Math Monday: Hula Hoop Geometry
Playing around with mathematics using the ubiquitous hula hoop.
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!
Radar Gun Connected to Stereo System
In this off-the-cuff video, MIT prof and MAKE pal Gregory Charvat shoots Nerf darts into the beam of an old X-band Doppler radar gun with its output hacked into a linear power supply, a preamp, and finally into Greg’s living room stereo system. The signal sounds like a cartoon sound effect!
Petition the White House for Open Journal Access
At issue is free public access to scientific information gathered using tax dollars. Which, in the US, is about a third of it. If you’ve ever been hot on the trail of a technical lead and run up against a robot demanding $40 to download one four-page, thirty-year-old journal article, you know what I’m talking about.
How-To: Bacteria Battery
Did you know you can generate electricity from the “metal-breathing” anaerobic bacteria found in ordinary mud? Having no oxygen to breathe, these bacteria produce energy for their growth by transferring electrons to clumps of rust and other metal oxides, in a process called dissimilatory metal reduction. Dr. Ashley Franks, director of K–12 outreach at the […]
Asteroid-Grabbing Microspines
NASA JPL researchers present a 250-mm diameter omni-directional anchor that uses an array of claws with suspension flexures, called microspines, designed to grip rocks on the surfaces of asteroids and comets and to grip the cliff faces and lava tubes of Mars. [via Techland; thanks Bigpaws!]
NEWS FROM THE FUTURE – Bugs Save The World
Craig Venter’s Bugs Might Save the World – NYTimes.com: In the menagerie of Craig Venter’s imagination, tiny bugs will save the world. They will be custom bugs, designer bugs — bugs that only Venter can create. He will mix them up in his private laboratory from bits and pieces of DNA, and then he will […]
WW2 US Medical Research Centre
The WW2 US Medical Research Centre has an extensive catalog of images and descriptions of World War II medical kits, vehicles, clothing, veterinary equipment, bags, field manuals, and more. There are also historical photos from the war sprinkled throughout.