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!
My friend and fellow DC Dork, Jon Singer, does a lot of laser research and experimentation at the Joss Research Institute. This week, he sent me a link to a new article he’d posted, a report of his findings on lasing various fountain inks, invisible ink, “optical whitener,” and other readily-available materials, for creating DIY […]
This 1950s newsreel shows a car that was modded by its owner to deploy its spare tire as a tight-spot parking assist. (Thanks, Lew!)
Cheap DIY GFP and DsRED Detection
Nope, it wasn’t a creepy-crawly fetish that got me reading The Worm Breeder’s Gazette. Rather, it was talking to Kathryn Hedges–a smart, passionate, and well-credentialed scientist and artist–about The Gazette’s tips to make a GFP illuminator on the cheap, that made me sure I had to check it out.
Because you might as well have something to show for it. Also: Woohoo! Beer!
Interesting post from dusjagr over on Hacketeria, who reports success using a 100 mW green laser with the lens from a cheap webcam, in the arrangement pictured here, to make a projecting microscope that will accept conventional microscope slides, and is only slightly more complicated than a Planinsic-type water-drop projector. [via Hack a Day]
A work-in-progress from Thingiverse user searchresults. Each block has twelve 3mm supermagnets installed around its six edges, their polarities alternating so they will click together.
Plus a little treasure from nature. From Mrballeng, Instructables user and craftsman. I have rarely, if ever, seen anyone use pick-up materials so creatively or so skillfully. Hats off to you.
