Nerdy observation of the day


I can still use my iPhone’s touch screen while wearing nitrile gloves! Take that, mittens. And since I’m in the lab significantly more than I’m outside, this is a significant discovery. It’s incredibly important to be able to change songs without drastically lowering my pipetting efficiency.

What? Going outside except to get to and from lab? Crazy talk.

Comments

  1. the_Siliconopolitan says

    So what is your Iphone *ptuii* covered in now? Can you ever use it again without wearing gloves?

  2. says

    I don’t work with anything dangerous in the lab. The gloves are more to make sure I’m not sloughing off my DNA into my samples.

  3. neapel says

    I thought the iPhone had voice control? (Saw a guy on a train once telling his phone to turn the music up. But he was a bit weird, so…)

  4. says

    It’s hard to explain if you don’t do this kind of research, but the type of experiments I’m doing don’t have that high of a risk of contamination. If it was really an issue, I’d be stuck in a DNA-free fume hood somewhere. Instead I’m just at a random bench that’s constantly used for various experiments, and frequently touched and rested on by hands/arms etc.tl;dr it’s not a big deal :P

  5. says

    Hey yeah, I was excited to learn that very thing. In my case it was with an ipod nano, and I was wearing the nitril gloves to apply fiberglass to a mother-mold, but you know po-tay-to po-tah-to. Based on this information alone, I have to assume that getting a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture is exactly the same as getting a Masters Degree in Biology, except that Biology grad students can afford iphones. :D

  6. says

    I found that out in my lab, too! Sooo exciting. I use my iPod Touch for the calculator app and for playing tunes. It seems like most seasoned lab users are pretty savvy about when it’s okay to touch clean things with gloves on and when it’s not. Examples: 1) You’ve just donned gloves but haven’t entered the lab – totally cool. 2) You’ve just finished cleaning up a broken tube of blood or you just cracked open a vial of beta-mercaptoethanol – not cool.

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