Gizmodo: labs

How To Build Your Own Chemistry Set

Mark Wilson — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST

While an off-the-shelf chemistry set of today consists of little more than baking soda, some vinegar and a plastic volcano, old sets were filled with good stuff, like explosive nitrates and deadly cyanide compounds.

MAKE has a tutorial, or series of tutorials even, on how to build your own ballsy chemistry set. For instance, pick up Sodium hydroxide that's packaged as crystal drain cleaner. Put the corrosive substance on metal and you get flammable hydrogen gas!

So promise to be good and wear goggles, then hit the link. It could make for a great DIY Christmas gift. [MAKE]

Photos of Labs at Night Show a Spooky, Soulful Side to Science

Kit Eaton — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:15:00 EDT

Science lab night-time routine goes like this: the experiment concludes, equipment winds slowly down. You rub bleary eyes, stretch your stiff neck, hit "save" on the data for analysis tomorrow. Then you deal with the forest of coffee mugs, flick the light switch and bumble out of the door. But the lab's still there: racks of equipment that can't be turned off humming, shining in the glow of its own LEDs... The technical bounds that give us our gadgets happen in these places of science, thought and, as it turns out, a kind of weird beauty when everyone's gone for the night. And that's the subject of this amazing photo set over at Seed Magazine. Check out the link for the full set: it'll get you thinking, or possibly reminiscing (it certainly did for me.) [Seed Magazine via Wired] Photos: Noah Kalina.

Scientists Hack CD Player, Transform It into Lab Scanner

AddyDugdale — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:23:08 EDT

When researchers at the Universidad Polit cnica de Valencia needed a lab scanner, but didn't have the cash to pay for it, they didn't panic. Instead, Angel Maqueira and his colleagues bought a bog-standard CD player &mdash and hacked it, saving themselves a potential $70,000 in the process.

By soldering two additional light sensors inside the CD player, and then using software, the researchers were able to control how the device "played" a disk. The substance to be analyzed (in this case, the team was trying to detect traces of three different pesticides in various samples) was then placed on a normal compact disc, and inserted into the machine.

While the first light sensor identified where the sample was on the disc, using black marks on the edge of the disc, the second analyzed the sample itself, measuring the amount of laser light that was able to pass through the disk. Normally, discs reflect around 30 percent of the laser beam onto the reading head, while the rest passes through.

The sample, half a millimeter in size, was treated to produce dye or silver that was inversely proportional to the amount of pesticide in the sample. Using the modded CD player, they could detect pesticide levels as low as 0.02 micrograms per liter just by seeing how much laser light passed through the disc to the second sensor.

While it may not be as accurate as genuine lab sensors, which can cost between $42,000 and $85,000, the hacked CD player is accurate enough for many laboratory tasks &mdash some experts think the cheap and cheerful device would work wonders in developing countries, helping the fight against malaria, for instance. And the shorter wavelength lasers of Blu-ray and HD DVD technology will make the process even easier. [New Scientist]

Qool Labs QDA Lite and QDA Icon

Jason Chen — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:02:25 EDT

Qool Labs is releasing two repaqkaged qellphones as the QDA Lite and the QDA Icon. The first qool phone, the QDA Lite, has an Intel PXA 270 520MHz QPU and 64MB of RAM, 128MB internal storage, tri-band GSM and GPRS. For loqal qonneqtivity, it has WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 2.0. There's also a 2.0 megapixel qamera, a SDIO/SD/MMQ slot, 2.8-inqh QVGA TFT-LQD display and a 1240mAh battery.

The QDA Icon qomes with a 4.0 megapixel qamera, OMAP 200MHz proqessor, EDGE, FM radio, and pretty muqh the same speqs as the QDA Lite. We wouldn't expeqt these before late this year at the earliest, sinqe they were just displayed at QommuniqAsia Singapore this week. – Jason Qhen

Qool Labs unveil QDA Lite and QDA Icon [uber gizmo]

Qool Labs Reveals the QDA Lite and QDA Icon [Poqket PQ Thoughts]

Infinium Labs is Hiring

johnb — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:33:38 EDT

Infinium Labs, makers of the Phantom game console as well as the Ninjor Handheld Gaming Module (compatible with the GBA, PSP, Gameboy DS, MAME, and that LCD game of Dungeons and Dragons with the bat), the Sparkle Kitten PMP for Babies, and the Chitin Gaming Hard Suit, a full body controller that melds with your nervous system for maximum gaming performances—NOTE: None of these products will ever be released—is hiring!

Who are they looking for? A PhD in human-computer interaction? A bio-designer to create a next gen console with scales and feathers? Nope. They're looking for a lawyer in Seattle. Maybe they want to take Japan to court and need someone within ICBM distance.

CORPORATE ATTORNEY************* [Craigslist - The stars make it better!]