Take the tube: Mass transit for lab samples

2,745 views · Published 24 June 2010 · 2:57 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: Stanford Medicine · 2010 · Education

Watch on YouTube

Every day, about 7,000 times a day, Stanford Medical Center staff turn to pneumatic tubes, considered cutting-edge technology in the 19th century, for a transport network that still can't be matched: A tubular system to transport a lab sample across the medical center in the blink of an eye. In a hospital the size of Stanford, where a quarter-mile's distance might separate a tissue specimen from its destination lab, making good time means better medicine.

More from this channel