...but I can't talk about it (yet). Bonus points if you can figure out what it is.
The World's Fair
All manner of human creativity on display
Search this blog
Profile
David Ng is Director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory at the University of British Columbia - this is a just a fancier way of calling himself a science teacher.
Benjamin Cohen is an Asst. Professor of Science, Tech., and Society at the University of Virginia. He studies the place of S & T in environmental history, policy, and ethics. He also writes other stuff.
Trying to find your way around this place? Like most expositions, we offer a map: Map of The World's Fair
"The world is full of light and life, and the true crime is not to be interested in it." A.S. Byatt
Recent Posts
- Foodscapes (Landscape and Modernity: Series 5)
- All graduate student supervisors take note.
- "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses"
- Barbara McClintock and that famous joke about the gene, the cell, and the hatless Bolivian
- Go Laugh at Jack Handey
- Whoa... cool. (Meteor over Alberta, Canada)
- Hairless men with slits for mouths? John Hodgman's TED talks
- Trees and the Depths of Nature (Landscape and Modernity: Series 4)
- Hadi Dowlatabadi on the value of Integration (link to a great talk)
- Tell Obama What To Do About Food and Ag Policy
Recent Comments
- akash on Vancouver ScienceBlogger meetup - the home movies.
- Mel.Mart on "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses"
- Coturnix on All graduate student supervisors take note.
- David Ng on All graduate student supervisors take note.
- Coturnix on All graduate student supervisors take note.
- John Gardner on Barbara McClintock and that famous joke about the gene, the cell, and the hatless Bolivian
- The Science Pundit on "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses"
- Ken Shabby on "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses"
- BobbyEarle on Go Laugh at Jack Handey
- BobbyEarle on "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses"
Archives
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
Links
- McSweeney's
- Science Creative Quarterly
- Terry
- boingboing
- A LIST apart
- Mediascout
- MAKE:
- Grist
- Treehugger
- The Morning News
Blogroll
- defective yeti
- Utterwonder
- The Concept of Irony
- The Education of Oronte Churm
- Inky Circus
- Hope for Pandora
- Strange Maps
- Paleo Future
- No Impact Man
- My Blue Puzzle Piece
- Trinifar
- The Collective Voice
- Time to Eat the Dogs
And so forth...
« The plight of our generally poor internet traffic, and the subsequent call for help from our unpaid interns. | Main | Al Gore vs Boyz II Men: Battle Royale »
This is soooo fricking cool...
Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff
Posted on: July 5, 2006 5:53 PM, by David Ng
Comments
I think it's a home-made E-meter. :-)
Posted by: Aaron | July 5, 2006 6:06 PM
Actually, some good might come out of this project. But the "on the cheap" angle is spot on.
Posted by: David Ng | July 5, 2006 6:11 PM
Designed by the same folks who brought us OpenEEG?
Posted by: Craig Pennington | July 5, 2006 7:38 PM
I think this is something that Ng is involved in. Also, the image is called "macgyver.jpg."
Posted by: Cam | July 5, 2006 8:17 PM
It's the Q80, world's first quantum computer in a kit from Radio Shack.
Posted by: CanuckRob | July 5, 2006 9:16 PM
I don't think it's anything to do with an EEG - there's no obvious input device. Two cables with crocodile clips will not be enough. And quantum computer is silly. Not nearly enough containment apparatus. My attention is focused on the metal box thing, really.
I'm going to hazard a wild guess. Once upon a time, I read an article about chaos theory being used to model turbulence in convective flow of heated liquids. I suspect that this is such an apparatus. I.e. the box would be the one containing the liquid, with the red/black wires powering the heating circuit. The top wire would be a temperature sensor. The only problem is that the rest of the gizmos seem unneccessarily complex...
My second theory is that it is some sort of organic semiconductor testing rig.
Posted by: FhnuZoag | July 5, 2006 9:39 PM
Now hang on - Ng is Director of the "Advanced Moelecular Biology Lab." You think it has anything to do with that sort of stuff. That does look like one of those centrifuge tubes.
Posted by: Cam | July 5, 2006 9:58 PM
Great go at trying to work out the identity of this contraption. At this point in time, all I can say is that this collaboration between my lab and colleagues from the Eng Phys Department will appear in the next issue of MAKE magazine.
Posted by: David Ng | July 6, 2006 11:41 AM
Agh! I called it! Before I got to that last comment, I was going to say, "I dunno what it is, but I bet it's a project from MAKE magazine." I wouldn't have guessed, though, that you're making something *for* the magazine rather than *from* it. You're a bunch of stone geniuses, aren't you?
Posted by: Katherine | July 6, 2006 12:28 PM
This Macqyver contraption may be a 48-well electroporator - a way of putting DNA into living cells. Dave, are you secretly working on cloning yourself?
Posted by: Matt | July 6, 2006 3:50 PM
Ooh... Electroporator is a good guess, but not the answer (although maybe something worth trying for?)
Posted by: David Ng | July 7, 2006 12:03 PM
You've done it! Your progress in miniaturizing the flux capacitor will revolutionize time travel.
Posted by: wamba | July 16, 2006 7:19 PM
...the electronic part could be pretty much everything; but the metal cube with the fins seems to be a device to heat or chill or even both... and as I read something about bio and as far as only bios utilize Eppendorf-tubes; I guess it's a PCR-cycler...but all this electronic gadget is a bit startling; probably this guy isn't very well versed in electronic design... I'd set this thing up with a microprocessor and not even a fifth of the elecetronic parts he needed...8D
Posted by: saimn | August 11, 2007 10:40 AM
Random Number Generator
Posted by: David Gray | November 25, 2008 8:34 PM