So. Incredibly. Cool. What is DNA Origami? DNA origami is a powerful method for constructing DNA objects. It involves taking a long, single-stranded DNA backbone (usually about 7000 bases in length) and forcing it to adopt an arbitrary shape using hundreds of short, single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides (each usually 20 to 50 bases long). This method […]
My post last week about shadowgraphy and Schlieren photography generated a lot of enthusiastic responses and not a few requests for a more detailed tutorial. Among the comments was one by Ian Smith, who has a great page here describing his own Schlieren photography set-up. (While you’re there, take a moment to appreciate the fact […]
If lemonie’s Lego microtome is too involved for you, here’s a way simpler design for a simple hand microtome made from a wooden spool, a bolt, a nut, a washer, and a bit of dowel rod, plus the essential razor blade.
A microtome is a laboratory machine normally used to slice extremely thin samples of soft specimens for optical microscopy. If you’re one of those folks who could care less about optical microscopy, it also has culinary applications. I quote from the sacred text of GoodFellas: In prison, dinner was always a big thing. We had […]
In this brief video, MAKE contributing editor Bill Gurstelle demonstrates a simple arc light (a precursor to the incandescent bulb) using a length of carbon rod, a knife switch, some ceramic insulators, Nichrome wire, and an 18-volt power tool battery. How to Make an Arc Light
False-color shadowgram of gunshot from a .357 magnum by Gary Settles at Penn State university. The New York Times has an awesome slideshow of shadowgrams and Schlieren photographs, created by engineering professor Gary Settles, which accompany a 2008 article about his work at Penn State’s Gas Dynamics Lab. The method, which can produce fantastic visualizations […]
Have a look at the most perfect spheres ever engineered.
