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!

Beautiful element photography on Wikimedia Commons

Beautiful element photography on Wikimedia Commons

I have been reading the Picture of the Day feed from Wikimedia Commons for about a month, now, and it is fast becoming one of the best parts of my daily newsreader experience. Every day there’s a gorgeous new publicly-licensed photograph pre-selected for quality by a vote amongst Wikimedia community members.

That’s how I happened upon the work of German inorganic chemist and photographer alchemist-hp (English-language page). She or he takes amazing photographs of element, mineral, and chemical samples and has a stated goal (badly translated by yours truly) “to create special pictures of all naturally occurring elements.”

EMSL on magnetic fields

EMSL on magnetic fields

Trust our friends Lenore and Windell at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories to take something most of us take for granted and explore it thoroughly. In their recent column Start Seeing Magnetic Fields, they explore a bunch of different ways of visualizing the fields, ranging from the classic iron filings method to “magnetic field viewing film” […]

Automatic coop door opener

The latest issue of MAKE, Volume 22, contains an automated chicken coop door opener project, by Alan Graham (Portland, OR). My geek BFF, Jeri Ellsworth, sent me a link to another, clever remote-controlled coop opener, put together by her friend “Slinky.” It uses a $5 power drill as the door winch and a Seeduino as […]

The Bike Church of Santa Cruz

The Bike Church is a Santa Cruz-based bike tool cooperative. They offer workshops, a DIY repair facility, and generally, a place for cyclists of all skill levels to hang out and talk about bikes. Wouldn’t it be great if every town had such a facility. Bike Church Tool Cooperative [Thanks, Nick Fountain!]