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!
This is a really cool idea, an open source project dedicated to the idea of tracking, documenting, and mapping where all of the components for our everyday goods come from. It’s supply chain transparency. [Thanks, Laura Cochrane!] SourceMap – Visualizing Supply Chains
What do you do when you can’t make robotic systems sensitive enough to detect faint traces of an unknown explosive? Normally, one would train dogs, but apparently this takes many months, and many treats. Inscentinel has a different solution- why not use bees instead?
Josh Klein developed a machine that trains crows to trade coins for peanuts. Literally, for peanuts. So you fill this thing with peanuts and set it out, say, in a public park, and the crows will scour the ground for loose change, carry it to the machine, and drop it in a slot in exchange for food. The project, dubbed “CrowBox,” made a big splash when he unveiled it back in 2007. Now he’s made the complete plans for the CrowBox completely available online so you can roll your own. And there’s no reason you couldn’t train your fly-monkeys-fly to gather other crow-portable objects. Twenty-dollar bills? Keys? iPods? Human eyes? The possibilities are endless. Set one up at the beach! Train seagulls to trade whole wallets for pre-shucked oysters!
It may smell like rotten eggs, but it turns out H2S may may be able to slow down the chain of chemical degradation that causes death in cells that are deprived of oxygen. Biologist Mark Roth can supposedly take a lab rat, stop its heart with a dose of hydrogen sulfide, and bring it back to life an hour later just by turning off the gas. Quoting now from this article at CNN.com:
Scientists are starting to understand that death isn’t caused by oxygen deprivation itself, but by a chain of damaging chemical reactions that are triggered by sharply dropping oxygen levels. The thing is, those reactions require the presence of some oxygen. Hydrogen sulfide takes the place of oxygen, preventing those reactions from taking place. No chain reaction, no cell death.
Roth has won a MacArthur grant for this work, so there’s a better-than-average chance that it’s more than just hype.
Who is your favorite one? I like Dirac…
The onslaught of DIY iPhone stands continues. This time around we find ourselves in a cafe with a warm beverage and the need to watch BMX stunt videos. Luckily we remembered to bring along our nice utility scissors and the Barista was kind enough to include a cup sleeve with the drink.
A cloud chamber is a simple device that allows you to observe the decay of radioactive materials. Here’s how to make your own…
