Issue3-Robots-In-The-Lab.Pdf
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In our world, presented the king with a mechanical DNA synthesis and generate copies. to make millions of compounds at these old robots seem quaint and man. And, of course, there’s Leonardo Organic chemistry processes also use once. kitschy — they’re nothing like our daVinci to consider. automated synthesis. industrial and medical machines. Pure-Bots Today, robots are technology un- The First Modern Robots In biological labs, robotic equipment personified: efficient, practical tools can handle standardized microtiter Robots also perform functions that help us accomplish our goals. The The beginning of the twentieth plates, which scientists use to store related to purification, such as the many ways we routinely use robotics century saw the birth of the first samples that must be frozen or automation of simulated distillation (a in the lab would boggle the minds of modern robots — practical devices sealed to avoid degradation or type of gas chromatography) in the our very imaginative forebears. like Westinghouse Electric’s Televox contamination. The Society for petroleum industry. Automation via and parlor tricks like Elektro, the Biomolecular Screening developed microprocessors allows scientists to Ancient Robots? seven-foot marvel of the 1939 the microtiter plate standard, and perform ion-exchange separation on World’s Fair. labs everywhere use robotic liquid a nanoliter scale very quickly. We tend to think of robots as a handlers or plate movers to prepare or move the plates. Standardization modern idea, but the engineers In 1954, George Devol invented But What About Humans? and artists of ancient civilizations Unimate, the first digitally operated, is key to the development of robotic technologies. all around the world were the first programmable robotic arm. As the science of robotics evolves, to build (or attempt to build, or at Unimate transformed automobile Some companies have developed so too will our ability to apply least describe) automated machines. manufacturing and kicked off the automated technologies to laboratory Perhaps the first to succeed was modern robotics industry. Nearly technology that further automates biological handling. Andrew, by tasks. In fact, a machine called Plato’s friend Archytas, the founder every industry uses robots now the Robot Scientist (also known as of mathematical mechanics; his self- instead of humans for jobs that are too Andrew Alliance, is capable of interfacing with volumetric pipettes, Adam) is a prototype that is able to propelled artificial pigeon reportedly dangerous or for jobs that demand hypothesize and perform experiments flew approximately 200 meters. A precision and accuracy beyond effectively automating the handling processes and removing human error. independently. It also interprets its couple of hundred years later, around human ability. Naturally, laboratories findings without human guidance. 270 B.C., Ctesibius (the father of have embraced robotics. Other instrumentation companies have developed plate readers that use Does this mean that human scientists pneumatics) created a water clock are on their way out? Not at all! with animated figures. optical or computer vision to detect Lab-Bots specific changes in microtiter plates. Humans — not robots — are the ones with the imagination, passion, drive Ancient mythologians, too, wrote of Laboratory robotics began with and insight to investigate challenges mechanical people. The Roman god early applications in peptide Med-Bots and discover answers that can change Vulcan was said to have created and oligonucleotide synthesis. In the lives of people worldwide. We robot servants. Jewish and Norse 1983, Kary Mullis developed the Pharmaceutical companies like have a stake in our research; robots legends both include references to polymerase chain reaction (PCR), McKesson design robots that automate do not. Besides, humans are the one animated clay people. A third-century entire pharmacies to eliminate who can flip the “off” switch. medication errors, and the daVinci Surgical Robot allows? surgeons to perform ?minimally invasive surgery [ CLASSROOM DISCUSSION ] by controlling tiny instruments Discuss the advantages and remotely and viewing their work on a disadvantages of using robotics in the magnified, three-dimensional display. laboratory. What other applications and industries In the pharmaceutical lab, robotic do you think could benefit from using arms have revolutionized sample robotics? preparation for processes like nuclear [ VOCABULARY ] magnetic resonance and high- performance liquid chromatography- PERSONIFY mass spectrometry (HPLC). The PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS combination of nuclear magnetic resonance and x-ray crystallography OLIGONUCLEOTIDE SYNTHESIS allows for the automation of structural PCR protein analysis. Robotics has also made it possible for scientists in SYNTHESIS www.fisheredu.com Tel. 1-800-955-1177 Fax. 1-800-955-0740 3 Tools to Inspire the Innovators of Tomorrow From curiosity to wide-eyed wonder, our elementary portfolio is your one source for exciting experiments, hands-on classroom tools, great products and real-world science articles. Visit www.fisheredu.com/elementary today! 4 Fisher Science Education Headline Discoveries July-September 2016; Issue 3 Humans and Lizards in the Land of Dreams By Mike Howie Everyone, and everything, needs to throughout the night, with each cycle It’s All Relative sleep. Scientists aren’t quite sure why lasting about 60 to 90 minutes each we need sleep, but it’s been proven in humans. Lizards haven’t changed as much as time and again that nothing good humans have over the happens when you don’t get enough Sleepy Lizards centuries, so studying of it. Efforts in studying sleep haven’t their sleep patterns been entirely fruitless, though: It’s clear While monitoring the brain activity provides us that there are multiple stages of sleep, of lizards, a team in Germany with a and now we’re starting to learn that noticed that they have two patterns new they might be more common between of brainwaves while asleep. The first way animals than previously understood. is 4Hz, a low frequency similar to to slow-wave sleep, and the second is at study Stages of Sleep 20Hz, a higher frequency similar to where our REM sleep. These patterns occurred in own sleep Generally speaking, there are two a cycle similar to the one in humans patterns, as well as patterns of brain activity in sleep. but at a shorter interval, lasting only the sleep? patterns ? [ CLASSROOM DISCUSSION ] The first is slow-wave sleep, which 60 to 90 seconds each. To back this of other animals, has four stages in humans. During all up, the researchers used an infrared originated. They’ve The purpose of sleep is still unclear. of these stages there is little activity camera to record video of the lizards already helped us to Why do you think we need to sleep so often to stay healthy? going on in the brain. The other while they slept, which clearly shows discover that our sleep patterns are pattern is known as REM, or rapid the lizards’ eyes twitching as they about 300 million years old, which What could the brain be doing during is much older than we had once REM sleep, and why are periods of eye movement, sleep. This pattern is sleep. This doesn’t necessarily mean REM sleep spread out? associated with dreaming in humans that lizards and other reptiles dream thought. While we’re not quite there and was previously thought to occur just like humans do, but it does tell us yet, it’s exciting to learn that we’re [ VOCABULARY ] getting closer and closer to unlocking only in mammals and birds.