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!
PDF downloads on how to make those cool (but expensive) enclosed glass ecosystem – “Here you have the choice of two different ecosystems, a “dry land” ecosystem like the one in our Virtual Ecosphere and a marine aquatic one.” [via] Link. If anyone has made one of these, post up in the comments and let me know how it worked out.
Excellent video on how fiber optics are made – “…”At the Speed of Light” is inspirational on any number of levels. It describes what Corning calls “the union of glass and light”. Developed in the 70’s by a trio of scientists — Drs. Keck, Maurer and Schultz — who went on to win the National Medal of Technology for their efforts, it is truly remarkable. They are making fibers thinner than a human hair. The single mode fiber is a mere 8 microns thick. One micron is one-millionth of a meter.” Link.
Speedometers, rearview mirrors, many will have LCDS (I can’t wait to mod one!)….“To say the new Mercedes S-Class dashboard is impressive is probably the understatement of the year. Basically, it’s a [LCD screen] embedded in the dash that displays all your data virtually. What’s cool is it mimics analog gauges like the original Carrera GT concept was sporting when we all first saw it for the first time. But the real mind blower, is when the night vision activates and everyting in front of you disappears and you see a video screen displaying what’s in front of you.” [via] Link.
Best use of lasers and toast so far…Jmengel writes “In the spirit of laser etched laptops, new uses for laser etching systems are found daily. After a bit of experimenting, I found that a laser etcher will in fact etch foodstuffs. Christmas is the time for giving, so what gift could be finer than your own toast blessed by the image of your preferred diety.” Link. Coming soon Flickr to toast lasering….
Hans writes “Laser Chess was created by Mike Duppong back in the late 80s, and you can find lots of software versions of the it on the web. However, a Brazilian student named Alexandre Van de Sande actually made a actual working laser version of the game!” Link.
Pat sent in this holiday treat, how cars are made! “…a video of the making of a very important (and common) mode of transportation: cars. Thanks to the good people at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Kentucky for supplying the 5-minute narrated video of the manufacturing process. It goes from stamping through painting and powertrain through the end of the assembly process. At the end, you see the car being driven off the line.” Link.
Great how to on detecting a laser pointer “break” using a serial port – Chard writes “Ever wanted to make your own laser beam security system. You know the kind they have in the movies, with dozens of lasers and the thief has to limbo through them. Well, I just made a simple laser beam break detector. My computer can now tell when the beam is broken. The parts I used are: 5.6k resistor, photo diode, Digikey part #PDB-V107-ND, serial port from my PC…” Link.
