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!
“Twin Creeks, a solar power startup that emerged from hiding today, has developed a way of creating photovoltaic cells that are half the price of today’s cheapest cells, and thus within reach of challenging the fossil fuel hegemony. The best bit: Twin Creeks’ photovoltaic cells are created using a hydrogen ion particle accelerator.”
Vi Hart pushes back on Pi and whole Pi Day thingy.
Jeff Stone and his wife Susan built a telescope out of hockey sticks.
Cambridge scientists talk about using Lego Mindstorms NXT robots to create artificial bone. Why spring for budget-busting professional gear when you can make a perfectly usable robot in minutes using a $280 set? [via The NXT Step.]
Check out Adam Savage’s TED-ED talk “How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries“: Adam Savage walks through two spectacular examples of profound scientific discoveries that came from simple, creative methods anyone could have followed — Eratosthenes’ calculation of the Earth’s circumference around 200 BC and Hippolyte Fizeau’s measurement of the speed of light in 1849.
Researchers Jan Torgersen and Peter Gruber at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have successfully printed intricately detailed models of various objects at the nanometer scale using a process called “two-photon lithography”. In the process, they also managed to speed things up a bit and have gone from printing in millimeters per second to meters […]
If you’ve ever been to Maker Faire, you’re probably familiar with all the wonderful pedal-powered carnival rides that appear throughout the event. Here’s a video demonstration of a small Ferris wheel powered by just two riders.
