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!
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, Iโve 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 Iโve probably learned as much, or more, about how they actually work by watching Bill Hammackโs 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 […]
Shown above is only the most recent work, using this technique, of Photobucket user ionustron, for whom it has been a lifelong hobby. Hereโs another:
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The mathematics of modular textiles allows you to take many small pieces of slotted fabric and interconnect them into a do-it-yourself garment. There is no sewing as the textile and the garment are created simultaneously. The parts can later be rearranged if perhaps you want to make […]
