The Automated Lab

@theautomatedlab.bsky.social

Lab automation education and resource hub at theautomatedlab.com

Weird intersection of math & centrifuge balancing: Visual proof that it's possible to balance a 24-position centrifuge rotor for any number of equally-filled tubes EXCEPT 1 and 23. Some of these are anxiety-inducing, though. (🧑‍🎨: aliyoh, labrats subreddit)

It's a 24 panel illustration, with a rotor (circle) with 24 open circles.  For each increment from 1 to 24, an additional circle is filled with blue or pink, in ways that create a symmetrical axis of mass, allowing the rotor to be balanced when rotating at high speeds.  The pinks generally show the odd numbers (divisible by 3) while the blues are the paired (divisible by 2) I think?

Hello lab automators, it's been a moment since we checked in! We won't be publishing any new articles in December, as we are busy spinning up some truly special projects for 2025. No spoilers yet, but we're looking forward to forging new paths for #openaccess lab automation. Exciting things to come!

Lab automation is a field filled with clever people of many backgrounds, and I have yet to meet one who intended to end up here. We encounter the same frustrating behavior from the same model of plate peeler (you know the one!), and yet we have few ways to share our expertise.