When I was a kid, there was no such thing as "do it yourself" biology for home. Sure, you could do observational stuff, like go out in the woods with a butterfly net and a magnifi\ying glass, or plant some seeds, or look at stuff under the microscope, but it was hard to do real experiments in biology.
My favourite trio of childhood science books (recently reissued) were "Between Play and Physics", "Between Play and Chemistry" and "Between Play and Mathematics" - see, no biology there!
But the world of science has changed since then and there is much more stuff that one can do at home that is real experimental biology - especially molecular biology.
These days, you can run a gel in an electrophoresis setup built out of Legos or extract your own stem cells from a placenta (if you can get hold of one), or a whole bunch of other stuff. Even more sophisticated ready-made stuff, e.g., science kits, are not that expensive any more.
Perhaps someone should write "Between Play and Biology" one of these days.
Comments
It wasn't a complete listing, of course, but MAKE, vol. 7 had a series of home biology projects...
Posted by: SMC | January 25, 2007 6:01 PM
I was gong to make a PCR machine (directions in Make; I subscribed as a result) but Mrs. R. said I had to get the books and papers off the coffee table first. Faced with that decision . . .
Posted by: revere | January 25, 2007 10:40 PM
BTW (off topic, sorry) I heard from one of the participants (you know which one) that the Science Blogger Conference was wonderful and that you and Janet were "really neat." I envied her being able to be there and was sorry to have missed it. Maybe I'll send my human avatar next time. He doesn't have much of a life in meatspace and I should give him a treat and let him outside once in a while.
Anyway, contrats on what sounds like a terrific event.
Posted by: revere | January 25, 2007 10:43 PM
Thank you. You should definitely come next year!
Posted by: coturnix | January 26, 2007 12:19 AM