Masscustom. Remaking a portable stool. My grandfather used to make portable stools from a couple of thin pieces of wood that tied together with a simple string. Growing up we usually had a couple of these “tie stools” conveniently stashed around the house, and we always got them out for backyard barbecues and took them with us when we went camping. Although my woodworking skills are nowhere near what my grandfather’s were, we’ve been inspired by that stool to play around with making small, lightweight furniture that can be disassembled, stacked flat and tied together for easy transport.
My first try was pretty wobbly, and felt like a little twist would splinter it. A couple of revisions later, I have a reasonably sturdy stool that is held together with a nylon strap. The leg pieces are notched on the sides so that when they are stacked together, the strap on the seat piece can be used to hold all the pieces together. These are the individual parts of the version on the left, the one that is too wobbly for a stool. Making the Modern Do-It-Yourself Biology Laboratory (video.
Could a bio lab be coming to a garage near you? There was a time when only scientists used computers. Now systems that are thousands of times more powerful are available to nearly everyone. Bio-technology could follow the same course. However, if you want to tackle genetic testing, synthetic biology, etc then you’re going to need some serious hardware. Electrophoresis, polymerase chain reactions, fluorescent spectrometry – these are all really basic techniques but they still require specialized machines that can cost thousands of dollars.
Luckily, that may be about to change. It’s been more than a year since we covered DIYbio.org, the online website where many would be bio-tech hobbyists share information. If you have a lab. The Hardware We’ve already covered one amateur biology hardware project: the Pearl Gel Box – an open hardware electrophoresis gel box from Pearl Biotech. Otyp, a group interested in bringing biotech into education, has designed their own open hardware PCR. MAKEDO - home. Design*Sponge » diy projects. Do-It-Yourself Information for Home Improvement Projects - DIY Ideas. Cool Copper Projects Warm metallic hues are easy to love but often pricey. When you create the look... Easy Doily Bowl Craft a decorative bowl from a doily picked up from a flea market, antique...
Camper Birdhouse Encourage birds to stay awhile with an adorable vintage birdhouse. ThreadBanger - D.I.Y Fashion & Style. Craftzine.com: CRAFT: Dedicated to the renaissance in the world of crafts. DIY Network - Home Improvement How-To & Projects : DIY Network. Instructables - Make, How To, and DIY. Online : Eri Gentry interviews Melanie Swan of DIYgenomics. We have surely entered the age of citizen science!
Take, for example, my father’s reaction thirty years ago to a family history of colon cancer. He wholly cut out red meat, began taking vitamins, and started exercising daily. Melanie Swan’s reaction to the same issue, thirty years later, goes far beyond such standard health advice. She looked at her genes to first determine her risk factors, then appropriately and proactively made even more changes to her lifestyle. Melanie is a prime example of someone utilizing growing genomics research to learn about herself. Taking it a step further, she harnessed the power of social networks to crowd-source a clinical trial in genomics. This new method gives individuals a chance to contribute to the research, and if done correctly, can create robust results without a backlog of effort from a single researcher or team. To learn more about Melanie’s pioneering citizen science work, here’s a brief interview I conducted with her: 1Sebastiani, P. et al.
DIY is not so threatening. Highlights from the IDSA 2010 Conference The Industrial Design Society of America held it’s annual conference in Portland last week. I had the great fortune to present Ponoko’s response to “DIY: Threat or Opportunity”. Of course we love DIY here at Ponoko and we strive to bring powerful manufacturing technologies to people of all making abilities. We believe if you minimise the barrier to making your ideas real then all sorts of amazing projects will be produced that might not have been otherwise. We see these show up in the Showroom all the time! I also think DIY and making are at the very core of being a designer.
The workshop is where we learn about the properties of materials, the abilities of tools and how to creatively engage both to make awesome stuff. Some highlights in no particular order: Jay Rogers talked us through how Local Motors is co-creating unique cars. Martin Van Tilburg walked us through the design and development of the Toideloi Stackhouse, a modular kid’s playhouse.
DIY is not so threatening. IDSA International Conference 2010: "DIY DESIGN", Aug 4-7 in Portland, Oregon. Elliot Washor: Making Their Way: Creating a Generation of "Thinkerers" "Rise above oneself and grasp the world. " -Archimedes (engraved on the Fields Medal) Making is making a comeback. A cornucopia of fabrication and tech labs public and private are sprouting throughout the country. Maker Faires -- sprawling outdoor extravaganzas that combine the atmosphere of a medieval fair with old low-tech and new high-tech garages -- are bringing makers of all ages together to share their work and their learning. These new expressions of "thinkering" bring the wizened tinkerer and the tech-savvy youth together in playful competitions that range from the serious and sublime to the deliberately frivolous and outrageous. Fab labs provide makers with easy access to powerful and expensive technology tools in a community of like-minded minds.
Making provides opportunities for young people to use their hands and their minds together. Making is a celebration of an alternative and powerful way of knowing and of thinking things through. Design*Sponge Calls for Peace Between Pros and DIY-ers | Co.Design. "Don't worry," Grace Bonney, founder of the blog design*sponge told a ballroom full of designers at IDSA's international conference in Portland, Oregon last night. "DIYers won't replace you. We're not trying to take your jobs. " Why the defensiveness? The conference's topic might have something to do with it. "DIY Design: Threat or Opportunity? As one of the most influential voices in the area deemed "threat," Bonney tried to walk a diplomatic line, assuring the audience that her community, while talented and eager, was in no position to swoop in and land the HP account. "We don't have your talent," she said. While acknowledging that the crafts movement has its faults -- too often, they copy other peoples' designs, there's frequently a lack of quality control, they can be lazy when it comes to innovation (her words, not mine!)
"They've revived the love of creation at the simplest level," she said. Lindsay Adelman's chandelier, also available as a DIY kit An alarm clock by Natalie Duckett. LIFT 2010 : Résumé d’une seconde journée de conférences. Voici le résumé de cette deuxième journée de conférence de la LIFT 2010 à Marseille du 7 juillet 2010. Au programme du Hacking de people, les techniques pour développer son cerveau et tout un passage sur la gestion de liberté numérique. bref une journée intéressante encore bien remplit. Anab Jain, Superflux, nous présente un petit film qui commence avec la douce musique de Dallas pour nous expliquer comment on peut Hacker les gens. Elle nous exprime sa vision du futur dans notre société moderne avec l’utilisation de FabLabs pour créer notre environnement à l’instar des grands groupes industriels d’aujourd’hui. Elle nous explique que ce sont aussi les designers et les penseurs d’aujourd’hui qui vont créer le monde de demain, sans forcement concevoir réellement un objet, mais en développent juste un concept.
François Taddéi, INSERM, nous explique que pour pouvoir développer son cerveau il faut d’abord s’ouvrir au monde nous environnant et le comprendre. Adriana Lukas, The Mine! Blog. Make a Pen Holder Out of Floppy Disks Redux. DIYLILCNC. Blog: Cooking & molding bioplastics at home: recipes, results & tips. Inspired by Mendel Heit, Martin Bauer and Jay Cousins we've been doing a lot of playing around with bioplastics. Here you can see the original post with a video that shows you how they made bioplastic. Additionally this video is quite helpful. So why have I been spending every minute of my free time cooking bioplastic? Basically the idea is: make a biodegradable plastic in your own home.
This will potentially be of big benefit for desktop 3D printing, personal production and also in reducing fossil fuel consumption and one's carbon footprint. Theoretically home made bioplastics could be of great benefit to hobbyists and hardware hackers.