Happy Birthday Al! On this day, in the year 1879, a person was born whose name would become synonymous with our popular concept of genius. When we take a closer look at Albert Einstein’s contributions to science, it’s plain to see why. Within a single year, working at a Swiss patent office, Einstein wrote a […]
Today is the birthday of Joseph Priestley, the 18th century scientist, teacher, and political wonk who had a tremendous impact on the worlds of science and politics. He is credited with the discovery of oxygen (isolating it in its gaseous state). Priestley has been the subject of two “recent” books, The Lunar Men (actually five […]
The folks at Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose were our most gracious hosts for the Maker Faire Auditions on Sunday. On April 25th, the museum will play host to their 22nd annual Tech Challenge, an annual team design contest for budding engineers in grades 5 – 12. MAKE is proud to be a […]
People sometimes ask us what’s the big deal with the Maker’s Notebook. Why should they care about a book largely filled with blank pages? Well, obviously we think there are all sorts of reasons to care. We spent a lot of time designing a book optimized for makers. It’s hard-bound, sturdy, contains high-quality engineering graph […]
Mekonik used an Arduino board, solenoid coil, hall effect sensor, and some clever coding to hold a permanent magnet in mid-air – The device uses a small Hall effect sensor (SS19 from Honeywell, available for $0.50 from AllElectronics) to sense the field of the permanent magnet and uses that information to modulate the magnetic field […]
The Cheap Vegetable Gardner created this soil moisture sensor using nothing more than picture wall hanging hooks, a soda straw, hot glue, and some Plaster of Paris. After a little research there was the classic science class method of creating a homemade sensor by simply putting two galvanized nails in the soil and measuring the […]
The weekly Lost Knowledge column explores the possible technology of the future in the forgotten ideas of the past (and those slightly off to the side). Each Tuesday, we look at retro-tech, “lost” technology, and the make-do, improvised “street tech” of village artisans and tradespeople from around the globe. “Lost Knowledge” is also the theme […]
