Arduino-Powered Bioreactors Make Home Experimentation Affordable
Read about how one doctor was inspired to create an Arduino-powered bioreactor and ended up with an affordable, accurate device.
microbiology
Origami Microscope for Just 50 Cents
The Foldscope is a disposable paper microscope that uses tiny spherical lenses. And it costs 50 cents.
Make: Projects – Laser projection microscope
A couple of weeks ago I posted about this sweet laser stunt from Teravolt.org, and I finally got around to trying it for myself. My laser is only 10% as powerful as theirs, but I can now say with conviction: Everyone should try this.
The only tricky part is getting the laser and the hanging drop of water lined up and keeping them aligned, but this simple stand I built from hardware store odds-and-ends makes it easy. The laser and syringe snap into broom clips mounted on supermagnet bases which allow easy positional adjustments, but hold strongly enough to keep everything in alignment once you’ve got it right.
Laser + drop of water = microbial movie theatre
According to the anonymous hacker-proprietor of Teravolt.org, shining a 250 mW green laser through a hanging drop of scummy plant water will project shadows of all the little microflora on the wall and you can watch them flitter about with the naked eye. The embedded video is nothing short of amazing. I felt just like that cat.
GITD Petri dish soaps from Cleaner Science
I blogged Sara’s Petri-dish-culture-soaps back in March, and then again a couple of weeks ago when she started selling them through Makers Market. Now she’s just added a couple of awesome new versions with glow-in-the-dark colonies. You can get GITD green or GITD violet. They ship in a real Petri dish and will set you back nine bucks.
Petri dish culture soaps
We covered these clever Petri dish soaps from Cleaner Science back in March. Now, we’re very pleased to have her on board as a Makers Market seller. Her soaps are available in many colors and varieties, including some with glow-in-the-dark “colonies,” and none of them will set you back more than $10.
