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!
They just put up a great article about the machines people used to lift and move heavy loads before the advent of steam power. Arguably the pinnacle of human-powered lifting technology were Sir William Fairbairn’s hand-cranked “Tubular Cranes,” one of which is shown above as illustrated in Fairbairn’s 1860 Useful Information for Engineers, Vol. 2:
Tony Lovell built this 900mm camera lens using รยฃ250 of surplus government optics, a custom-machined aluminum body, and lots of ingenuity.
An interview with Jack Goodman by Mark Frauenfelder In this third and final piece of our wind cart series, we interview Jack Goodman, the man from Florida who shot a video of a cart he built to find out if a wind-powered vehicle could outrun a tailwind. Goodman’s video (which was posted by the Amateur […]
Do you have an innovative project that you think is “green” or one you’ve been thinking about starting? That word green gets tossed around a lot. It’s slapped onto everything these days. What constitutes “green” can be a relative thing. Do you think others would find your project “environmentally-friendly,” a worthwhile solution to today’s environmental […]
If you’ve been around long enough to have ever actually blown out your flip-flop, stepped on a pop top, you’ve already got one great reason to appreciate the 1975 introduction of the stay-on tab or stay tab: No more little metal razors littering the beaches.
Now, “Engineer Guy” Bill Hammack helps us appreciate the stay tab for another reason: It’s a little gem of mechanical poetry. There’s a lot going on when you pull that little ring. Bill’s video exegesis of that action, like all Bill’s videos, is a little piece of poetry unto itself. I can’t get enough of ’em. [Thanks, Bill!]
This flip book was created by ad agency DDB Canada using poster-sized frames attached to the wall of a racetrack. Neat! [Via Core77]
Check out this amazing 18′ canoe made from a single sheet of plywood. Resembling a South American “pipante” dugout canoe, Finnish boat builder Hannu Vartiala designed and built his craft, “dug”, in an attempt to correct balancing issues he had with a previous design. He’s also put up instructions on his site so you can build your own. It sure is an impressive example of maximum use of materials with minimal effort.
