Math Monday: Slice a Bagel into 13 Pieces with Three Cuts (Our 100th Column!)
Celebrate the one hundredth “Math Monday”> column with a return to yet another mathematical way to slice bagels.
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!
Sub-$100 Cardboard Hexapod Robot
Mike Estee has been laser-cutting hexapod limbs from cardboard and is making great progress on his hexapod project. As he explains:
As I’ve written about in the past, cost can be measured in many ways. For this exercise I’m primarily interested in cost of materials, cost of manufacturing, and assembly time. Design time isn’t particularly optimized here, but as we build on previous iterations, hopefully we can stay ahead of complexity. On the cold hard cash front, I think I’m doing pretty well. This little fellow consists of: $1.00 in cardboard, $54.60 in servos, and $29.95 in servo controllers.
Why Yes, You Can Mirror Polish a DeLorean
Yet another reason to own a stainless steel car. An “insane amount of time,” but the results are undeniably stunning; check out more pics in this thread at autopia.org. Rob Beschizza found that it’s been done at least once before.
MAKE Volume 29: DIY Superhuman
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
https://makezine.com/29
Buy or Subscribe to MAKE:
http://www.makershed.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=25
President’s Sci/Tech Council Webcast, Fri Jan 6
President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology” width=”240″ height=”240″ />Tomorrow, at 10am to 3pm EST, you can watch the Meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) webcast live from DC
The Tesla Valve: One Way Flow With No Moving Parts
Here’s yet another delightful mechanical curiosity from among Nikola Tesla’s nearly 300 known patents. Shown above is the sole drawing page from US patent #1,329,559, “Valvular Conduit,” issued 1920. You may have to stare at the upper section, for a moment, to figure out what’s going on: Flow from left to right, as illustrated, is against the valve’s bias—the stream is broken up and diverted in circular paths that return to interfere with each other. Flow from right to left, however, is not so impeded.
Solar Heater From Can Lids and Woven Plants
An interesting experiment from students in a course at Humboldt State University called Appropriate Technology Engineering 305. The parabolic form is essentially a large, shallow basket woven with fibers of locally-gathered Himalaya blackberry, which the students identify as an invasive species. In good weather, their dish could boil a jar of water in about two hours. I always like to see the clever thinking that can result from radical design constraints. [via No Tech Magazine]