How a Differential Gear Works
Wonderful industrial film from the 1930s showing how a car’s differential gear works.
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!
Heirloom technology: Yazd’s windcatchers
When I visited the 3000-year-old city of Yazd, Iran, the old school technology I was most fascinated by is the windcatcher. Seen atop many a building in this arid city with an annual rainfall of 2.4 inches and summer temps frequently pushing 104°F, these towers are the predecessors to the swamp cooler.
The Big Gulp
A MAKE reader sent this to me, they call it the “Big Gulp” – have a clever title for this? Post it up in the comments!
Galaxy Zoo – help classify the Universe
The age of the citizen scientist continues to be interesting – as opposed to using your computer for a screensaver to help compute bits, you can use the best computer ever – your brain – to help classify galaxies – You can listen to a podcast at SciAm too… Welcome to Galaxy Zoo, where you […]
Shackitecture hideaway made from windows
People in (recycled) glass houses… DIY: Backyard Hideaway Made from Old Windows Gallery
Collin’s Lab: DIY Cymatics
Cymatics explores the amazing effects that sound has on liquids and some downright bizarre effects on non-Newtonian fluids
Prehistoric lumber
Ancientwood, Ltd., is a US company that imports 50,000-year-old Kauri logs that have been preserved for millennia in peat bogs under New Zealand’s northern island. Besides its value as a conversation piece, ancient Kauri is mined, rather than logged, and no live trees are killed in the process. Kauri trees (Agathis spp.) thrive in New […]