Cross My Heart Hope to Die: eclectic, cinematic multimedia beats HOWTO produce a 3D printed skeleton from a CT scan of a living animal Thailand: 13% of endangered tortoise species discovered in smuggler's bag at airport How "workarounds" cause people with dyslexia to be more creative Caldera: dream-like animated short about mental illness Dutch reality TV show offers one-way trip to Mars Gweek 087: The Art of Doing Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Afrika Bambaataa Planet Rock Adafruit debuts "Circuit Playground" -- a kids' puppet show about electronics How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial Game of Thrones returns with critical mass of politicking Volcano Dust -- bhut jolokia (ghost chili) powder Bloodshoot: fun thriller comic book written by Duane Swierczynski Dear Evolution, get bent March community-building-and-tribal-unity/Madness Indoor/Outdoor Humidex Thermometer In which Charles Darwin gets trolled Project: Recycle old scientific equipment into new tools for public engagement And all the vaginas are well above average Great dad dies (also, he was a scientist) Cartoonist Ed Piskor interviewed Unicorn farts: the smell of April Fool's day Cross My Heart Hope to Die: eclectic, cinematic multimedia beats
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2013 12:07 pm A self-titled EP from Cross My Heart Hope To Die is out today on Alpha Pup Records. The music project is also an interactive art collective, with street art installations around the world.
Read in browser HOWTO produce a 3D printed skeleton from a CT scan of a living animal
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 11:47 am Evan Doney, a grad student in Matthew Leevy's biological imaging facility at the University of Notre Dame, has published a method for creating a 3D printed, life-size, accurate skeleton of a living animal by converting a CT scan of the animal to a printable file. They produced a detailed HOWTO as well, which, unfortunately, is ...
Read in browser Thailand: 13% of endangered tortoise species discovered in smuggler's bag at airport
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2013 11:44 am Indian Star Tortoises. Photo: P.Tansom/TRAFFIC Authorities in Thailand made two big seizures of attempted tortoise smuggling at an airport this week. Hundreds of threatened tortoises were discovered, and they are among the rarest in the world. Two smugglers were apprehended. From TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network: On Friday, authorities arrested a 38-year-old Thai man ...
Read in browser How "workarounds" cause people with dyslexia to be more creative
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2013 11:17 am "Mounting evidence shows that many people with dyslexia are highly creative, out-of-the-box thinkers, and neuroimaging studies demonstrate that their brains really do think differently." An interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal on adaptive responses to a "neurodifference" that affects as many as one in five Americans.
Read in browser Caldera: dream-like animated short about mental illness
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2013 11:05 am Evan Viera's short explores the ambiguous reality inhabited by people experiencing psychosis, through the tale of a young girl suffering from mental illness.
Read in browser Dutch reality TV show offers one-way trip to Mars
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2013 10:44 am A television company in Holland is seeking volunteers for a one-way trip to Mars.
Read in browser Gweek 087: The Art of Doing
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 02, 2013 09:30 am I had an enlightening conversation with Josh Gosfield and Camille Sweeney, authors of a great new book called The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well. Josh and Camille interviewed 36 notable people -- artists, entrepreneurs, actors, athletes -- asking them their secrets of success. Joining ...
Read in browser Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Afrika Bambaataa Planet Rock
By Ed Piskor on Apr 02, 2013 09:00 am Read the rest of the Hip Hop Family Tree comics!
Read in browser Adafruit debuts "Circuit Playground" -- a kids' puppet show about electronics
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 08:38 am The first episode of Adafruit's "Circuit Playground," a kids' puppet show about electronics, "A is for Ampere," just went live and it's smashing.
Read in browser How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 02, 2013 08:30 am Here's a look at Darryl Cunningham's new 176-page comic book, How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial. I enjoyed his levelheaded explanations and charming illustrations that expose anti-science charlatans, flim flam men, and deluded fools. Is hydro-fracking safe? Is climate change real? Did the moon landing actually happen? How about ...
