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!
Encouraging…Disabled scientist Professor Stephen Hawking is using a hi-tech gadget to communicate by blinking because his deteriorating health limits movement. The Infrared Sound Touch (IST) switch has been developed by the American company Words+ and works by emitting a very low-powered infrared beam. The reflection of the beam changes when the eye is closed and the cheek muscle moves and so controlling the computer is as simple as blinking. Link.
Off-the-shelf technology used in tracking fingers in high resolution for human interfaces…a simple active tracking system using a laser diode (visible or invisible light), steering mirrors, and a single non-imaging photodetector, which is capable of acquiring three dimensional coordinates in real time without the need of any image processing at all. Thanks Emeka! Link.
Popular Science commissioned contributing troubadour, Jonathan Coulton, to write and record a soundtrack to their current Future of the Body issue. Each of the five songs he has crafted accompanies a feature article in this issue and, using clever lyrics, catchy hooks and secret harmonic frequencies, unlocks powerful regions of your brain not normally used in the reading of magazines. There are five songs, each inspired by an article, and CD cover art for available for download… Link.
Stellarium is an open source desktop planetarium for Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX. It renders the skies in realtime using OpenGL, which means the skies will look exactly like what you see with your eyes, binoculars, or a small telescope. Stellarium is very simple to use, which is one of its biggest advantages: it can easily be used by beginners. [via] Link.
Mike writes “I had a bunch of free time, not knowing what to do, so with all parts that i found laying in my basement, i made a spud gun.I get Make Magazine, so thats where my inspiration came from, they have a nice pdf on there website, and article in there magazine about building a spud gun. It strays a bit from the normal plans for a spud gun, but it does work”. Link.
Wonderful entry on this old Maker story – David Hahn (born October, 1976) attempted to build a nuclear breeder reactor in 1994 in his backyard shed in Commerce Township, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at the age of 17. Hahn, nicknamed the “Radioactive Boy Scout”, was an Eagle Scout candidate who had previously earned a merit badge in Atomic Energy after years of basement chemistry tinkering that included small explosions. [via] Link.
