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!

Time Lapse:  Lego Ship in a Bottle

Time Lapse: Lego Ship in a Bottle

This build from Julia Morley took โ€œa week of planning, three days of building, a large number of expletives, and some interesting use of very long tools.โ€ And you can enjoy the whole process (minus the expletives, which have been replaced with soothing music) in three minutes of 32X time-lapse bliss here. [via The Brothers Brick]

Furniture Made From Close-Packed Tennis Balls

Furniture Made From Close-Packed Tennis Balls

Actually these HEX chairs from designer Hugh Hayden made the rounds back in 2009, but theyโ€™re just now coming across my radar via this round-up of tennis ball furniture that recently tripped one of my Google auto-alerts. There are plenty of unusual chairs in the world, and though I like these better than many, Iโ€™m more interested in Haydenโ€™s process for joining the tennis balls together.

Make: Projects – Glass Bead Projection Screen

Make: Projects – Glass Bead Projection Screen

Hereโ€™s a method for applying a high-gain optical projection surface using common, inexpensive materialsโ€”specifically, flat white interior latex paint and glass sandblasting media. It began as a series of experiments to produce a DIY โ€œscreen paintโ€ by directly mixing these two ingredients. Though failing in themselves, these tests led to the serendipitous discovery of this process.

Top 10: Gears!

Top 10: Gears!

We have done both gear- and gear-making-related roundups before, but our gear world has turned (bam!) quite a few times since then, and weโ€™ve covered some even hotter gear action in the interim. Someday thereโ€™s going to be a gear-roundup roundup. But for now, hereโ€™s our top gear content as it stands today:

ThinkGeek Giving Away Damaged Stock to Hackerspaces, Schools

ThinkGeek Giving Away Damaged Stock to Hackerspaces, Schools

How cool is that? From Blurgh! The ThinkGeek Blog:

We have a problem. And itโ€™s growing at a rate proportional to our return pile. We canโ€™t, in good conscience, resell damaged electronics. And we canโ€™t donate them to charityโ€“the saddest kid in the world is one with a handheld video game that wonโ€™t turn on. Garbage, then? Not good for the environment. Luckily for us, thereโ€™s an entire class of scavengers out there ready to pick the bones of our helicopters, keyboards, and interactive t-shirts: hackers, makers, and crafty techy types.

Theyโ€™re even polling interest in a possible subscription service. [Thanks, John!]