Solar-powered graduation cap
This silly fella (in a good way) turned his mortarboard into a diorama of renewable energy, with a solar panel, a windmill, and a sun that rises and sets (waves) via his cellphone. Green Graduation Cap
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!
Hanging gutter gardens
Rutland Copper Gutter Supply has an entry on their blog (and a link to a Martha Stewart how-to) on using copper box gutters to create a hanging garden. This is an interesting follow-up to our earlier post of installing gutters on the outside walls of your house as a gardening option. Gutter Garden – Copper […]
Make: Projects – Thermochromic Maker’s Notebook
Here’s an easy hack for your Maker’s Notebook that’s sure to get noticed: Buy some thermochromic liquid crystal (LC) film and attach it to the cover! Originally I bought LC film from US suppliers and tried gluing it on. I tested three different adhesives (3M Super77, DAP Weldwood Contact Cement, and Elmer’s Craft Glue) and […]
How-To: Charge 12v batteries with a Voltaic 15-watt panel
MAKE contributor Mikey Sklar has posted a how-to on Voltaic about using the solar power company’s 15-watt panel to charge a 12v battery, for use in camping, festivals, powering personal electronics, etc. Charge Car Batteries with a Voltaic 15 Watt panel
SPARK Project #1, Post #2
In my previous post, I presented some background on the green building where the SPARK Project #1 is being installed, and I discussed the basic signals that need to be measured for the project. In order to create inputs into my smart home dashboard, I need to measure temperature and humidity, both indoors and out, […]
h+ Summer issue
h+ Magazine is edited by MAKE contributor R.U. Sirius. While it’s not exactly a DIY magazine in the conventional sense, it’s about making the future and about robotics, biohacking, brain-machine interfacing, space colonization, and other topics that may be of interest to MAKE readers. They have a digital magazine edition, a downloadable PDF version, and […]
Theo Gray on why “safety” is overrated
The most awesome Theo Gray, author of the I-can’t-recommend-it-highly-enough Mad Science, has a post on Powell’s Books blog about his book and the dangers it contains (the subtitle is “Experiments You Can Do at Home — But Probably Shouldn’t”). He writes: Is it irresponsible to write a mass-market book that describes how to do dangerous […]