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!
Vassar college Professor John H. Long is a marine biologist, by training, and, now, a roboticist by trade. Essentially, he builds robot populations closely modeled on extinct (and living) fish, and then subjects them to simulated evolutionary pressure—to hype it up a bit, he “pits them against each other”—to learn things about why historical animals evolved as they did…
Every crafter should have some basic carving skills under her/his belt, and this rock carving tutorial from Lil Blue Boo is a great place to get started. Just think of the creative possibilities!
Today, we’re going to look at some linkages designed to mimic the walking behavior of living creatures. They are designed to lift a strut up off the ground, plant it farther ahead, and pull it back (which is the power stroke that actually moves an object — or animal — forward.) One inventive person in this area is Joe Klann…
From Instructables user hydronics comes this electronic bee-counter that mounts over a hive’s entrance, dividing it into many channels, each as wide as a single bee, and each equipped with a pair of IR reflectance sensors. When a bee passes through, the order in which the sensors are tripped reveals if it is coming or going.
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is a gram-negative bacterium that lives, in the natural world, in iron sulfide (aka “pyrite,” aka “fool’s gold) deposits, where it eats iron and sulfur and excretes sulfuric acid. Now, a team of graduates, undergraduates, and post-docs at New York’s Columbia and Cooper Union universities is working to develop a genetically-modified strain of A. ferrooxidans…
Like a lot of professional-grade scientific equipment, purpose-made glove boxes are spendy, especially if you buy a new one. That’s why I think a lot of hobby, citizen, and just plain ol’ thrifty scientists will be excited about this DIY version from NYU ITP student Nelson Ramon.
A group from Vanderbilt University, lead by Professor David Cliffel, claims that a protein found in spinach, called PS1, when combined with silicon found in solar panels to form a biohybrid cell, end up being 2.5 times more efficient then cells lacking the protein.
