age or younger. If you’re selected as this year’s winner, you will receive $25,000, have your work published in the prestigious journal Science and be invited to visit Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany.

THE DEADLINE is 15 JUNE 2008

To enter, please visit http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/prizes/eppendorf/howto.dtl

Contact Information

Selection Committee for the Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology

Science
Attention: Maryrose Madrid, Rm. 1049B
1200 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
UNITED STATES

Or

Selection Committee for the Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology

Science International
Bateman House
82-88 Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 1LQ
UNITED KINGDOM

General Questions

eppendorfscienceprize@aaas.org
mmadrid@aaas.org

Meine Favoriten sind der absolut fabelhafte "griechische Joghurt" mit Nüssen und Honig oder aber auch die warmen Bagels mit Thunfischpastrami oder Frischkäse. Ein Kaffee dazu. Am Wochenende lege ich hier auch schon mal ein zweites "herzhaftes Frühstück" ein. Am allerschönsten ist es bei warmen und trockenem Wetter, wenn die Fenster und Türen weit geöffnet sind und man draussen und drinnen sitzen kann. Für kältere Tage gibt es natürlich Heizstrahler auf der Strassenseite ... Der Blick vom Café auf die Strasse und auf die schönen Gründerstilfassaden von Eppendorf erinnert mich manchmal an Paris oder Brüssel.

So erkauft man sich "eine Insel Glückseligkeit" für unter 10 Euro in angenehmer und zivilisierter Gesellschaft. Als Nachmittagspausenoase. Junge Frauen mit Kinderwagen und Gören. Erwachsene Paare im trauten Gespräch. Freundinnen auf Plausch. Schöne und intelligente Frauen auf der Rast auf einen Latte. Kumpel beim kurzen Stopover. Singles in Zeitungen vertieft. Oder einfach als Beobachter des Treibens auf der Strasse und Phishing von Bekannten.

Mein Beitrag zu Cafe Casero - Ich bin CemB - auf Qype

O ministro da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, Mariano Gago, afirmou ontem à noite, na Figueira da Foz, que a actividade científica em Portugal "atingiu os níveis internacionais que aspirávamos há 20 anos atrás".

Mariano Gago falou aos jornalistas no final da entrega dos primeiros prémios "Seeds of Science", atribuídos pelo jornal online Ciência Hoje a três mulheres portuguesas pelo seu papel na comunicação e divulgação da ciência.

As distinções foram entregues à responsável pela Agência Ciência Viva, Rosália Vargas, e às investigadoras Maria Mota e Mónica Bettencourt-Dias, no Casino da Figueira da Foz.

O ministro salientou que as galardoadas "mostraram que Portugal podia ser tão diferente se as mulheres tivessem tido um papel na sociedade que nunca tiveram". Segundo Mariano Gago, a atribuição dos prémios "tratou-se também de uma homenagem às gerações que tentaram que a ciência fizesse parte da cultura do país".

Em declarações aos jornalistas, o titular da pasta da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior afirmou que "o país, através dos seus sectores produtivos, só tem futuro se houver muito mais ciência em Portugal".

Mariano Gago considerou, no entanto, que ainda "falta ter mais cultura científica na generalidade da população, uma ligação mais estreita entre a actividade científica e as pessoas que não são cientistas".

"O país é pequeno, com poucos recursos e, por isso, tem de apostar e de se basear essencialmente no que faz e é capaz de fazer", sublinhou o governante, acrescentando que o caminho das empresas do sector exportador só terá sucesso "se for baseado no conhecimento, na inovação, investigação e desenvolvimento".

Rosália Vargas, actual vereadora da Educação e Juventude e da Cultura da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, e membro do Conselho Nacional de Educação, foi distinguida pelo seu empenho no desenvolvimento da ciência, nomeadamente na direcção da Agência Nacional para a Cultura Científica e Tecnológica Ciência Viva.

A direcção do Ciência Hoje decidiu galardoar Maria Mota pela qualidade e relevância do seu trabalho de investigação em malária, que lhe mereceu o prémio CESPU 2007, da Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário, e pela sua actividade à frente da Associação Viver a Ciência, uma organização sem fins lucrativos de que é fundadora e presidente.

Maria Mota é investigadora principal no Instituto de Medicina Molecular da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa e doutorou-se em Parasitologia Molecular no University College London (1998).

Entre outros prémios que já recebeu contam-se o da EMBO para jovens investigadores (2003) e da European Science Foundation (2004), na mesma categoria.

Maria Mota é também investigadora internacional pelo Howard Hughes Medical Institute (EUA).

Quanto a Mónica Bettencourt-Dias, a escolha deveu-se à sua "excelente actividade científica", galardoada no ano passado com os prémios Criostaminal, Eppendorf, para jovem investigador europeu, e Pfizer, de investigação básica.

Doutorada em Biologia celular pelo University College London e diplomada em Comunicação de Ciência pelo Birkbeck College, também de Londres, é investigadora principal no Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência desde 2006, onde estuda a regulação do ciclo celular.

The annual street festival in Hamburg's Eppendorf quarter is one of the biggest in this city. There are some stages for live shows (no big acts, generally some local musicians backed by a radio stration) and lots of food stands. Some social organisation present their work there - you'll know where they are located because there are a lot less people walking there. The festival occupies most of the Eppendorfer Landstraße. So on one end we have the social organisations and on the other - the flea market. Used by professional and amateur sellers alike you can find a lot of things there if you are into the typical flea market second-hand junk. Well, I haven't found anything there in ages.