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!

Free promotional plastic resin sampler puzzle

Free promotional plastic resin sampler puzzle

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!

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
How-To: Bamboo electric motorcycle

How-To: Bamboo electric motorcycle

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 […]

Continue Reading Becky Stern4
Math Monday: Paper plate geometry

Math Monday: Paper plate geometry

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 […]

Continue Reading Gareth Branwyn4
I just wish they hadn’t called it “RoboClam”

I just wish they hadn’t called it “RoboClam”

Details about the device itself are scanty, other than that the clam-sized machine shown in the photo “is supported by a large apparatus of pressure regulators, pistons and more that control such things as how hard the robot is pushed in each direction.” Which leads me to speculate that the prototype, as shown, is unpowered and operated remotely by pneumatics or hydraulics. They’re envisioning applications as a lightweight anchor that could burrow into or out of a sea- or lakebed on command.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2