# What's the coolest piece of technology you work with **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458 "2008-10-17T22:26:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/41 "2008-10-21T16:30:45Z")
> [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](#): > > I’m impressed, the XE 100 can only take small slides, a 200mm sample is pretty impressive. What is the maximum scan length (ours is ~400 microns (I think)) Maybe 110um, depending on settings. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/42 "2008-10-22T00:40:13Z")
The coolest piece of tech I use at work? One of those 8-tipped electric pipettes. It makes me feel like a real scientist. I haven’t needed to use the DNA sequencer yet, but my friend has shown me how it works. It’s pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/43 "2008-10-22T02:44:53Z")
Fluorescence microscopes. We have a fancy new sonogram and a bunch of complicated behavior testing stuff, but a plain old fluorescence scope, preferably with a video camera, is by far the most fun thing I’ve ever messed with. I mean, you can look at cells! And they light up all kinds of colors! Then you can take pictures of them and do whatever you want- I made a Christmas card template last year that was a photo of a bunch of astrocytes in a tree pattern. I can easily lose track of a whole afternoon just taking pictures, and now, with videos and time lapse captures, I can actually watch how cells move. It’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/44 "2008-10-22T04:01:11Z")
When I was in the theatre department, we had a video camera hooked up to a mac that was programmable to do things when certain portions of the view area had motion in them. When I worked at the genetics lab I got to use the PCR machine that multplies DNA, run electrophoresis gels, and run the sequencing machine. At a custom shoe store I got to scan people’s feet into the computer with a laser scanner and save them as 3D models. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/45 "2008-10-22T05:49:18Z")
A few people have beaten me to the coolest piece of technology we have here - a DNA sequencer. (Which sits unused for surprisingly long amounts of time considering what it cost - jeez, I’m tempted to try sequencing my own genome in the instrument’s spare time 😉 .) > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [Do I at least place?](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Missile_launch_from_Pacific_Missile_Range.jpg) Incidentally, do you work with that specific one or those in general? I ask because I used to work at NAS Pt. Mugu a while back. Never played with any of the rockets, but was involved with the (former) sewage ponds - considerably less cool ☹ . ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/46 "2008-10-22T06:00:08Z")
My dev team has access to 3 [blade servers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_server), for performance testing, and to reproduce certain issues that require heavy resources. Each blade server is equipped with dual quad-core processors (2.6 GHz each core), and 16GB of RAM. Sometime in the next 6 months, we’ll be getting access to a few more. These things kick my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/47 "2008-10-22T06:12:42Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I work in a Data Center, so I interface with lots of whiz-bang internet hardware. But, I’m most proud of my experience on an older technology, the [Lucent 5ESS telephone switch](http://www.alleged.com/telephone/5ESS/). I felt a much stronger bond to the people who I provided dial tone for than any number of anonymous web surfers. Ah, that thing paid my salary for many years. I’ve seen it being built down in the Oklahoma City Works, and even helped improve its quality many years ago. And before I bought Sun workstations for my group (back when rcp was very cool) we did our computing on 3B20, the processor that originally went inside the 5E. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/48 "2008-10-22T06:46:58Z")
My Sony 52 inch LCD computer monitor (also TV) it is magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/49 "2008-10-22T12:36:30Z")
I have clearance to walk into a dusty tent at the other end of the compound. I don’t get to push the buttons but can watch as they: Determine the GPS coordinates for a bad guy’s bedroom window; and then choose to have a 500 lb, 100 lb, or 15 lb HE warhead arrive in minutes. Then I go outside and watch the launch/firing. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/50 "2008-10-22T13:40:22Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > Incidentally, do you work with that specific one or those in general? I ask because I used to work at NAS Pt. Mugu a while back. I believe that is one of the ones I work on (it looks like a Castor IVB) though I think the picture is a flight out of Barking Sands on PMRF; definitely not PMNAS. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/51 "2008-10-22T14:08:32Z")
