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!
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 we’ve covered some even hotter gear action in the interim. Someday there’s going to be a gear-roundup roundup. But for now, here’s our top gear content as it stands today:
How cool is that? From Blurgh! The ThinkGeek Blog:
We have a problem. And it’s growing at a rate proportional to our return pile. We can’t, in good conscience, resell damaged electronics. And we can’t donate them to charity–the saddest kid in the world is one with a handheld video game that won’t turn on. Garbage, then? Not good for the environment. Luckily for us, there’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.
They’re even polling interest in a possible subscription service. [Thanks, John!]
From Oxford “origami engineers” Weina Wu and Zhong You, published as A solution for folding rigid tall shopping bags in Proceedings of the Royal Society A. ScienceNOW has an item that at least tries to explain why this achievement is scientifically significant, rather than just really cool. Which, frankly, I don’t quite understand. But then, for our purposes, “really cool” is all the justification we need.
We’ve covered the work of the amazing Vi Hart before (Vi is also the daughter of our Math Monday columnist George Hart). Vi describes herself as a “recreational mathemusician” and she can certainly jam on math doodles with all of the chops of a bebop jazz musician. Vi also makes music-music, and has some cool […]
In the 19th century, three ancient Egyptian granite obelisks—each weighing north of 200 tons—were shipped from Egypt to London, Paris, and New York. Postcolonial-era questions about whether ancient Egyptian obelisks shouldn’t perhaps be left in Egypt aside, how it was done is quite an interesting story. This, BTW, is just the first of what I expect will be many gems from my newly-discovered treasure trove, No Tech Magazine, a sister publication to Kris de Kecker’s Low Tech Magazine, which we rave about here all the time.
When we have blogged before about folks laser-cutting old records to make stuff, readers have been quick to point out that laser-cutting vinyl is dangerous because it releases chlorine gas which, in turn, presents two hazards: A) you don’t want to breathe it (and probably shouldn’t just vent it into the atmosphere), and B) it will corrode the metal parts of your equipment.
My husband is on an epic 3 week snowboarding roadtrip. He’s been dropping 20 foot cliffs at 12,000 feet with his brother and friend, and living the life of a ski bum. So, what do three dudes do when they are out on the road, free from life’s responsibilities? Make hand dipped beeswax candles, of course!
