Kit Complexity: 5
(1=Easy, 5=Difficult) Is the kit easy, moderate, or challenging to build for its most likely target audience? Kits clearly aimed at children would, for example, be rated differently from microcontroller kits.
Cloning a Fluorescent Gene
When I told my 8-year-old daughter I had a kit to clone fluorescent jellyfish DNA, she was excited to try it. But this is a high-school level project. The reagents are sent in a styrofoam box with dry ice, and the projects require a polymerase chain reaction thermal cycler (which Genotyp will loan out to classrooms that […]
TubeSat Personal Satellite
TubeSat makes space your personal laboratory. You build a satellite the size of a large soup can, get it launched into a 310km Earth orbit moving 17,000 miles an hour, and talk to it via ham radio a few times a day for 1–3 months. Smile as you reflect on your new skills in surface-mount […]
Finger Magic Origami Kits
Origami kits always intrigue me, but after folding a few animals I wonder what it’s all for. So when I discovered Finger Magic, I thought, origami with a purpose! Not only do the kits teach fresh origami like Small World-style elephants, 3D tulips, and butterflies, but some kits come with greeting cards and envelopes. Just attach […]
