By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics As announced a few weeks ago in this column, I made a large mathematical artwork at a public “sculpture barn-raising” on the National Mall in Washington DC last weekend. Hundreds of people helped me screw together these 490 laser-cut triangles into this structure which illustrates a discretization […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Here is a weaving challenge for serious makers: Can you take a single length of wire and weave it into a 3D donut surface as shown in this image? The two ends of the wire are joined with a small crimp, so it is all one continuous […]
This weekend, there’s an “inaugural” science and engineering festival happening on the National Mall in Washington, DC. If you’re from the area, or plan to be visiting, this looks to be an action-packed event to check out. It’s a veritable geek overload of speakers, exhibitors, hands-on workshops, and more. Over 1500 activities, 75 shows, four […]
My friend Jon Singer sent me a link to this fellow’s homebrewed Panaplex display, using a jam jar as the vacuum chamber. Panaplex is a kind of gas-discharge plasma display tech related to the Nixie tube. The builder, Lindsay Wilson, explains the basic setup for his display: The entire thing is based on using a […]
Kristin St. Clair sent over this AWESOME homemade owl pellet how-to from the Crafts Department of Martha Stewart. This project makes me happy on so many different levels — the project is referred to as Homemade Owl Pellets, Yuck; owl pellets are a favorite science project of mine and my kids; and these are homemade, […]
Two methods of making geometric models from drinking straws.
