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!

Hubcap Creatures

Hubcap Creatures

These amazing works of art are made entirely from found materials. Here is an excerpt from the artist: Hubcap creatures are made entirely from re-cycled materials. All the hubcaps are found, usually on the side of the road, and therefore bear the scars of their previous lives in the form of scratches and abrasions. I […]

Japanese style scooter modding

Japanese style scooter modding

We posted about the Japanese scooter scene last week. If it made you interested in modding your own scooter, then this might be a good place for inspiration. The website is in Japanese, and the Google translation isn’t the best, but it is a great series of pictures of the build process. Did I mention […]

Seismic glass art

Seismic glass art

This is a functional glass seismograph for measuring earthquakes. It stands about 40″ tall, and is about 48″ wide installed. It measures vibrations along the x and y axes (side to side), as well as the z axis (up and down), on three helicorders. Ideally, it should be bolted into bedrock for accuracy… Andy Paiko […]

Chia Pet meets the solar cell

Chia Pet meets the solar cell

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have come up with a way of making solar photovoltaic cells more efficient by making them fuzzy with nanowires. Boosting solar cell efficiency The idea is [to] use nanowires to more efficiently conduct electrons from the collection surface of the solar cell to an electrode. Contemporary thin-film […]

See the Space station!

See the Space station!

You can use Spaceweather.com or Heavens-Above to enter in your location and see the Space Station pass over your location on Earth, the next couple nights should be particularly bright. For East coasters… The ISS will be visible this week between 8:40 p.m. and 5:10 a.m. Wednesday, the station will show up at 9:08 p.m., […]

Rocket motor design software

Rocket motor design software

BurnSim ($39) is a solid rocket motor ballistic simulation program (Windows only) now in its third version. In a nutshell, input your motor, nozzle and propellant characteristics and BurnSim calculates the Kn (kilonewton) through the burn and predicts estimated chamber pressure and motor performance. Once your motor design is in BurnSim, you can tweak the […]