โDesign For Hackโ in Medicine
Medicine was once the arena for large players with deep pockets, but makers are developing accessible solutions for a fraction of the cost.
Science
Octopus Soft-Robot Tentacle, Suckers!
Everyone loves a soft robot, and I’m fond of the marine variety. This bioinspired prototype tentacle, made of silicone rubber, not only curls and extends in eerily squidlike fashion, it’s also got pressure sensors embedded beneath its suckers so it can grasp objects, like a cephalopod should.
Squishy Circuits โ Sylviaโs Mini Maker Show
By Super Awesome Sylvia and her dad, James Are you curious about experimenting with electronics, but the fear of electric shock or soldering iron burns keep you away? Why not try squishy circuits! ย With a special recipe of food-safe, kitchen-made, pliable dough developed at the University of St. Thomas, kids of all ages can easily […]
Self-Assembling Objects – at Home
Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered a remarkable simple and flexible new way to make self-assembling objects, using just inkjet ink and “pre-stressed sheets of plastic” (that is Shrinky Dinks to those of you following along at home).
Cheap DIY GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) Illuminator
Cheap DIY GFP and DsRED Detection
Nope, it wasn’t a creepy-crawly fetish that got me reading The Worm Breeder’s Gazette. Rather, it was talking to Kathryn Hedges–a smart, passionate, and well-credentialed scientist and artist–about The Gazette’s tips to make a GFP illuminator on the cheap, that made me sure I had to check it out.
Google Science Fair
If you’re looking for a way to fill up some of your after school time in the next few months, check out Google Science Fair. Gather up a friend or two and set out to explore science and making while creating an online record of your project and process. You’ll be competing against teens worldwide, but hey, the prizes look worthwhile.
Aged out of the competition? You can help out a team of youth as a teacher or mentor.
Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Chemistry
Hoffman clamps are extraordinarily handy bits of lab kit. The screw is turned to compress a piece of flexible tubing between two bars, and may be thus be used to completely stop or simply to regulate flow of gas or liquid through such tubing. The screwing action of the Hoffman clamp allows adjustment of the rate of flow infinitesimally from full open to full stop. In amateur apparatus, a Hoffman clamp can often take the place of a glass or teflon stopcock, which is a much more sophisticated and expensive bit of apparatus. And they’re cheap!
