Technology is an amazing thing. Very few areas display the most modern technology than the laboratory. Labs are not only home to some of the most advanced technology, but they also give birth to a great deal of it. It is not like your high school chemistry class. State of the art labs commonly feature equipment that costs in the tens of millions of dollars. Here is a look at five of the coolest (albeit not necessarily common) and most advanced lab tools in existence today.

Particle Accelerators: This is where science fiction meets science fact. In fact, the recent experiment at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) regarding neutrinos travelling faster than light was performed with a particle accelerator. This (now somewhat rebuffed) experiment would have thrown everything known about modern physics into a tailspin. Particle accelerators operate by sending the smallest of particles at extremely high speeds through the use of magnetic waves. While the CERN experiment is very much in question due to recent evidence involving time miscalculations, just the fact that the neutrinos travelled close enough to light speed for it to be in question is still an amazing event.

Microsphere Nanoscope: Remember looking at skin cells in biology class under a microscope? Typically, the school microscopes measures subjects in millimeters. Now, think of objects one million times smaller than that: that’s what the microsphere nanoscope measures. In fact, it enlarges objects so small that they cannot even be viewed through a lens – the image actually has to be routed through a computer and displayed on a screen. The limits of this technology have not even been determined yet.

Ultra Centrifuge: Again, this is a device much different from the one you remember in your science class. However, the basic purpose remains the same – separate your solid (solvent) from your liquid (solution). What is amazing is that in almost one hundred years of centrifuges, the basic tenant remains the same: spin it out. Now, how that is spun has become consistently improved upon. The greater the speed, the more effective the device is and the quicker it works. The lower the friction the centrifuge produces, the greater the speed that can be effectively reached. The ultracentrifuge can reach speeds of 120000 rpm, or more than 40 times faster than the one from your high school science class.

Lasers: They have been around for many decades now and made appearances in numerous science fiction films, but most people do not understand the full capabilities lasers. Lasers have many practical purposes with new uses being developed frequently. In the benevolent realm, they have found a major role in modern medicine – even going so far as to perform surgery. The beams of light are so precise that they can perform tiny cuts that a human surgeon would be unable to make. On a less benevolent note, the science fiction of lasers being used as directed energy weapons is nearing the case of being science fact. Soon these devices will be able to take out small targets from space – only question is cost efficiency and political fallout compared to ground operations.

Our friends:
Particle Accelerators Article from Christian Science Monitor
Centrifuges for Industrial Purposes for sale
Learn more about Lasers from Wiki

Our friends:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/On-the-Economy/2012/0103/Job-creating-particle-accelerators
http://www.dhgriffin.com/centrifuges.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser

Author Bio: Our friends:
Particle Accelerators Article from Christian Science Monitor
Centrifuges for Industrial Purposes for sale
Learn more about Lasers from Wiki

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: Particle accelerator, lasers, centrifuges, microscope