The pipette problem: why lab results do not travel
Two labs follow the same protocol and get different results. The culprit is often the smallest tool on the bench.
Cover image Photo by CDC / Unsplash
Every biology lab has a drawer full of pipettes, and every researcher holds them a little differently. A tiny difference in angle or speed changes the volume by a few percent.
Multiply that by hundreds of steps, and two careful labs can disagree about the same experiment. A growing movement wants protocols that record not just what was done, but how.
Robots help, but the real change is cultural: treating the way an experiment is done as part of its result.
