March 28, 2024

No More Messy Notes: Modernizing the Lab Notebook

Scientists add information to their lab note pads in the kind of handwritten worths, printed and pasted images and graphs, or recommendations to big information files kept on a tough drive. With this technique, finding the ideal piece of information turns into searching for a needle in a disorganized haystack, and quickly composed notes can be undependable and misinterpreted months or years after an experiment was conducted.Storing protocols and information in laboratory note pads also makes complex sharing that info with others. To share results and procedures, researchers must invest valuable time organizing their data and constructing reports to interact with those outside of the main lab.Flipping through unpleasant, handwritten laboratory note pad pages and losing precious data by losing physical books is ending up being a thing of the past as researchers move to electronic laboratory note pads (ELNs).

Researchers include data to their laboratory notebooks in the type of handwritten values, printed and pasted images and charts, or recommendations to big data files kept on a difficult drive. With this strategy, discovering the ideal piece of information turns into browsing for a needle in a disorganized haystack, and hastily written notes can be unreliable and misinterpreted months or years after an experiment was conducted.Storing protocols and data in lab notebooks also complicates sharing that info with others. To share procedures and results, scientists must invest valuable time arranging their data and developing reports to interact with those outside of the main lab.Flipping through untidy, handwritten lab notebook pages and losing precious data by losing physical books is ending up being a thing of the past as researchers move to electronic lab note pads (ELNs).