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!
Yeast under a microscope, via Wikipedia Chelsea Green has 2 great posts with Sandor Katz, author of “The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements” and “Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods,” on the wonderful world of fermentation. First, here’s license to experiment (if you needed it): More […]
Lloyd’s roof-mounted solar panels (image via Extreme Tech) In response to a Slashdot / Extreme Tech article about a $60,000 residential PV system that still leaves its owner with $200 per month winter power bills, Mikey Sklar posted the following tips: 1. Roof Mounted Panels Suck – They often have limited or no tilt control […]
Homegrown Evolution recently pointed out Farm Aid’s social networking site. This website celebrates all of us who pioneer a HOMEGROWN way to live, eat, grow, and express ourselves. We connect to the land and to each other. HOMEGROWN.org is a place where we can learn from each other, share our questions, and show off how […]
While researching a new project (as us mad-scientists-types are prone to do), I found this amazing video. It’s basically a clear chemical that undergoes a reaction in the presence of UV light that makes it very quickly turn green. But, the key here is that the reaction is also quickly reversible – in about a […]
The Nuage Vert (or “Green Cloud”) installation aims to heighten public energy awareness in Helsinki by outlining the emissions of a local power plant via green laser. As a previous commenter points out, there’s a bit of irony present due to the high-powered laser’s high-power consumption – still, altering the local mindset for the better […]
MAKE reader Mike points us to this Inhabitots article about Avik Maitra, a Colombia University graduate doing a research fellowship in Malawi. Malawi kids have been making some very cool toys out of found items; Avik is working on designing more toys that the children can make out of local materials and factory byproducts – […]
Power usage monitors like the Kill-A-Watt are pretty cool, but what if you want to monitor usage for your whole house? What if you want to track usage in real time throughout the day, without stepping outside to read the power meter? What if you could do all this without messing with mains voltage. Kevin […]
