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!

Indoor snowstorm

Indoor snowstorm

An installation by Tokujin Yoshioka, whom some may remember for growing a crystal chair back in 2008, for the Mori Art Museum’s ongoing Sensing Nature exhibit. Snow is 15 meters wide and contains hundreds of kilograms of white down which is randomly blown around at intervals by hidden fans. [via Dude Craft]

Adorable Micro Cars

Adorable Micro Cars

Meep meep! These cars are cute! Be sure to check out the massive gallery! As today’s economy continues to shake and stagger, most people find themselves in the “savings” and “fuel efficiency” mode when it comes to cars – and so the idea of small, easy to park and to maintain micro cars remains popular. […]

The Rocket Project

There is certainly lots to debate about corporate sponsorship of education and sponsored editorial content, in print and online. We have these debates all the time here at MAKE. And I’m sure educational organizations have equally tough choices to make in terms of getting the funding for great educational programs, money that companies are all […]

This is not a real butterfly…

This is not a real butterfly…

…but non-lepidopterists will probably be hard-pressed to figure that out just by looking at it. The video rates high on the jaw-dropping scale. The ChouChou electric butterfly is, in fact, a lepidoteroid robot, of sorts, from Japanese firm Tenyo Magic. It perches, flexes and flaps its wings, and flutters around its jar when disturbed. Preorderable now from JapanTrends.com. [via NOTCOT]

How-To: Restore the color of old Lego bricks

How-To: Restore the color of old Lego bricks

Turns out the yellowing of old ABS plastic is due to degradation of bromine-containing fire retardants which are added to the plastic during manufacture, which release elemental bromine, causing the yellow color. Shining UV light on the gel accelerates the decomposition of the fragile oxygen-oxygen bond in the peroxides it contains, generating reactive hydroxyl radicals which scavenge the free or loosely-bound bromine in the plastic that causes discoloration.