Read in browser Game of Thrones returns with critical mass of politicking
By Leigh Alexander on Apr 02, 2013 08:21 am Funny thing about recaps: Some of the early feedback I got on the handful I did last season suggested people wanted less blow-by-blow, more macroanalysis. But I wonder how well that works for Game of Thrones: Friends, I've read all the books and watched every season so far twice, and I'd be lying if I ...
Read in browser Volcano Dust -- bhut jolokia (ghost chili) powder
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 01, 2013 08:10 pm Cliff Pickover mentioned this stuff on Twitter. Volcano Dust is powdered bhut jolokia, one of the hottest chili peppers on Earth (125 times hotter than a jalapeño). In the current issue of MAKE, we ran Gabriel Nagmay's article on how to grow your own bhut jolokia peppers.
Read in browser Bloodshoot: fun thriller comic book written by Duane Swierczynski
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 01, 2013 04:33 pm The nanobots coursing through Bloodshot's system give him enormous strength and the ability to survive being shot, stabbed, or bombed, because they detect and repair damage. All they ask in return is that their host eats plenty of protein to keep them fueled.
Read in browser Dear Evolution, get bent
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 01, 2013 04:06 pm Imaginary letters, in which giraffes, angora rabbits, and emperor penguins air their grievances against the forces of natural selection.
Read in browser March community-building-and-tribal-unity/Madness
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 01, 2013 04:02 pm At the Wall Street Journal, Eric Simmons writes about the psychology of March Madness, which is really the psychology of relationships and the deep emotional bonds underlying communities and tribes. When you cheer on the Wichita State Shockers in the Final Four, what you're really doing is introducing other people (and other groups) into your ...
Read in browser Indoor/Outdoor Humidex Thermometer
By Cool Tools on Apr 01, 2013 04:01 pm We plan activities around weather forecasts. However, the information is often from sensors far from our location. I want data from my backyard with the convenience of not having to go outside to read it. I have been using the wireless Indoor/Outdoor Humidex Thermometer for over two years. It is perfect for my needs. I ...
Read in browser In which Charles Darwin gets trolled
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 01, 2013 03:53 pm From Darwin's diary written aboard the HMS Beagle, an accounting of an epic April Fool's prank of 1832. Knowing what I know about 19th-century sailors, this seems like a good way to get beaten up.
Read in browser Project: Recycle old scientific equipment into new tools for public engagement
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 01, 2013 03:27 pm Turning an old water level meter into a tool to measure public interest in water levels.
Read in browser And all the vaginas are well above average
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 01, 2013 03:06 pm At Double X Science, Jenny Morber has an excellent piece about the wide range of diversity seen in human lady parts. "Are you normal? Yes. Are you average? No. Most likely," she writes. What follows is a fascinating tour of human biology, from the different lengths and colors of labia to the wide range of ...
Read in browser Great dad dies (also, he was a scientist)
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 01, 2013 02:59 pm Handsome Dad of the Year (a former brunette) took out the garbage without fail, did the family shopping, and is remembered fondly by his step-daughters/first-cousins-once-removed. Also, outside the home, he discovered something called "relativity". Jennie Dusheck has a great follow up to a story that Xeni posted about earlier today.
Read in browser Cartoonist Ed Piskor interviewed
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 01, 2013 02:53 pm Here's our own cartoonist Ed Piskor being interviewed at Columbus Museum of Art by Jared Gardner on March 24, 2013. It's great to hear him talk about his influences and interests in this hour long conversation. Ed Piskor is the recipient of the Columbus Museum of Art and Thurber House 2013 Graphic Novelist Residency. He ...
Read in browser Unicorn farts: the smell of April Fool's day
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 01, 2013 02:36 pm Lizzy writes from Austin's magnificent toy emporium Toy Joy: Here at Toy Joy, April Fools Day smells like Unicorns! Specifically, Unicorn Farts! Not only is April 1 celebrated globally as a holiday of mischief, it also happens to be the best day for harvesting the rarest of poots: Unicorn Farts! Currently offered both in store ...
Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.
Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]
This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.
In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.
Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.
After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?
SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org]
How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org]
SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]
Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org
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