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!
I think the simple moss is perfectly dramatic running the length of this glass table. Oooh, what if this was the head table at a wedding? Swooning at the thought. This is upscale gardening at it’s best. Sunset Magazine has all the deets on how to create your own version.
Although best known today for the eponymous Bunsen burner, German chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (Wikipedia), born on this date in 1811, had a foundational role in many areas of modern chemistry. He discovered the use of iron oxide hydrate as a precipitating agent for arsenic, which even today has applications in treating contaminated groundwater. His experiments with arsenic cost him an eye (by an explosion of pyrophoric tetramethyldiarsine) and almost cost him his life, by poisoning. He invented the Bunsen cell, an early electrochemical “battery” that improved upon existing designs by replacing precious metallic platinum with common carbon in the cathode. He used his new cell, among other things, to isolate pure magnesium for the first time, by electrolysis. With Kirchoff, he was instrumental in the development of flame-emission spectroscopy, and used the technique, for which his famous burner was developed, to discover two then-unknown elements–cesium and rubidium. He was, even among the acerbic European academic chemists of his day, widely regarded for his kindness, even temperament, and good character. He died in 1899, aged 88.
I don’t often blog promotional giveaways, but this one is pretty sweet: Minnesota’s Proto Labs offers injection molding in a bunch of different plastics. The really cool part is, if you’re in North America and you register at their site, they’ll send you a free 4x4x4 unit polycube puzzle, with nine pieces, each molded in a different color and from a different polymer resin. There’s green HDPE, white polypropylene, mauve ABS, clear polycarbonate, yellow polycarbonate/ABS blend, orange polyoxymethylene, red polyester, blue nylon, and black glass-filled nylon. And purple horseshoes! I already snagged mine!
Ever wonder what was going on inside your car engine, but were too afraid to open up a hole and just look?
Reykjavik designer Sruli Recht is selling a limited number of these kevlar pocket squares made from “military grade lemon aramid” fiber. For some reason, he calls it “DÆmdur,” which apparently means “The Damned .”
I love it when school groups make how-to projects. Bay School writes: For our high school senior project, we have created a bamboo electric motorcycle. This project has been extremely fun, challenging, and time consuming; this is not something you can do over a few weekends. The end goal for us was to create a […]
Math Monday: Paper plate geometry By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The raw material for making mathematical constructions can be found all around you. Bradford Hansen-Smith makes intricate geometric sculptures entirely from paper plates. The above icosahedral form is assembled from eighty folded plates that interlock. This helical form is constructed from 128 […]
