Science

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!

Wooden library, Italian-style

Wooden library, Italian-style

The collection, housed at the University of Padua’s Center for the Study of the Alpine Environment, was manufactured in the 19th century or before. Each specimen consists of a 7.5x5x1.5-inch book-shaped box, executed in the wood of the subject tree, which opens to display samples of that tree’s seedling, leaves, flowers, seeds, fine roots, sawdust, charcoal, and ash. The spines are bound with samples of the tree’s bark, and of course everything is labeled. [Thanks, loondawg!]

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Boats Recycled into Sheds

The fishing community on the English tidal island of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, has found a wonderful channel of employment for their once seaworthy vessels. By simply turning them upside down and adding doors they are upcycled into sheds! So cool I wish they were converted into little studios instead. Photo by Kevin Wakelam. [via […]

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Woods of the world indexed as “library” of “books”

Woods of the world indexed as “library” of “books”

I’ve been interested in collecting woods for a long time. The International Wood Collectors Society is the premier collectors organization, and they promulgate a “standard sample block” measuring 6″ x 3″ x 1/2″. The smaller IWCS-size samples are much cheaper than these wooden “books” offered by Worlds Wood Library, but there’s no denying the elegance of this ideas as a display. The common name is cut into the book’s “spine,” and the latin binomial into its “cover.”

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