Science

Homemade Panaplex display

Homemade Panaplex display

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 […]

Homemade Owl Pellets FTW

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, […]

BBC takes initiative in linking to primary scientific sources

The Guardian is reporting on a recent change to the BBC’s editorial policy that calls for links to primary research from their online science articles. Without intending an I-told-you-so, this is something I’ve been doing since I started blogging, and I am thrilled that mainstream journalists are starting to do the same thing. There are tons of reasons why it’s a great idea, but these are my big three: