The Ever Important Lab Notebook

As someone with research experience in an academic setting I have an understanding and appreciation for the lab notebook. It may not always seem like the most important thing in the world at the time, but when you forget that one detail in a process that notebook can be a lifesaver. As such I thought it’d be a good idea to share this awesome post from Colin Purrington. The detail that he goes into about keeping a lab notebook is perfect. He even goes as far as testing writing utensils under various conditions to show you what you should be using for those notes you’re taking.

Give this page a good read because even if you aren’t in the academic world you should be writing things down and taking notes. You never know when you might need to refer back to a schematic or drawing or you might decide to write about your own projects and want to get every detail in for the world.

http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/labnotebooks

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Making of the Arduino

I think this article is a good example of how the Open Source movement can, is, and will change a lot of things in the world. Most people know what the Arduino is if they’re involved in any kind of science or engineering field, but this article really covers the creation of this board nicely.

While some may not like the Arduino I don’t think there’s much arguing that it is a great introduction to build your own electronics easily and quickly. One just needs to be willing to take the next step after that to uncover and even broader range of possibilities in electronics.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/the-making-of-arduino/0

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Halloween

A short video in the spirit of Halloween and a secondary video about where this strange holiday came from all those years ago.

http://youtu.be/UfcNoMnKjrY

http://news.discovery.com/videos/history-where-did-halloween-come-from.html#mkcpgn=twsci1

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10 Innovations That Have Extended Our Lives

I’ve been a bit busy with my PCB Printer as of late, but I thought I’d get a post in about this little slideshow. This is 10 things you should be a little more thankful for because they have extended your life and mine.

Personally I’m more thankful for soap because it gets rid of stinky people, but it obviously belongs on this list.

http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/everyday-science/10-innovations-that-extended-human-life.htm

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Chemical Cocktail Turns Brain Clear

I found this article really interesting from the title to the very end. Neuroscientists from Japan have created an inexpensive cocktail of chemicals with which they can turn a dead brain’s grey matter into a translucent gel. By soaking the brain in this mixture, which they call Scale, the grey matter of the brain becomes transparent leaving a clear view into the inside of the brain. While they have only used it on a mouse brain thus far the research team hopes to move forward and create a map of the connections inside a mouse brain. Ultimately the goal is to use this method to create a similar map of the connections inside the human brain without the need to slice the brain as researchers do currently.

A translucent brain would be something amazing to see I think. I’d go to that exhibit over just about any I can think of.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/11brain.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimesscience&seid=auto

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