Mechanical and aerospace engineer Dr. Afsaneh Rabiei set out to create a material “as light as aluminum and as strong as stainless steel,” and she has succeeded, in the form of composite metal foam. In this Science Nation video, she discusses its applications as a building material, a way to make car bumpers stronger, and […]
Morton Bradley sculpture By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics It’s amazing what can be made from paper. These two mathematical sculptures by Morton C. Bradley are 16″ and 20″ in diameter, respectively, made from 2-ply Strathmore paper. The geometric forms are each based on twelve copies of a Kepler-Poinsot polyhedron, with twelve great […]
The Experimenter iPhone app is chock full of timeless backyard science experiments. Sure, you could troll YouTube and find similar material, but the folks at Cramzy have done all the tedious work for you. And it’s nice to have everything in one simple interface.
Tetraxis puzzle By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics People have been making geometric puzzles for centuries, with each design adding new twists. At The Museum of Mathematics, we have a large puzzle called the tetraxis, shown above. The name comes from the fact that the pieces line up along four axes. Most people […]
Giant Zometool sculpture By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics What is the largest geometric structure you have ever made? This giant Zometool construction contains 50,000 parts and is five meters in diameter. As this detail image shows, Zometool is a plastic construction set with hubs and struts that provide lengths and angles for […]
From the International Space Fellowship website: To celebrate the holidays, the Cassini imaging team has created a video collection of “mutual events,” which occur when one moon passes in front of another, as seen from the spacecraft. Imaging scientists use mutual event observations to refine their understanding of the dynamics of Saturn’s moons. Digital image […]
Giant SOMA puzzle By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The seven-piece SOMA puzzle has been a classic since Piet Hein invented it in the 1930s. The Math Museum has a giant SOMA, one meter on each side, for visitors to play with. This one is stuffed with foam so you can climb on […]
