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!
In an example of life imitating art, biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego have created a living neon sign composed of millions of bacterial cells that periodically fluoresce in unison like blinking light bulbs. Their achievement, detailed in this week’s advance online issue of the journal Nature, involved attaching a fluorescent protein to the […]
This model by Bohr Institute physicist Sascha Mehlhase does not, of course, represent the whole Large Hadron Collider, which is a huge circular underground accelerator. Even at minifig scale, such a model would be enormous. Rather, it represents what is probably the most iconic part of the LHC, the ATLAS detector (Wikipedia). Dr. Mehlhase reports 80 hours of work in the build, about evenly split between design (in software) and physical assembly of its almost 10,000 bricks. [Thanks, Rachel!]
With all the advances in technology, anti-theft measures for automobiles really haven’t moved along at the same pace. If someone steals your car remote, they can get in, start your car, and drive off with it. There has to be a better way to protect your vehicle from theft and that’s exactly why some researchers in Japan have come up with a way to use your butt as a protective measure.
Firefly Workshop’s Craig Smith described how he seals small wounds with the help of superglue: I read that the American Medical Association now recognizes superglue as a medical aid. For cuts that are deep, but not requiring stitches, or in an area where stitches are tricky, superglue is used. Funny thing was that I had […]
My cousin made me a set of reusable Swiffer covers for Christmas this year and I’m already putting them to good use. You can make your own with this Craft Pattern from 2010.
Two years ago, we looked at some constructions made from playing cards that are slotted and slid together. Here is a new one, by Zach Abel.
Our favorite mathemagician, Vi Hart, jams on Fibonacci.
