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!

Do-It-Yourself strawberry DNA

There are kits you can purchase to help you extract DNA. Here’s an interesting way you can do it with ingredients right from your kitchen cupboard! Check out these detailed instructions on the ingredients you’ll need and how to get started with your own DNA experiments. Strawberries, bacteria, humans–all living things have genes, and all […]

Drive your car like a moon rover

Drive your car like a moon rover

[Photo via ESPN] If you want to drive like a rocketeer, or maybe you just don’t want to be bothered with checking your air pressure, then take a look at the Tweel. Airless tires could solve a number of problems associated with pneumatic tire technology. The Tweel, an experimental tire and wheel combination developed by […]

Creating solutions: XelaTeco

Creating solutions: XelaTeco

[Photo from AIDG on Flickr] XelaTeco is an organization that helps gather and distribute technologies in the communities of Guatemala. Xeni Jardin covered the story with photos and audio on NPR’s Day to Day. Xela Teco builds environmentally friendly technology that can be used to bring survival basics to poverty-stricken villages in the Mayan highlands: […]

Making electricity out of thin air

Making electricity out of thin air

[Photo from Connors934 on Flickr] For this final installment of our Make: Green series, we look at a promising technology for generating electricity: wind turbines. A wind turbine consists of a propeller, a generator, and either an inverter or storage system. The propeller is essentially two or more airfoils attached to a hub. When the […]

Environmental test kits of my youth

Environmental test kits of my youth

I was out to dinner the other night with O’Reilly/MAKE’s Brian Jepson, his wife Joan, and our new Make: Online author Kipp Bradford. We were talking about the awesome Thames & Kosmos science and tech kits we carry in the Maker Shed. The conversation inevitably turned to chemistry kits of yore, the beloved kits of […]