Fan-powered shopping cart buzzes around MIT
Charles Guan of lolriokart< fame is back with his latest creation, the FANKART!!! 2 propeller-powered shopping cart.
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!
Hyperboloid stool from acrylic and monofilament
Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool, this beautiful stool/table from Madox.net. The acrylic parts were cut by Ponoko in 6mm acrylic and then wound with four layers of pink monofilament line to create four distinct, nested hyperboloid surfaces.
Pete Friedrichs’ “Marvelous Magnetic Machines”
H.P. “Pete” Friedrichs, author of the awesome self-published DIY electronics tomes “Voice of the Crystal” and “Instruments of Amplification,” has a new book coming out and he sent us this video teaser: The book, to be entitled, “Marvelous Magnetic Machines” describes the construction of five different motors from household junk. The style and craftsmanship is […]
‘Liquid armor’ based on shear-thickening non-Newtonian fluids
Speaking broadly, non-Newtonian fluids are of two types: Either they get thinner under shear, or they get thicker. Shear-thickening fluids, like the common corn flour-water mixture sometimes called “oobleck,” obviously, get thicker when a force is applied. This new and highly secretive non-Newtonian fluid formulation by British defense giant BAE is like oobleck to the power of ten, and can, reportedly, be very effectively combined with Kevlar to improve human body armor performance against bullets. [via Fast Company]
Portable automated greenhouse
My project is a portable greenhouse / seed starter that has high tech features and collapses for easy storage. Since a standard greenhouse can overheat if it is closed up or get too cold if it is opened up, mine includes an automatic vent that controls to a user selectable temperature. The user first selects a temperature between 60 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, by 5 degree increments. Then the greenhouse’s built in sensors and microcontroller automatically adjust how much the vent is opened or closed to help maintain that temperature. And because of its ultra low power design the whole thing can run 24/7 for about a month on just four penlight (AA) batteries!
Math Monday: Found objects
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Making geometric structures from commonly-found objects can result in some interesting effects. Here, sixty bicycle reflectors are joined into a spherical geometric construction by Nick Sayers. To connect them, he drilled four holes in each and fastened them together with small cable ties. Another example is this […]
Seeing A Star In A New Light
Catching up on some past Science Friday podcasts I ventured over to their site and checked out this great video they put together… NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched in February, has started to send back data. The instruments are giving solar scientists an unprecedented look at the sun, says Dean Pesnell, SDO project scientist. […]
