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!
Sylvain sent over these instructions for buiding a USB-able radiation detector – The geiger counter is a pretty simple device to detect radiations. Many forms of radiations from radio elements (alpha, beta, gamma) can be detected but it is more sensitive to beta and gamma radiations. The Geiger-Muller tube is a simple device, it’s a […]
The “Plastiki Expedition” by environmentalist David de Rothschild is attempt to finally put all of the discarded plastic water bottles we use daily to good use. His project is to build a 60-foot boat made entirely out of recycled materials such as the bottles and then sail it across the entire Pacific Ocean! From his […]
Warning: High Voltage Ahead. This Instructable shows you how to make an old-school high voltage capacitor, a Leyden jar, out of a jar of salt water. Even though this shows you how to make a small-jar capacitor, so the voltage is probably not lethal, it’ll still pack a wallop, so not something to be undertaken […]
Thanks to Neal Stephenson for taking the time to ride in my pedicab for an interview last week. Lesson learned: it’s difficult to bike and interview at the same time. Fortunately, Neal sat down w/ me for a less-strenuous interview after the ride. Here’s his message to aspiring makers: Here’s what Neal had to say […]
HumanCar – street legal human powered car @ Wired, NextFest, Treehugger and their site. The FM-4 v1.0 HumanCar (Fully Manual 4 Passenger) ‘geometry prototype’ has been so successful that no changes have been required. Several downhill time trial runs have had the car above 60mph + with incredible handling and BodySteer characteristics. The steel tube […]
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory supplies aquariums and scientific institutions with living marine specimens (not to individuals, sorry). Their site has a lot of information on jellyfish, corals, starfish, all sorts of marine life. Look around for links to YouTube videos, like this one of an octopus egg hatching and an octopus opening a jar – […]
Wendy and/or Mikey one up’ed me, here’s a wonderful post about what might be the next renaissance, I think so too! What an interesting Friday this turned out to be… In 2000 when I quit my job and reoriented myself away from money and towards the gathering of skills: welding, sewing, building, growing food, many […]