I’ve played with stuff at work that I can’t talk about, but my current job is unclassified. Right now I work with these [bad](http://www.osmpf.wpafb.af.mil/US%20Certification%20Technical%20Document/2nd%20Wave/Certification%20Docs/pdf/KS-87E%20TD-806E-%20Mar%2002.pdf) [boys](http://www.osmpf.wpafb.af.mil/US%20Certification%20Technical%20Document/2nd%20Wave/Certification%20Docs/pdf/KA-91C%20TD-806%20Mar%2002.pdf). Space-age polymers, blue-tooth, the works. Things of beauty, and so on the cutting edge that it’s amazing to see the results. I can read Angelina Jolie’s tattoos from 35,000 feet with these babies. And we have special clearance to operate them beyond the safety limits to a whopping 30cm resolution. Such fine resolution requires special wet film (no digital for us–that’s so _yesterday_). I think **Chronos** and **Stranger** are in a tie for the lead, btw. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/52 "2008-10-22T15:05:44Z")
Good Og, is this a cool thread - I love the overall Geek Index™ on the SDMB. For folks like **Chronos** , \*\*Stranger \*\*and **Angua** , amongst many others - any chance you might start an “Ask the…” thread where you provide an overview of both the tool/tech and your role?? I would love as much of a guided tour as you could provide to what you experience, if that makes sense… I have nothing to add that is even in the same universe as the bulk of you guys. I guess I would point out that playing an old electric guitar through an old tube amp is cool in its own way (and those of you who stumble across my posts - feel free to mock me for making every thread about guitars ;)). But you know how one of the cool things about tech is how closely it can provide a true-feedback-natural-feeling responsiveness? So you attain a level of transparency using the tool/tech and focus straight on the task at hand? Well, there is clearly an electronic component to a guitar rig, along with feedback to control! Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/53 "2008-10-22T15:14:02Z")
Eh, well, I work with a 20 year old cash register. The ol’ workhorse has paid for itself a 100 times over by now. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/54 "2008-10-23T02:49:07Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > A fiber optic [distributed temperature sensor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_temperature_sensing). Basically, the instrument fires a laser into a fiber optic cable and watches the scattered light (reflected from impurities in the fiber, molecular interactions, refractive surfaces, etc.) that come back to it. The scattered light has two components: one is temperature dependent, and one is (mostly) independent of temperature. If you know the ratio of these two signals, you can figure out what the temperature of the fiber was at the point where the light was reflected. We can do a trace (a temperature reading every meter along a 4 km cable) every 30 seconds. > > I go out and put cables in the environment, and we use the temperature changes to figure out where and how fast water (usually - sometimes we’re looking at air) is moving… once you get through the gobs and gobs of data that the thing spits back at you. > > The truck is nice too, but I think I just like that someone else is buying the gas. COOL! I want one. Seriously. 1 meter sampling of ocean currents along a 4 km line. With temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/55 "2008-10-23T09:13:39Z")
Oh yeah? Check your PMs. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/56 "2008-10-23T10:52:38Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > For folks like **Chronos** , \*\*Stranger \*\*and **Angua** , amongst many others - any chance you might start an “Ask the…” thread where you provide an overview of both the tool/tech and your role?? I would love as much of a guided tour as you could provide to what you experience, if that makes sense… Sure. Give me a couple of weeks though as things are totally manic with end of contract stuff, and I’ll be happy to start a “Ask the radio and X-ray astrophysicist who has started to dabble in the theory” thread. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/57 "2008-10-24T01:42:57Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I believe that is one of the ones I work on (it looks like a Castor IVB) though I think the picture is a flight out of Barking Sands on PMRF; definitely not PMNAS. > > Stranger You’re right - I saw “Pacific Missile…” in the filename and thought Pacific Missile Test Center rather than Pacific Missile Range Facility. What is it with the military and almost indistinguishable names? Anyway, here’s hoping you got to do some field visits to Barking Sands (with requisite stops at the beach, of course. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/58 "2008-10-24T02:51:32Z")
Not terribly high-tech, but during my residency I got to use a band saw to cut horse heads in half. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/59 "2008-10-24T10:45:40Z")
I use a scanning electron microscope (SEM) on a regular basis. (There’s one in my lab.) It’s pretty cool. But the coolest thing in our lab is a forward looking infrared (FLIR) digital video camera. It’s a high-end model; I think it was around 80K or so. It’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458/60 "2008-10-24T11:31:42Z")
I work at a robotics R&D company. I don’t know where to start. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-piece-of-technology-you-work-with/468458.md?page=4)