Category: Mad Science

MAKE: Blog and Website

MAKE Magazine
In this day of disposable phones and electronics so cheap that you don’t bother to fix even the most minor of problems with them, the entire notion of the fix-it guy is in real danger of becoming a thing of the past. Not so if O’reilly publishing has anything to do with it. With the sucsess of books like ‘Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks‘ they may be trying to breath new life into the spirit of “Buy a new one? Heck no, hand me that JB Weld and an old coat hanger!” This is so the magazine for me. I can see these bound on my bookself along with my 50’s edition of Scientific American’s “The Amateur Scientist” and my equaly vintage copy of Forrest Mims Engineer’s Notebook. I can’t wait until the first copy arrives! I’m looking forward to reading about kite photography and the magstripe reader projects.

MAKE: Blog

Tools of Mass Construction

Here is the perfect site for a rainy day with the kids. Hide the remote, turn off the Xbox, and axe the TV! Get ready to have fun learning.
I quote from the site:
“Howtoons are one-page cartoons showing 5-to-15 year-old kids “How To” build things… with practical build-it projects letting kids learn-by-doing, MIT-style!”
Build a motor, a zoetrope, an underware viewer, make ice cream, build a rocket, bend light and much much more!

Howtoons

M&M Sorter

This is cool, as much as I would steer people away from the Stamp as a micro platform (I am including a link to one build on the Lynxmotion arm for a contrast), this application is moderately cool. It will recognize the color of an M&M candy and drop them into the correct hopper. How this could help you? Well, that would be up to you, but even if you don’t have an immediate app, building it would still be fun.
M&M Sorter
Lynxmotion M&M Sorter

Take 0.125 mSv and Call Me in the Morning.

I remember reading about a study that had been done on people in the Ozarks who lived in areas of higher than normal radon gas. The study found that those people showed a lower than normal rate of cancer. I’m not sure if these findings are on the same level as radon is a different kind of radiation. One thing, if this does prove to be true, the believers in homeopathic medicine should be over joyed. Either way, it’s good to be a vole living near a nuclear research facility.
Radiation May Have Positive Effects On Health: Study

(Thanks to Agent Greg for this information)