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!
Pretty interesting low cost way of accessing NASA Earth observing satellites. Sophisticated signal processing techniques and simple proof-of-principle antenna arrays built from PVC pipe, aluminum foil and copper wire could revolutionize the way NASA obtains data from its Earth observing satellites. Link.
Introducing the worlds first wood burning generator / Turbine wood-stove: self starting, runs on wood, garbage or bio-mass (or anything else you can stuff into the combustor that burns and gives off good heat), totally self sufficient – can be run in remote locations without gas or diesel fuel, expected to produce around 2,000W continuous, DC output: 24V @ 80A, AC output: 120 – 240V @ 50-60Hz (AC output will depend upon battery and inverter capacity) [via] Link.
The new Sting-Ray Electric shares the original design characteristics of the Street Series Sting-Ray, but adds an electric motor and a battery pack in the form of a motorcycle engine casing so it looks even more like the chopper it originally emulated when it took the world by storm way back in the early sixties. The new Sting-Ray Electric will reach 14 mph and the battery will last up to two hours for a price of US$399. Those specs are distinctly commuter machine territory. Link.
The New England Wireless and Steam Museum in East Greenwich, RI looks pretty neat. The red building houses the wireless collection. The next building is the Massie Wireless System station, “PJ”, built in 1907. It is the oldest surviving working wireless station in the world. The building in the center houses the stationary steam engine collection. This collection includes the only surviving George H. Corliss engine running under steam today. The Mayes building houses the Mechanical Engineering library and the collection of steam engine models. Link. Thanks Brian!
Lots of experiments and demonstrations on paper plates. Welcome to a unique genre of education materials. Paper Plate Education is an initiative to reduce complex notions to simple paper plate explanations. This website promotes innovative hands-on Activities that you can experience across a range of interests, at varying degrees of complexity, and at a low price—all with common paper plates. Link.
California residents wondering if tomorrow’s forecast will be sunny now can find out if there’s also a chance of afternoon tremors. For the first time, they can check a daily earthquake forecast on the Internet just as easily as they check the weather. I wish they’d publish the data source so we could make some “real” ambiant-orb like displays, physical projects that “shake” a map and web widgets with this. Current Forecast. Link.
Roadcasting is a system that allows anyone to have their own radio station, broadcasted among cars in an ad-hoc network. It plays the songs that people want to hear and it transforms car radio into an interactive medium. The site has a movie, screenshots and source code. [