openMaterials

Teaching Resources at Middlesex University (MUTR) is a UK-based online store with a mission to support technology teachers. They provide wonderful materials at affordable prices: from expancel, carbon nanotubes, SMAs, SMPs, photochromic and thermocromic materials, paper-making sets, to motors, solar panels, electronic components, as well as traditional materials such as paper, wood, and metal - [...]

For the last couple of years a colleague of mine Ken Gregory has been researching kites as sound instruments. What he has produced is an Aeolian Kite, the kite functions similarly to an Aeolian Harp or wind harp. Rather than having stretched strings vibrated by the blowing wind to produce sound, the sound is produced [...]

Interactivos?’09: Garage Science was an intensive project development workshop (January 28 through February 14, 2009) and a seminar that explored practices where art, science and technology meet. Participants were invited to turn the Medialab Prado, Madrid into a garage laboratory where low-cost, accessible materials were used to develop objects and installations that combine software, hardware [...]

Created by Northeastern University researchers Justin Schunick, Mark Hollenbeck, Luke Shaheen, Scott Gillette and Glenn Black, the 3D Computer Interface is able to detect the x, y and z coordinates of a hand moving above it. This sensing device provides very accurate reading, doesn’t require the user to hold a controller or attach any markers [...]

Philip Ball in an interview with Jennifer Leonard (for the book Massive Change): “It’s about moving away from the classical idea of materials – inert stuff that serves a structural role – toward the more contemporary notion of materials. More and more, materials are active and respond to stimuli in their environment. Materials can light [...]