Scientific Instrumentation news from www.synbio.org.uk

Fast live simultaneous multiwavelength four-dimensional optical microscopy.

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 22:52:34 +0100

Fast live simultaneous multiwavelength four-dimensional optical microscopy.: "Publication Date: 2010 Sep 14 PMID: 20705899
Authors: Carlton, P. M. - Boulanger, J. - Kervrann, C. - Sibarita, J. B. - Salamero, J. - Gordon-Messer, S. - Bressan, D. - Haber, J. E. - Haase, S. - Shao, L. - Winoto, L. - Matsuda, A. - Kner, P. - Uzawa, S. - Gustafsson, M. - Kam, Z. - Agard, D. A. - Sedat, J. W.
Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Live fluorescence microscopy has the unique capability to probe dynamic processes, linking molecular components and their localization...

World's Smallest, Audible Musical Instrument Plays Mario Theme

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:41:48 +0100

World's Smallest, Audible Musical Instrument Plays Mario Theme: "

Scientific advancements are considered mature when they can do one of two things: deliver pornography, or play a rendition of the 'Super Mario Bros.' theme. Since nano-scale breasts probably won't have much appeal to the public, scientists instead decided to use the latest in etching techniques to create a musical instrument that can rock out to one of the most recognizable melodies in the world. The 'micronium' is the first musical instrument to measure only micrometers across and be...

Homemade laser microscope reveals water's murky secrets

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:01:39 +0100

Homemade laser microscope reveals water's murky secrets: "

Some burning questions have just got to be answered, no matter the substantial costs involved. One such question demanding attention is: can a laser pointer be used to examine the microscopic contents of a drop of water? Happily, the answer is yes, and without the aforementioned prohibitive expense. In this home experiment, a laser pointer was shone through a drop of water collected from the base of a potted plant and the magnified image...

Automate Infrared Devices via the Web

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:34:08 +0100

Automate Infrared Devices via the Web: "

Learn how to use a microcontroller combined with a mini-web server and IR transceiver to control electronic devices remotely. For example, you can pull up a webpage to control you TV or stereo. How does it work? IR pulses from remote controls are ‘recorded’ and then played back on command. Since not that many electronic devices use infrared besides home entertainment, you can actually invent your own IR communication protocols to control your own circuitry projects.

Don’t Miss: Loads of Home Automation...

ChemHacker Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope Schematics and Source Released

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:28:06 +0100

ChemHacker Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope Schematics and Source Released: "

Sacha De’Angeli from ChemHacker has released the schematics and source code of the Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope. The STM is Arduino based and has been a build in progress for quite a long time now. Looks like it is at a great state now! See the Wikipedia page for more generic information about Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscopes.

‘The STM is based on the concept of

PIC18F452 based Rover Robot called GUI Bot

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:15:19 +0100

PIC18F452 based Rover Robot called GUI Bot: "

Rustic Engineering has some good posts about the GUI Bot build, it’s a robot that is based on the PIC18F452 microcontroller. The robot looks great with two large drive wheels and one coaster wheel under the front. You can also find a large writeup of the project over at Lets Make Robots.

‘Feature List

Move, turn and gyro with speed and agility;
Speed up and Stop when you need;
Generates little sounds/alerts (and some...

Pocket Radar

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:14:09 +0100

Pocket Radar: "

Hold this thing in your hand, aim it at a fast, moving object and it instantly gives you the speed of that object -- either coming or going. Not only big objects like cars, but little ones like golf balls, too. This little gizmo's accuracy matches that of police scans, so you can check for speeders on your block.

The main use of the Pocket Radar is for sports, which is what we use it for -- measuring ball/running speeds for performance improvement. It's super easy to use. And it will pick up all kinds...

Minox shows off 3D camera concept with four lenses

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 18:56:35 +0100

Minox shows off 3D camera concept with four lenses: "

German optics innovator Minox has been around for a number of years and is generally known for its miniature cameras and binoculars. Its booth at this year's Photokina was positively buzzing with enthusiasts trying to catch a glimpse of its entry into the world of 3D photography, the PX3D compact camera. Just a concept piece at the moment, the eye-catching camera sports four vertical lenses and...

DIY Hot Wire Foam Cutter

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 17:20:44 +0100

DIY Hot Wire Foam Cutter: "

With Halloween right around the corner cutting foam to make things like fake tombstones is something some of us will be thinking about. There are lots of ways to get the job done, you could use the standard utility knife or make a wire cutting CNC machine. But with a bit of time and a few dollars of parts (or possible no cost in parts based on the size of your junk box) you could make a...

Foolography Unleashed Bluetooth geotagging modules land for Nikon D90 and Dx000 DSLRs

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 17:15:10 +0100

Foolography Unleashed Bluetooth geotagging modules land for Nikon D90 and Dx000 DSLRs: "

There's no shortage of fancy ways to geotag with your old beater of a shooter, but Foolography's new solutions for Nikon DSLRs might be one of the most understated. Two new 'Unleashed' modules have just arrived, one for the Dx000 series (D3100, D5000, and D7000), and the other for the ultra-popular D90. The little Bluetooth modules embed GPS data from an external GPS receiver (yeah, it's BYOEGPSR) directly onto photos as you take them. They're retailing for...

DIY Photography: Laser-Triggered Camera

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:18:10 +0100

Microfluidics that is a Million Times Faster will enable Synthetic Biology and DNA Nanotechnology Scaling Breakthroughs

From: http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/03/microfluidics-that-is-million-times.html

iPhone macro lens carousel: "

This iPhone macro lens carousel mod is a great way to recycle that pile of scavenged optics you've got laying around. [via LifeHacker]

Open source intervalometer

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:23:56 +0100

How-To: Open source intervalometer for Canon, Nikon cameras

peterdr intervalometer.jpg

Free LED Cookbook from TI

Vacuum tube prototyping board

Bruce Heran made this prototyping board for his tube projects. He writes:

Mint tin electronics dev kit packs the essentials

From...

Build Your Own 3D Camera Rig with Two Hacked Canon Cameras

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:32:19 +0100