How Henry Bessemer Helped Forge the Age of Steel
While looking for a way to strengthen cannon barrels, Bessemer discovered better ways of making steel.
invention
Thinking about a Maker Conference Center
If makers designed their own conference center, what would it look like? In what ways would it improve the venues we now use for conferences?
Cardboard: In Praise of an Underappreciated Material
You might not be aware of it but your home has an infestation of the most abundant, versatile, free and under-utilized crafting and prototyping material ever made. A gift from the consumer driven economy we overlook everyday.
This material is sitting cluttered in scattered piles in the basement and in crawl spaces, is buried within dusty mounds in the garage and is waiting to be discarded while overflowing in the recycling bin.
The material I am referring to is good old grade-A cardboard!
Tinker, Tinker, Little Star
We hope you and your are having a fantastic holiday in whatever tradition you celebrate. Speaking of tradition, last year we posed this depression-era Fleischer brothers cartoon, “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.” It got such a positive response, I think we’ll make it a tradition. It so delightful, inventive, and a perfect holiday message the maker spirit.
Mouse trap car
Greg Borenstein posted drawings and photos of the mouse trap-driven car he’s been working on to the MAKE Flickr Pool. Mouse trap car
HeatSource Invention from L-MIT
Another Make: television-produced video highlights an invention called HeatSource. Using paraffin wax stored in plastic chambers to store heat, HeatSource was created by students for the MIT IDEAS competition.
Braille Labeler from the MIT IDEAS Competition
A group of MIT students set out to invent a Braille labeler for the MIT IDEAS Competition. Along the way they seemed to grasp a few cornerstones of invention: learning from failures, knowing your customer base and pursuing your ideas.
