If you have ever worked in a biology lab, you must watch this ad from Eppendorf.

If you have not worked in a biology lab, let me explain. A lot of modern biology is done by moving around lots of tiny drops of liquid. Say, a bunch of DNA samples that you mix with various chemicals, then run through big machines. The liquids are moved by, basically, sucking up a bit of liquid in an eyedropper.

But this is science, so you can’t go around wielding actual eyedroppers. The samples have to be exactly the right size and they must not be mixed. Thus, every grad student’s friend: the Pipetman, a tool that sucks up precise quantities of liquids into disposable tips.

If you ever find yourself in a situation that requires a Pipetman: Jab it into a box of tips until one sticks. Use your thumb to push the button down and hold it. Put the tip into the liquid. Let the button up slowly. Move to the new container. Push the button all the way down to expel the liquid. Push the other button to dump the tip. Repeat. For hours.

If this sounds like a recipe for repetitive motion disorders, that’s because it is. There are machines that pipette automatically, but they aren’t always practical, and nobody gives ‘em away for free, either.

Ok, now you’re ready for a boy band to sell you an automatic pipetter.

— Helen Fields

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