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!
Friday afternoon, I was vising my friend Amon Millner at Olin College. After finishing up, he invited me to go with him to the nearby Wellesley College and the Engineering Studio. Not knowing quite what to expect, but always interested in seeing hands-on learning spaces, I went along for the ride. What I saw took my breath away and left me speechless. It is still a bit mind boggling to consider what this lab has, and the amazing ideas that have come from it.
Ryan Micallef and friends put together a backyard luge challenge that they call the Mario Cup, but were having trouble making accurate measurements of participant’s tract times. Fortunately, they are also hackers, so they threw together an automatic race timing system to help make precise measurements. Their system consists of two parts: A countdown timer/control […]
Troy Hartman was building a jetpack that he planned to use to fly out of an airplane at 8000 feet. But before leaping from a plane into thin air, he had a great idea: Why not test it out on skis first? Hartman tells PM how his jetpack ski test worked, how fast he went, […]
Ever known somebody who makes things more complicated than they have to be?
For a few years now, I’ve had this hare-brained idea to try to separate the layers of polarizing film from a scrap LCD panel and make a polariscope out of them. So whenever I come across a dead one I tear it apart and do some experimenting. Probably been into half a dozen by now. But I’ve probably learned as much, or more, about how they actually work by watching Bill Hammack’s video this week. As always, this segment has something to offer novices, experts, and those, like myself, who know just enough to be dangerous. [Thanks, Bill!]
Yuma Fujimaki is certainly not the first person to make jewelry from scrap electronics components, but IMHO he has done a better job of it than most. [via adafruit]
Chemical and Bio-engineering student Britt Michelsen writes in about her Kryptonite candy, which uses vitamin B2 to make this homemade confection glow. For some time now, I’ve been playing around with Fluorescein, which is a dark red powder soluble in water and alcohol. It is commonly used as a fluorescent tracer. Though it is used […]
