Kite breaks up the smartphone into pieces, creating a set of building
blocks that you can use to create any device that needs the features of a
smartphone: high performance in a battery powered mobile form factor,
augmented by complete connectivity and great multimedia features.
Kite empowers anyone to build a smartphone with nothing more than a
3D printer and a screwdriver. Kite’s architecture allows anyone to
build the devices of their dreams by changing the casing, antennas,
batteries, and adding custom electronics.
If you are a DIY enthusiast, Kite gives you the never-before opportunity
to put together your own Smartphone. For the Maker in you, Kite and
your “maker” expertise easily helps you build bespoke phones using
off-the-shelf components. And for the wizards of custom ROMs, Android,
3D Printing, the Raspberry Pi and related worlds, Kite is your open
smartphone platform for innovation!
Just a second while I check my backpack for a 3D printer.
If you don’t have access to a personal 3D printer, you should try visiting a makerspace! Kind of a defining feature of them is having 3D printers, though they also have lots of other tools for DIY projects and such. The Maker Map is an attempt to catalogue them all, but if you don’t see one in the area you should also search online through DuckDuckGo or another search engine
Many public libraries also have 3D printers, check their website or give them a call to find out!
Mushrooms are the organisms that keep on giving.
They grow and feed the soil by breaking down organic matter. For centuries,
they’ve also been a staple in our diet.
Recently, people have started taking a closer look at mushrooms,
and more specifically, mycelium — the hidden root of mushrooms — as an
engineering material to produce goods like surfboards, packaging materials, furniture and even architecture.
As far as natural materials go, there’s
never been anything as versatile and cost-effective as fungi, says Sonia
Travaglini, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, who
is collaborating with artist and mycologist Philip Ross to unlock the
seemingly infinite potential of fungi.
Myceliumcan grow into any shape or size (the largest in the world blankets an entire forest in
Oregon). They can be engineered to be as hard and strong as wood or brick,
as soft and squishy as foam, or even smooth and flexible, like fabric.
Unlike other natural materials, mushrooms
can rely on their recycling properties to break down organic matter so you
can grow a lot of it very quickly and cheaply just by feeding it biodegradable
waste. In as little as two weeks, you can cultivate a hunk of mushroom that’s
brick-sized.
That mycelium actually takes in waste and carbon dioxide as it
grows (one species of fungi even eats
plastic trash) instead of expelling byproducts makes it far superior to other
forms of production.
Plus, when you’re done with mushroom,
you can compost it or break up the material to grow more mycelium from it.
“And, unlike forming synthetic
materials, which have to be made while very hot or under pressure, all of which
takes a lot of energy to create those conditions, mycology materials grow from
mushrooms which grow in our normal habitat, so it’s much less energy-intensive,”
said Travaglini.
In the lab,
Travaglini and other researchers crush, compress, stretch, pull and bend mycelium
to test the amount of force the material can tolerate.
They found that mycelium is
incredibly strong and can withstand a lot of compression and tension.
Most materials are only strong from
one direction. But mycology materials are tough from all directions and can
absorb a lot force without breaking. So it can withstand as much weight as a
brick, but won’t shatter when you drop it or when it experiences a hard impact,
said Travaglini.
As one of the newer organisms
receiving an application in biomimetics, a field of science that looks to
imitate nature’s instinctive designs to find sustainable solutions and
innovation, we might be getting merely a glimpse of what fungi is capable of.
“Mycology is still a whole new
field of research, we’re still finding more questions and still really don’t
know where it’s going to go, which makes it really exciting,” said Travaglini.
Image sources: Vice UK/Mazda & Pearson Prentice Hall
The glass was literally broken yesterday in the “showcase of democracy” with which the United States has presumed to give the world lessons, when violent supporters of President Donald Trump invaded and disrupted the Capitol in Washington, the seat of Congress, as Representatives and Senators were preparing to confirm Democrat Joe Biden as the country’s next President.
What few in that country will mention is the danger still lingering after the night of April 30, 2020 when, very close to the White House, a terrorist fired an AK-47 rifle into the Cuban embassy, another violent act some may have forgotten, given the complicit silence of the current U.S. administration.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
