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!

Unusual building blocks based on close-packed spheres

Unusual building blocks based on close-packed spheres

Mathematician and artist George Hart (who writes our Math Monday column), created a cool set of six building blocks by slicing up and combining bits of these rhombic dodecahedra. Theoretically, the same set of blocks can be used to build tetrahedra and octahedra of any size. Thingiverse user Lenbok printed a set on a MakerBot. George’s are printed in nylon using selective laser sintering, and, as he points out, look a lot like fancy sugar cubes. I suppose you could print them on a CandyFab and make them actual sugar cubes. Or sugar Voronoi cells, rather.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan

Teen backyard chemist

When 17 year old Hayden Parker says he’s a backyard scientist, he means it literally. He’s converted the family backyard BBQ area into an outdoor chemistry lab where he shoots videos of his experiments. It’s a little harrowing watching him do some of these procedures, such as synthesizing nitric acid, and making some critical mistakes […]

Continue Reading Gareth Branwyn

3D printed reaction vase

Jessica at Nervous System writes: I created this design yesterday for the Shapeways SIGGRAPH competition which asked designers to submit any design that costs less than $200 to 3dprint. Our submission is a sculptural vase generated by reaction diffusion, a process which simulates how chemicals diffusing across a surface react with one another to produce […]

Continue Reading Becky Stern2
How-To: Build a star-tracker for your camera

How-To: Build a star-tracker for your camera

The best stellar photography requires long exposure times to capture the dimmer stars. The problem with long exposures of the night sky, of course, is that it moves. Or rather, it appears to move. So if you don’t have some way of keeping your camera pointed at the same location over the course of the exposure, you get “trailing.” Eric Chesak built this impressive star-tracking camera mount bracket and won a Design News contest back in March with it.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2