Homely Scientist

 I know this might seem hokey, but wait read on:
We’ve all dreamed of having a mini-greenhouse that we could plug into our computer, but until today it was just that — dreams. But dream no longer. Geeks.com is selling a USB-powered Mini Greenhouse that includes a computer interface which helps you monitor growth rate and that includes a calendar, wallpaper and bookmark settings to aid you in monitoring the growth of your greenhouse. Source: USB: Grow Plants with the USB-Powered Mini-Greenhouse – Gizmodo
What about using this as a great science experiment with your kids?  I’m sure the software is fun …read more

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No, this is not a goofy free energy thing like I saw at Gnomedex on Saturday (ugh, it still bugs me).  This is real science, real physics, and doesn’t violate the laws of thermodynamics: heck it uses them!
This papercraft engine only needs to sit on a cup of hot coffee to drive its pistons. No, it’s not the precious caffeine that drives the motion, but the Stirling engine design, in which the difference between alternating hot and cold gas pressure is harnessed for power. Source: Cheaper Than Gas: Paper Stirling Engine Runs Off Hot Coffee – Gizmodo
Boing Boing has …read more

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SciTalks is a new site that has videos of lectures on a ton of science topics.
“Science and scientists are going to be more fun and accessible because of SciTalks. Students will be able to hear the voices and passion of the actual discoverers of the subject they’re studying in class. Teachers can assign selections to their students… no matter how limited your school’s resources, if you have access to the internet, you can now get a great science education. It’s like crack for science geeks.” says founder Lee Vodra. Source: SciTalks.com launches video site for science lectures | 901am
You know …read more

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Google Earth is one of those fantastic tools that just keeps getting better.  While, yes, it does take up a bit of drive space, it also gives you the ability to learn a lot about our world.  Take storms for example…
The Hurricane season has officially begun. And the second named storm – Tropical Depression Barry – is currently providing much needed wetness to a dry southeastern US. One of Google Earth’s most powerful features is the ability to pull in real-time information from other sites and overlay the information for visualization. Weather data is one of my favorite applications of this …read more

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LEGO ice cubes now those look cool.  Now for a geek dad just buying the mold is just out of the question:
First things first: Making your own Lego ice cube trays is emphatically not cheaper than buying them straight out from from Lego. It is probably more fun, and since I wanted to learn mold-making, it gave me an excuse to buy a few materials and take a stab at it. Details after the jump. Source: Geekdad – Wired Blogs
Man I wonder what will happen when his kid wants a car!

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Yeah I know lots of people think earthworms are yucky, but they are essential to plants and good soil.  The cool thing is that you can have worms in your kitchen chomping away at your veggie waste and all the while making kick-butt fertilizer for your garden!  It’s called vermiculture.  I had a worm bin for a while and it was pretty successful for a while (I got it and the worms from these folks), I had trouble keeping the stuff moist and such.  I think I bit off more than I could chew.
Well, worm poop is big business you …read more

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Remember my coffee can racer from a while back? Well from GeekDad I got to a site where you can put all those dern, unrecyclable CDs to good use…turn them into racers!
Man I wish I had found that earlier, cause how many kids get to race a car with wheels made from beta builds of Ubuntu!
Tags: science for kids, cd racers

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No, really.  I went to my first Monster Truck thingy (it wasn’t a huge show and there were only two trucks) over the weekend.  I wish I had a) brought my camera and b) had my b5 press pass on me so I could have pictures and got to talk to the owners/drivers because any truck that goes around with tires that weigh 660 pounds each has got to have a lot of science going on.
Let’s  look at the tricks they do first.  You have the car crushing, flying through the air stuff.  These folks have to be pretty careful …read more

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Well the can car was a huge success.  In the end it went like stink and my daughter could probably start a business making them for people.  The device wasn’t without some problems, though.  When it left my house it was working great, but sometime later the rubber band broke.  Oops.  It took a lot of work and panicked phone calls to me to get it running again.
There are two key parts to a successful can car.  First is using a bead or nut on the winding end.  That pencil or chop stick can’t be touching the whole lid, in …read more

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My daughter A told me last week, while I was at the conference, that she had a homework assignment to do this weekend and wanted us to do it together.  No matter what it was, I was going to say yes.  Single dads don’t get that option often.  Regardless, then she said it was to build a simple machine.  W00t!  Science fun!
When I picked the kids up on Friday morning I found out the details.  She had to design and build a device that used two simple machines and would go at least 2 meters (6.5 feet).  Bonus points were …read more

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