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!
Here’s a link to the fantastic British brainy-toys site Grand Illusions that I’ve been hoarding for awhile, hoping to someday reproduce the process and post it as a tutorial. I have tried sun-drying several of the largest orange peels I can find on suitable forms, and have made one functional round box that is quite small and ugly compared to these.
Old but very interesting resource from Canadian Robert Scharein, programmer of the software package KnotPlot. The knots are organized by the number of crossings, and can be clicked on to display rotatable 3D models. [via Maxwell’s Demon]
OpenPCR first came to life last February, and we showed off our first prototype at Maker Faire last May. Those of you following the OpenPCR blog know we designed, refined, and engineered our hearts out. Today, Josh and I are pleased to make the first version of the OpenPCR design docs public. Whether you’re a […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics By pleating a square sheet of paper with a pattern of concentric squares, one can fold a saddle shape that mathematicians call a hyperbolic paraboloid, sometimes nicknamed a hypar. Erik Demaine led a workshop at a recent Museum of Mathematics event where he showed how multiple hypars […]
Are you the innovative type, the cook who marches to a different drummer — used to expressing your creativity instead of just following recipes? Are you interested in the science behind what happens to food while it’s cooking? Then Cooking for Geeks by Jeff Potter is the book for you. Available in the MakerShed.
Mississippian Hillar Bergman is known, first and foremost, as a musician—he plays the fiddle. His YouTube channel, as catinnahat, has several videos describing his wonderful “apocalyptech” potter’s wheel, and demonstrating his skillful use thereof. It’s just an old wheel and tire, mounted on an oak stump with a pair of pipe flanges and a short nipple, and spun up to speed with a tire iron stuck through the holes in the hub.
One of the great things about learning food science is the need to test everything. I say “need” because, in truth, it’s a lot of fun to geek out over the details and try various experiments that I wouldn’t normally try. Take yogurt. Everyone is familiar with it, but how is it made? Where does it come from? (Besides the store…) Making yogurt is incredibly easy, especially once you know some of the food science background. A bunch of different types of “friendly” bacteria chow down on the lactose sugars in milk, creating lactic acid in the process. This process, called fermentation, also changes the structure of the milk, turning it into a gel.
