August » 2010 » ChemHacker

This one time, at BarCamp…

So yesterday afternoon, I was sitting next to my good friend Tim and half-listening to a talk at BarCamp (half listening, half writing a talk I was giving right after the one I was listening to).

The talk was by Saya, and she mentioned that she wanted a boyfriend who smells of campfires.

I stopped working on my slides and raised my hand.

-all the time?

-yes.

Tim raised his hand.

-even right after a shower?

-yes, right out of the shower.

I looked at Tim and said “I’m sure I can make that scent, let’s try it!”

(photos after the jump)

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New Open Science Group: ChiOpenSci

I’m happy to announce the formation of a new Open Science group here in Chicago, called ChiOpenSci. We’re open to enthusiasts, amateurs, researchers, hobbyists, anyone interested in solving scientific problems using (and making) open source and open culture tools and philosophy.

New website here.

Google group here.

First meeting will be on Sunday, September 12 at 4pm at Pumping Station: One in Chicago 3354 N. Elston Ave.

Feel free to bring your enthusiasm and ideas for problems that are best tackled via open software style approaches. Also, all realms of science that study natural phenomena are welcome: astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, math, engineering, and many more I’m sure I haven’t mentioned.

Laser testing: movement!

I just completed a new (much better) scanning head in preparation for final build and testing, but how do you know if the head is actually moving back and forth?

The answer I came up with is to use reflected laser light to amplify the movement of the scanning head.

To test the new head, I mounted a small mirror (actually a sequin, they’re lighter) in the needle mounting point, shined (shone?) a laser at the mirror to see if I could see movement in the reflected laser point as the scanning head moves back and forth. What I saw was a little movement, but the laser reflection was so diffuse and the movement was so much smaller than the laser reflection that the movement didn’t show well on the video I shot, so you’re going to have to put up with still photos until I acquire better mirrors and/or a more focused laser.

Laser and sequin

Diffuse, reflected laser light

STMs on a Plane: Prototype Electronics and Security Checkpoints

Before: in a cigar box

When I first mentioned I was going to demo the early prototype of the STM at the Open Science Summit, everyone who had actually seen the thing asked me (worriedly) how I was going to get it through the security checkpoints at the airport.

Looking for advice, I brought the prototype to Steve Y., the experienced head of security at my office, and asked what he thought I should do. “Well, what you have here doesn’t look great, but it’s not bad. Here’s what I’d do: put it in a nice box, put some official labels on there, put some kind of identifying label on there, and then send it through the X-ray machine alone. You’ll be fine.” With this pattern to follow, here’s what I did:

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