DIY science is the perfect way to use your creative skills and learn something new. With the right supplies, some determination, and a curious mind, you can create amazing experiments that open up a whole world of possibilities. At home-made laboratories or tech workshops, makers from all backgrounds can explore new ideas by finding ways to study their environment in novel ways – allowing them to make breathtaking discoveries!
Pop Sci’s Theodore Gray show you how to make your own “spark plug” – A Spark plug is one of those humble, anonymous things without which the world would grind–or rather coast–to a halt. And like many underappreciated cogs in the machine, it has a really hard life. A good modern plug will endure 300 […]
Nikropht writes – Dan Edwards a student at NC State University, is attempting to break two records by creating an autonomous glider. The project goal is a 142 mile cross country flight and a 25 mile flight with return flight without human intervention. The glider finds thermal updrafts and automatically circles them to gain altitude, […]
Here’s a DIY soalr tracker, turned people’s choice for Australia’s “New Inventors” show – It is a new type of ‘passive’ solar tracker that uses a combination of direct sunlight (radiant heat) and shade (ambient air temp) to affect the thermal expansion and contraction of a liquid to make the solar panel rotate. The expansion […]
Raelx writes – If you have ever been in a Volkswagen New Beetle you might have noticed that the dash is deep enough to take a nap on. This makes the suction cup mount provided with the Nuvi pretty much useless. You would have to press your chest to the steering wheel to touch the […]
I just posted about the Boozhound Laboratories, but this is worth another peep, check out this homemade mini-bike…. I have had the idea of building a minibike rattling around in my head (like the ball in a spraycan) for a couple years. Of course I wanted to build it from scratch, and scrounge up as […]
Earla writes – I made a Hilsch tube in my shop this weekend. It’s quite impressive! With just a little experimentation, at 80 PSI. the temperature is 17 Degrees on one end and about 70 degrees on the hot side. The pipes are 1/2″ PVC. The center hole where the vortex is formed is 11/32″ […]
Dale (MAKE’s publisher) has a great post on Radar about Paul Lauterbur (MRI inventor) hands-on discovery, and hacking away… Paul Lauterbur, the father of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, died in March. MRI machines are widely used to examine physical tissue in the brain and other parts of the body. The Economist has a well-written […]
