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!
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 โtwo-photon lithographyโ. 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.
Color 3D printing allows one to make beautiful objects that are pretty much impossible to fabricate by any other technique. Here is a 9-inch diameter sculpture I designed and built on a 3D Systems Zprinter 450.
DIY physics guru David Prutchi coveted one of the expensive professional-grade gyroscopic camera stabilizers made by Kenyon Laboratories. “These devices,” he observes, “donโt seem to have changed much since Kenyonโs founder filed the following two patents in the 50โฒs: US2811042, US2570130.” Referencing those patents, David reverse-engineered the basic geometry of the Kenyon stabilizer using a pair of inexpensive precision gyroscopes from Glenn Turner of gyroscopes.com.
That’s Museom of Design in Plastics, and their online collections are really outstanding. While there is some good online info on hornworking in the hobby community (especially the SCA), it’s mostly text with simple line art. I couldn’t find much photography of real artifacts and tools before stumbling on MoDiP’s online Nature’s plastic exhibit.
