Science

DIY science is the perfect way to use your creative skills and learn something new. With the right supplies, some determination, and a curious mind, you can create amazing experiments that open up a whole world of possibilities. At home-made laboratories or tech workshops, makers from all backgrounds can explore new ideas by finding ways to study their environment in novel ways – allowing them to make breathtaking discoveries!

Making The World’s Thinnest Watch

Making The World’s Thinnest Watch

Dave Vondle and Jerry O’Leary are making the world’s thinnest watch. I’ve enjoyed watching this project unfold from day 1. Actually, I’ve been watching this project unfold well before that. Dave was my summer intern in 2004. Working with smart, talented interns is always a joy, but every once in a while someone comes along who is truly gifted. I learned so much more from Dave that summer than he learned from me, and I continue to learn from. Dave moved on to IDEO after college, and was one of the people behind IDEO Labs. It was there that Dave honed his skills as a talented maker who skillfully combines engineering, design, and aesthetic to make some great new devices like this watch.

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Black Makers Month: John Glass

Black Makers Month: John Glass

John is my dopplegänger. He works at NASA. That’s cool! He is an outer-space food packaging expert, a motocrosser, and an Arduino hacker. We all take packaging stuff for granted, but I can assure you that there are many challenging trade-offs. It’s great that someone as talented as John is working on these critical issues. I like the motocross and Arduino hobbies, too! I’m wondering if he’ll find a way to combine all those talents? I did hear that John has an Arduino project involving motocross. Good start! If only there was a way to get NASA involved with that project…

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Making It Through The Blizzard of 2013

Making It Through The Blizzard of 2013

Like many people in Southern New England, we were hit pretty hard by the Blizzard of 2013. Not only did we lose power for three days, but our road was blocked by fallen trees (cutting our supply lines), and our natural gas heater won’t fire without power, so we had to figure out how to get through those three days. Here’s how we used an ad-hoc solar power system, wood stove, and some snow shoveling to keep warm, fed, and charged up.

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Teen Launches Hello Kitty into Space

Teen Launches Hello Kitty into Space

Thirteen-year-old Lauren Rojas’ science fair project has taken off in ways she never imagined. The seventh grader at Cornerstone Christian School in Antioch, Calif. saw a Visa commercial that featured three guys sending a balloon into the upper atmosphere. She wanted to do something simliar to test a hypothesis about the effects of altitude on air pressure and air temperature.

“I learned a lot more about space than I ever knew,” she said.

She also got an unexpected lesson in internet fame.

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Black Makers Month: Pamela Jennings

Black Makers Month: Pamela Jennings

OK, it’s tax time and I’m tired. That’s no excuse for not posting more awesome Black Makers to the blog! Especially since it’s tax time and I’m about to give Uncle Sam more of my hard-earned dollars I would be sadly remiss to not get Pamela Jennings up here, since she is like a super-meta maker. Not only does she make her own cool stuff, but she is at the National Science Foundation and helps get other makers in the research world the money that they need to change the world. Awesome, yes? I think so! Pamela is another fantastically talented maker who I first met at Sketching In Hardware. I wish I could direct all my tax dollars to her funding initiatives.

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Black Makers Month: Chad Jenkins

Black Makers Month: Chad Jenkins

Odest Chadwicke Jenkins is my friend and neighbor. If I really wanted to split hairs, Chad is more a scientist than a maker. I will overlook that small technicality because the work that Chad does is profoundly awesome and has mega impact in the world of robotics, which affects every maker working with robots. Chad and I share many interests including video games and robots and I find it interesting that he runs the lab previously occupied by Leslie Kaelbling, one of my former mentors, who is now at MIT. Chad played rugby in college, so you don’t want to mess with him! Chad is so cool, he was recently named as one of the “Brilliant 10” by Popular Science.

Continue Reading Kipp Bradford70