Ravens Are So Smart, One Hacked This Researcher’s Experiment
Researchers had to remove the bird because they were worried it’d teach the others. Continue reading Ravens Are So Smart, One Hacked This Researcher’s Experiment
Category Archives: experiment
Go Small, Get Big: The Hack that Revolutionized Bioscience
Few people outside the field know just how big bioscience can get. The public tends to think of fields like physics and astronomy, with their huge particle accelerators and massive telescopes, as the natural expressions of big science. But for decades, biology has been getting bigger, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Specialized labs built around the automation equipment that enables modern pharmaceutical research would dazzle even the most jaded CERN physicist, with fleets of robot arms moving labware around in an attempt to find the Next Big Drug.
I’ve written before on big biology and how to get more visibility …read more
Continue reading Go Small, Get Big: The Hack that Revolutionized Bioscience
Innovating A Better Printing Platform
Just because you have a fancy new 3D printer doesn’t mean that innovation should stop there. Almost everyone has had a print go foul if the first layer doesn’t properly adhere to the printing platform — to say nothing of difficulty in dislodging the piece once it’s finished. Facing mixed results with some established tricks meant to combat these issues, [D. Scott Williamson] — a regular at Chicago’s Workshop 88 makerspace — has documented his trials to find a better printer platform.
For what he had (a printer without a heated plate), painter’s tape and hairspray wasn’t cutting it, especially …read more
Innovating A Better Printing Platform
Just because you have a fancy new 3D printer doesn’t mean that innovation should stop there. Almost everyone has had a print go foul if the first layer doesn’t properly adhere to the printing platform — to say nothing of difficulty in dislodging the piece once it’s finished. Facing mixed results with some established tricks meant to combat these issues, [D. Scott Williamson] — a regular at Chicago’s Workshop 88 makerspace — has documented his trials to find a better printer platform.
For what he had (a printer without a heated plate), painter’s tape and hairspray wasn’t cutting it, especially …read more
Making Use of Stellaris/Tiva Real-Time Clock
If you’re at all like us, or like [Vadim], you’ve got a stash of development boards in a shoebox on a shelf in your closet. If you’re better organized that we are, it might even be labeled “dev boards”. (Ah well, that’s a project for another day.) Anyway, reach into your box and pull one out, and put it to use. Do something trivial if you need to, but a dev board that’s driving a silly blinker is better than a dev board sitting in the dark.
[Vadim]’s good example to us all is going to serve as the brains …read more
Continue reading Making Use of Stellaris/Tiva Real-Time Clock
Making Use of Stellaris/Tiva Real-Time Clock
If you’re at all like us, or like [Vadim], you’ve got a stash of development boards in a shoebox on a shelf in your closet. If you’re better organized that we are, it might even be labeled “dev boards”. (Ah well, that’s a project for another day.) Anyway, reach into your box and pull one out, and put it to use. Do something trivial if you need to, but a dev board that’s driving a silly blinker is better than a dev board sitting in the dark.
[Vadim]’s good example to us all is going to serve as the brains …read more
Continue reading Making Use of Stellaris/Tiva Real-Time Clock
Weaponizing Elementary Science Experiments
[austiwawa] was playing around with one of those simple linear motors people build as friendly little science experiments. There’s an AA battery in the middle of a set of magnets. When you put it inside of a spring it zips around inside until you run out of spring or magic pixies in the battery.
Of course, the natural question arose, “How do I make it go fast!? Like fast!” After making explosion and woosh noises for a bit (like any good hacker would) he settled down and asked a more specific question. If I made the coil the barrel of …read more
3D Printed Door Latch has One Moving Part – Itself!
A group at the Hasso-Plattner Institute in Germany explored a curious idea: using 3D printed material not just as a material – but as a machine in itself. What does this mean? The clearest example is the one-piece door handle and latch, 3D printed on an Ultimaker 2 with pink Ninjaflex. It is fully functional but has no moving parts (besides itself) and has no assemblies. In other words, the material itself is also the mechanism.
The video (embedded below) showcases some similar concept pieces: door hinges, a pair of pliers, a pair of walker legs, and a pantograph round …read more
Continue reading 3D Printed Door Latch has One Moving Part – Itself!
Diodes With Hats: Zener and Schottky
For beginners, diode types can sometimes be a bit of mental gymnastics. If all it does is act like a magic pixie check valve, why are there so many kinds? Schottky diodes are typically hard to mentally set apart from the standard when described by a data sheet. Zener diodes can be downright baffling for beginners, especially when mistakenly thrown in a circuit in place of a regular 1N4001. [Afrotechmods] put together a great video explaining their difference and use cases.
In both videos he does an excellent job of describing the pros and cons while setting up experiments to exhibit each. For the Schottky it’s …read more
Stop Buying Expensive Circular Saw Blades, Use Paper Instead
[John Heisz] was contemplating the secrets of the universe when an errant thought led him to wonder, could I use a sheet of paper as the blade in my table saw?
He takes a sheet of regular printer paper, draws a circle on it the same diameter as his regular blades, and cuts it out. He then bolts it into place on the spindle, slots in the table saw insert for really really thin kerf blades, and fires it up.
The blade is surprisingly dangerous. One would maybe expect a paper blade to be minimally damaging to a finger at …read more
Continue reading Stop Buying Expensive Circular Saw Blades, Use Paper Instead