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!
Math Monday: 3D Hilbert Curve from plumbing supplies By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The 3D Hilbert curve is an infinitely long path which wiggles around through all regions of a cube, making right angles in a systematic manner. Physical models can be made with additive fabrication technology. The elegant metal version above […]
Here is a video of my visit last weekend to the Massachusetts QRP Convention, a meeting of ham radio enthusiasts who use low power. QRP operators are the makers of the ham world. Since they work with such low power, many QRP operators make and modify their equipment to get the perfect performance. Every little […]
Created by Li Weiguo of Hubei Province, China, this amphibious bicycle has propeller vanes on its wheels and giant water bottles for flotation. [via reflectionof.me]
Notice tarp taped to the ground, stocking feet, and cotton gloves, all used to keep the fragile balloon intact. Bright tape on the camera-carrying cooler helped them recover the balloon rig. To the left can (barely) be seen cellphone and handwarmers, to the right (under the bungies) the camera and handwarmers. The warmers are used […]
ASPEX, a company that makes desktop scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), is running a promotional campaign under which anyone can mail them a sample, which they will then image under one of their SEMs. The results will be posted on their webpage, and all for free! Challenge: Take advantage of their offer to produce publishable data. [via Boing Boing]
Personally, these laser-cut plastic end tables by Israel’s Studio Groovy (Fair warning: I couldn’t actually find them on their Flash-y website.) are not to my taste, but I really like the fact that that they put some old vinyl records in their laser cutter and managed to make something fairly cool out of them. Bonus: The table on the left uses the cut-out from the table on the right as decoration, so there’s very little waste. [via Recyclart]
Repurposing a leftover CO2 cylinder and regulator, maker Joel Miller assembled this DIY home carbonation unit after a quick parts run.
