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!
When I mentioned to Chris Hackett, director of Madagascar Institute, that I’d have a bum knee during World Maker Faire NY, he offered to “get the Rascal Cycle working” for me. He did indeed, and I rode it from my station in the CRAFT booth to my demo performances on the opposite side of the […]
Craig Smith, whose work has appeared in this blog numerous times (see links below) is at it again: My wife went to visit family this weekend. So left by myself, something geek-like is bound to happen. I started cutting and forming plastic sheets, assembling doo-dads and modifying my car. The result is a car where […]
Instructables user LongToe, inspired by design student John Hobson, borrowed tools and techniques from plywood kayak construction to make this beautiful laminated Baltic birch bicycle frame. Best of all, he shows us how.
OK, so this video from YouTuber beachj0 includes no explanation, but my belief is that there are one or more cylindrical magnets embedded in the plastic bait worms (possibly by casting them in place using the DIY bait molds commonly sold to fisherman), and several more magnets attached to a platter rotating beneath the table. A simple effect, but strikingly creepy. [via Propnomicon]
Although the Snowbird, made of carbon fiber and balsa wood and with a 105-foot wingspan, could hardly be described as “practical,” to me this seems like a major aviation milestone: Somebody, specifically University of Toronto PhD student Todd Reichert and co-workers, finally did it. All those old black and white “wacky inventor” blooper reels set to goofy music can eat it. [via Toronto Star]
Happy first day of autumn! I was cutting off the dead stuff on some wild irises in my yard last weekend and noticed how delicate and beautiful the dried blossoms were. This got me thinking about the dried up, deep brown blooms (Curly Dock) you always see by the side of the road this time […]
Sacha De’Angeli of Chemhacker has announced the release of version oh-point-one of ChemHackerSTM, a scanning and tunneling microscope (SMT). I’ve gotten the scanning tunneling microscope built and working (well, 0.1 is just proof of concept). To celebrate and in anticipation of MakerFaire and Open Hardware Summit, I’m releasing all designs and source code using GPL3.0. […]
